Historic gay bars san francisco
The Mint &#; Market. In , longtime lesbian bar owner Charlotte Coleman opened The Mint with Peggy Forster in the shadow of the new U.S. Mint above the Safeway supermarket. Originally a steakhouse and piano bar, it evolved into a karaoke bar in If The Mint is within the boundaries of the Castro area, it is the longest continuously operated lgbtq+ bar to run with the matching name. The indicate design features a tiny pink “the” inside the loop of the grassy “M.” Photo by Al Barna.
GAY BARS WERE USUALLY Disguised, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Marginalized, much like their clientele, they were frequently found in underdeveloped or industrial sections of a town or successfully off the lost path in rural areas. Often veiled behind tinted glass, with narrow entrances to allow doorkeepers to screen patrons, the bars tended to hide the goings-on within from the general public—and the police—as a matter of survival.
During the s and s, police routinely raided venues and harassed patrons. Authorities could arrest male lover men and lesbians for impersonating the opposite gender if caught weari
Historical Essay
by Dick Boyd Writer of Broadway North Beach: The Golden Years
Originally published in The Semaphore #, Winter
Front of Mona's,
| Dick Boyd recounts the Gay and Woman loving woman scene in North Beach during the s and 50s. He opens the article with his retain personal account of going to lesbian bars on Broadway Street as a teenager in the overdue s and early s. He goes on to describe the scenes at six North Beach bars that he feels “best exemplif[ies] a cross section of gay/lesbian establishments,” including The Paper Doll, The Black Cat, The Beige Room, Mona’s, Tin Angel, and the Fallen Angel apartment. During the s era of sexual repression, the gay community was able to thrive in North Beach by creating a public sphere where gay people and lesbians could be free to talk and create like-minded public communities. |
This story has been a blast from the past for me. From through the 50’s I was a habitué of North Beach. I hit many of the watering holes in this story. In , I was a Grey Line Tour Guide for their Night Club tours that made stops at Finocchio’s, th
Last Call: Queer Bars of San Francisco Past
It wasn't until after World War II, when gay men and lesbians swarmed San Francisco after service in the Pacific, that the Black Tabby assumed a “gayer” character. The poet Allen Ginsburg, who knew it in the ’50s, described it as an enormous block with a honky-tonk piano that “everyone” went to: “All the gay screaming queens would come, the heterosexual gray flannel suit types, longshoremen. All the poets went there.” At a time when homophile organizations like the Mattachine Culture were largely conciliatory to the police and to city officials, the Ebony Cat was noteworthy as a site of resistance. Its owner, Sol Stoumen, refused to pay off the police for protection against harassment, and his bar was routinely raided and fined from the s through the soon s. On Dec. 31, , a dozen plainclothes policemen observed the New Year's festivities inside the Jet Cat, a gay block in Los Angeles' Silver Lake neighborhood. At the stroke of midnight uniformed cops burst into the exclude, billy clubs swinging. Sixteen patrons were arrested
Cinch Saloon enters new chapter, preserving SF LGBTQ history
SAN FRANCISCO - One of San Francisco&#x;s oldest gay bars, the Cinch Saloon, is beginning a new chapter after fears that it might permanently close.
The Polk Street exclude has long held historical significance in the city&#x;s LGBTQ people. Decades ago, Polk Gulch was a bustling hub of queer nightlife, before the Castro District became San Francisco&#x;s most known LGBTQ neighborhood.
A legacy at risk
The Cinch&#x;s future became uncertain two years ago when one of its longtime owners passed away. Most recently, the remaining boyfriend struggled to maintain the prevent. That&#x;s when Scott Taylor stepped in.
"We feel more like caretakers than ownership. We're here, the bar&#x;s been around for 50 years. We're going to experiment to keep it around for another 50," said Taylor, who officially took over ownership of the bar this year.
Taylor is no stranger to the Cinch. He first visited the lock as a patron more than 20 years ago, occasionally bartended there, and even had his first date with his par