The Castro Theater
The city declared this remarkable Spanish Colonial structure a landmark in 1977, calling it San Francisco’s finest example of a 1920s movie palace. Inside the 1,600-seat theater sports an awesome plaster ceiling resembling a giant cloth canopy. The loyal, enthusiastic audience revels in the theater’s opulence and the thrill of seeing favorite classics as they were originally presented. If you’re lucky, you’ll be at a performance where the theater’s multi-pipe organ rises from the orchestra pit and the organist regales moviegoers before the show. Special events are also staged here, such as concerts of the Gay Men’s Chorus, and numerous film festivals, including the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. 429 Castro St. (between 18th and 17th Streets).
Telephone 415-621-6120
Glide Memorial United Methodist Church
Civil rights leader and pastor Cecil Williams changed history by supporting homophile movement, and the church serves as a meeting place for gay men, lesbians and transgender people. Sunday services offer great Gospels Music for everyone. 330 Ellis.. Sunday celebration 9am and 11am.
Telephone 415-674-6000
Harvey Milk Plaza
A small brick plaza in front of the Castro and Market Muni station was dedicated in 1985 to the slain civil rights leader and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. At the railway’s entrance is a plaque giving a thumbnail history of Milk’s career in the city--from 1973 when he opened a camera store at 575 Castro (now occupied by a shop called Skin Zone) up to his assassination at City Hall in November 1978. The memorial concludes movingly with a quote from Milk: “I am all of us.” Markets and Castro Streets.
James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center
Located in a wood-paneled circular room in the seven-story San Francisco Public Library (known to locals as “New Main”), this center is a landmark in homosexual history as the first facility of its kind in the world to be housed in a public institution. Named for its single largest benefactor, a member of the Hormel meatpacking dynasty (and controversial ambassadorial nominee in 1997), the center is dedicated to research on gay and lesbian culture. Highlights of the collection include material from filmmakers Rob Epstein and Peter Adair, journalist Randy Shilts, pioneering lesbian publishers Barbara Grier and Donna McBride of Naiad Press and, of course, the personal papers and memorabilia of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk. A dramatic 22-foot trompe-I’oeil ceiling mural by Charley Brown and Mark Evans, Into the Light, depicts gays and lesbians and the names of famous homos throughout history.
M, F-Sa; Tu-Th 9am-8pm; Su noon-5pm. 100 Larkin St. (at Grove St), Third floor. 415-557-4400.
Museum of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender History: A Project of the GLBT History Society
The mission of the GLBT Historical Society is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and otherwise make available to the public historical, cultural, and artistic materials related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender communities, identities, and practices, as well as of other sexual minorities. Their goal is to build the world's first full-scale, professional quality museum devoted to GLBT history and culture. 657 Mission St., Suite 300.
For more information telephone 415-777-5455 or visit www.glbthistory.org
Current Exhibition: The legacy of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person to hold high public office in a major American city, is profiled in Saint Harvey: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Gay Martyr. Old photos, posters and personal belongings including the blood-stained suit he wore the day of his assassination are part of this provocative exhibit.
National AIDS Memorial Grove
Located at the intersection of Bowling Green Drive and Middle Drive East, the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park is the country’s only federally sanctioned memorial commemorating the struggle against AIDS. For all who come here it is a place to remember, to acknowledge grief and to begin the process of healing. Volunteers conduct tours of the grove every Thursday from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Meet at Main Portal, intersection of Bowling Green and Middle Dr.East.
For more information, telephone 415-750-8340 or 888-29-GROVE or visit www.aidsmemorial.org
The New Conservatory Theatre Center
This theater school and performing arts complex offers professional classes and productions. In addition to classrooms and rehearsal spaces, the center has three theaters and an art gallery featuring paintings, sculptures, and photographs that changes quarterly. It’s also home to the “Pride Season,” a subscriber-based gay and lesbian performance program that has included the world premiere of the all-gay version of Jack Heifner’s "Vanities," a revival of John Herbert’s 1967 classic "Fortune and Men’s Eyes," and Helen Eisenbach’s "Lesbianism Made Easy."
Exhibits: Tu-Sa noon-7pm. 25 Van Ness Ave. (between Oak and Fell Streets). 415-861-8972.
The Pink Triangle Park
A new civil rights memorial in the heart of the Castro is the first of its kind in the U.S. The Pink Triangle Park memorial is dedicated to the remembrance of the millions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders who were victims of the Holocaust. Corner of Market and Castro, behind the City Athletic Club.
For more information, telephone 415-823-0795 or visit www.PinkTrianglePark.org
Polk Street Gulch
From the end of World War II, when San Francisco’s gay community first started to emerge in strong numbers, until the early ‘70s when the action moved into the Castro, Polk Gulch was the city’s most significantly gay district. Today, it has some of the city’s more ethnic gay bars and clubs and fine cafes to sit and watch the passerbys. This area is also known to attract an array of “Drag Queens” and transsexuals that frequent the local clubs and discos.
The San Francisco Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center - The Charles M. Holmes Campus of the Center.
The new San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is home to a dynamic range of organizations and activities that support the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals of every race, gender, age, sexuality, and socio-economic status. The center promotes activities that further define and advance the political, social and cultural agenda of the LGBT community. It is located at 1800 Market Street, M-F noon- 10pm, Sa 9am-10pm. Closed Sunday.
For more information, telephone 415-865-5555 or visit www.sfcenter.org
San Francisco Gay Mens Chorus
The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus made its official debut on December 20, 1978, though it first appeared informally singing a memorial hymn on the steps of the San Francisco City Hall in late November 1978, the evening Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated. Chorus time is wrapped naturally around the concert season, from September through the following August.
For more information, telephone 415-865-3650 or visit http://www.sfgmc.org.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
In January 1995, in celebration of its 60th year, the museum relocated its collection from the Veteran’s Building in the Civic Center to new, larger quarters across from Yerba Buena Gardens. Its handsome brick box home was designed by the internationally acclaimed Swiss architect Mario Botta and features a 125-foot cylindrical skylight that channels light down to the first-floor atrium court. More than 17,000 works are housed on the museum’s four floors; such queer and bisexual artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, Larry Rivers, Frida Kahlo, Jasper Johns, Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, and Duane Michaels are represented in the permanent collection, along with the likes of Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, Calder, and Noguchi. And don’t miss Jeff Koons’s exquisitely campy statue Michael Jackson and Bubbles.
Admission; free first Tu of the month; half-price Th evening. M-Tu, F-Su 11AM-6PM; Th 11AM-9PM; closed W. Tours daily. 151 Third St. (at Minna Street). 415-357-4000.
San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum (PALM)
With a gallery and collection focusing on the Bay Area, this nonprofit institution naturally has works by a bushel of theater queens, including Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Herman, Cole Porter, and Lorenz Hart. Make an appointment to view videos or listen to recordings.
Free. W 1pm-7pm; Th-F: Sa noon-4pm. 399 Grove St. (at Gough Street). 415-255-4800
San Francisco Women’s Center - Women’s Building
The strength and history of women united is depicted in a beautiful mural covering part of the building. The center, a particularly important resource for women of color and lesbians, is the site for regular meetings, readings, workshops, and events. M-F. 3543 18th St. (between Valencia and Guerrero Streets).
Telephone 415-431-1180
SoMa
The artsy SoMa District resembles New York City’s SoHo district in more ways than one. Here, light industry has been replaced by designer studios and nonprofit galleries. This area is also the major enclave of factory-outlet stores. SoMa, literally the area south of Market Street, is home to some of the city’s mega-clubs, leather and bear bars. Several big discos pulse with activity seven nights a week. Also, leather and special interest stores abound which make for fabulous specialty shopping.
Theater Rhinoceros
The oldest gay and lesbian theater company in America (founded by Alan Estes in 1977) is known for its innovative stagings of performance art, comedy, musicals, and drama. The main theater, which has premiered works by Charles Ludlum, Jane Chambers, and the Five Lesbian Brothers, seats about 150 people and puts on a five-work season September through June; there’s a smaller studio theater in the basement. The name comes from the “lavender rhino” (gentle and peaceful until provoked), a symbol of the early gay rights movement in Boston.
Box office: Tu-Su. 2926 16th St. (between South Van Ness Avenue and Mission Street). 415-861-5079.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
The gay and lesbian communities are well represented at this 55,000-square-foot contemporary arts center, part of the beautiful Yerba Buena Gardens complex. To date, the exciting array of exhibitions, screenings, and performances has featured a variety of artists, from Pomo Afro Homos to the Stephen Petronio dance company and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. 701 Mission St. (at Third Street).
Program information 415-978-2787.
