Straight/Mixed Bars That Used to be LGBT Bars
- Churchill (198 Church Street) – was the Transfer, the Bar on Church
- Lucky 13 (2140 Market Street) – was Mind Shaft, Alfie’s, Prism, 2140 Market, Industrial Dance Company, High Chaparral
- The Residence (718 14th Street) – was the Galleon Supper Club
Former LGBT Bars That Are No Longer Bars
- 469 Castro Street (now Slurp Noodle Bar; was Nothing Special, Special, Headquarters, Night Shift)
- 482 Castro Street (now part of Walgreen’s; was Toad Hall, DJ’s, the Phoenix)
- 506 Castro Street (vacant site of the Body Shop; was the Midnight Sun, City Dump, Midnight Sun again)
- 1760/1772 Market Street (now 1772 Market; was Rebel, Triple Crown, Octavia Lounge, Michael’s, Carta)
- 1884 Market Street (MMJ Marijuana Evaluation Center; was Libra, Tree House, JB’s House, Eagle Creek)
- 2029 Market Street (vacant; was Mecca, Gingerfruit)
- 2097 Market Street (residential; was Naked Grape, Tool Box, Hustle Inn)
- 2100 Market Street (formerly Home Restaurant; was Rear End Bar at Truck Stop, Hideaway at Church Street Station)
- 2166 Market Street (Klotz Watches & Clocks; was Cardi’s, Balcony, Academy)
- 2223 Market Street (now Pesce; was the Purple Pickle)
- 2275 Market Street (now Books, Inc.; was the Shed)
- 10 Sanchez Street (now residential; was Scott’s Pit)
- 290 Sanchez Street (now Makli Restaurant; was the Jackhammer)
If we’ve missed anything or you wish to challenge whether something should or should not be included, we’d love to hear from you.
this was ages ago (c. 1970) but there was a bar called the moth and flame (at 1400 california st., i believe) and it had the greatest neon sign: an animated sign that showed a moth flying into a flame. i don’t suppose there’s any chance of finding a photo of it?
eBay has a photo of the Moth & Flame for sale here:
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/j8kAAOSwS~tergtH/s-l1600.jpg
There was a small old bar on Market Street called the Starlight Room. Not the one at the Drake Hotel. It was right next to an adult movie theatre. It was owned by Robert (Bob) Shore. I want to say it was around Market and Sixth. It was closed in the mid 80’s and the the building were torn down after the 89 earthquake. Is there any information about this?
I remember this bar. One night I went home with the bartender. It was across from the fountain (the fountain is still there) and it was next to the Strand Theatre which in its later years I think became porn.
I remember Strand Theater. Fun times up in the balcony…oh my… the good old days, before google come to town.
Hi John
In my early 20s, THE STARLIGHT ROOM was my favorite place to get away from everyone. If you asked the barkeep nicely, he’d flip a switch, and the floor would start to rattle slightly. Then came a mechanical groan as the circular bar and the stools around it began to slowly revolve in the center of the room. It was like something from a B 40s film noir, or a Jim Thompson novel. I believe the bar actually closed in 1990, as the retrofitting the building needed would cost as much as razing and rebuilding . I was sad to see it, and the notorious grindhouse STRAND THEATER, lost to history with nary a trumpet-call. Starlight Room was a swank hot-spot just after WW2, and I’d love to know if anyone thought to preserve the revolving bar mechanics for posterity. Rotating bars are a forgotten ostent of 20th century Americana which is nearing extinction.
Great read.
I moved to SF just pre-AIDS so you can imagine it was WILD. I loved to have a couple of drinks at The Starlight Room after a workout at the YMCA or watching a double camp feature at the Strand. I WAS 18 AND THOUGHT I WAS IN HEAVEN!
The Starlight Room was indeed an experience. It has been almost 50 years yet I still remember it vividly. I entered looking for action, 11pm or so, in suit and tie. What a place…hardly anyone there…but the ghosts of the past were everywhere. The circular bar and the surrounding painting of the entire San Francisco surrounding you was an experience to behold. Action there was..primitive, final, permanent. I miss the old Market Street, the neon, theaters, mix of stores…and the then new Plaza toward City Hall. The street, and Era, seemed more ” human sized” than it has become today.
I remember the starlight room going there in the 80′ s. It has a round bar and was yes by the strand theatre. My grandmother Florence Somberg owned a bar on 7th and Mission called Lloyd’s. Later in 1996 after I moved to the city I bartended at the world famous finnochios in North Beach. I miss the city but Ive heard how it , like everywhere has changed. Lived through the aids epidemic was terrible.
Anyone remember a bar in the Castro during the 70’s or so, back when Harvey Milk was in office, called The Perk??? My friend is listening to a book about the history of the Castro and it’s mentioned briefly but we can’t find anything about it anywhere……
Markis, I wrote a book called Let No Stranger Wait Outside Your Door. There is a lot of Castro history in it. You can get it at the San Francisco Library, gay studies section or buy it on Amazon.com if you want a copy.
The black Rose 🌹 in San Francisco. That place save my life. I was 26 years old when I walked into it for the first time. 1986. It was the first time in my life to meet people like myself. It was like I was born again. The girl in me came alive big time. Oh I miss the old San Francisco.
Does anyone remember the RAMS HEAD in the tenderloin? I love going in there as a girl. Anything could happen….. don’t you miss those days. Having sex was like having a cigarette…. San Francisco is becoming like the old Time Square in New York. Gone forever. Now we have become slaves to rent..
My name is Chris but my girl name is Tara. Do you remember me?….oh yeah… that was me
… you naughty boy..
I had graduated from U.C.S.B. in 1982 with a degree in finance. I took a job at a brokerage firm in San Francisco, and I immediately fell in love with the city. I soon found the Castro, and met a guy who soon became my boyfriend. He owned the unit at 486 Castro Street. Not too long after that, I got into the leather scene, and used to frequent the Ambush, The SF Eagle, etc. The gay scene was wide open back then. I also used to go to the New Bell Saloon on Polk Street and watch the late, great David Kelsey perform on stage. Ah, those were the days. I remember well the Castro Clones, hanging out at “Hibernia Beach” where A LOT of cruising went on…. This was all pre AIDS epidemic… I also remember Busby’s ( ? ) on Polk Street… If I remember correctly it had a metal dance floor, and the cocktail waitress was a African American tranny… She was really pretty and very sweet… I lived in SF until about 2002. By that time the Castro was becoming more straight, homelessness and crime were on the rise, and I had lost many close friends to AIDS. I made the decision to finally move away, and it was a really difficult decision. Now I’m an old man ( 62 ), but I will always have wonderful and bittersweet memories to cherish.
I’m looking for info on the old Round Up gay cowboy bar sf, I believe the “first one” closed I believe in 1970
I don’t recall a bar named “the Perk.” My time in SF started (permanently, anyway) in ’75.
I had a business in the Castro, around the corner from Harvey’s camera shop. Mine was two doors up from the Badlands (there used to be a laundromat between the Badlands and my shop). But I was also (part time) one of the DJs at the Badlands after they built the DJ booth and simultaneously dj’ed at The Phoenix, as they were both owned by Ron Holmes.
But The Perk? Hmmmm…nothing is coming to mind. (Then again, I’m now ancient, so it could just be my memory!)
Hi, Glen. What was the name of your business, and is it still around ????. BTW do you remember a bar on upper Castro that was owned by some Australians back in the early 80’s ????…
I first visited San Francisco in the mid 80s. First stayed at the Atherton. On the first night I descended the marble staircase to the sounds of Jeannette McDonald’s invitation to go Roaming NO More. I felt that I truly had found my home (actually became my second home for many years) and Left MY Heart in San Francisco in More ways 💔 than one. Of course The Castro became the center of my greatest memories. So Many MEN! 🔥 💪. One of my great discoveries was Unique Art Gallery on 18th St. 🤔 where I discovered and bought prints by homoerotic artist Michael PALMER. Still have the framed on my walls. Midnight Sun, Twin Peaks, Eagle, Castro Station, Orhan Annie’s, Jaguar, great restaurant (DUO 🤔) off Castro on 18th and so many other great places and welcoming friends. And The MUSCLE SYSTEM on Hayes offered great workouts, great cruising 😉 and some memorable experiences! Highly recommend Some Dance to Remember by Jack Fritschker, City of Night by John Rechy for a glimpse of life in that GOLDEN time by the GOLDEN Gate. PALMER prints are rare, but some are still available on line . Enter PALMER, the Gay Highwayman for more information. As one of the surviving Stately Old (Butch 💪 ⛓ Leather) Queens, my heart STILL yearns to return to my city by the Bay and go Roaming no more!
Does anyone remember if DUO as mentioned in my previous post is the correct name? Best food I found in SFO. Of course Hamburger Mary’s was great for juicy hot 🔥 beef in several forms 😋. Also a very dear friend, RICK BROWNELL, living at 63 Eureka St. In the late 80s until early 2000s passed (not from AIDS) in 2002. Anyone having known him please pass any information! Many thanks!
On my first trip to SAN FRANCISCO, I stayed at the Atherton. The first night I descended the marble staircase to the strains of Jeannette McDonald’s welcoming me to go roaming no more. But of course I did go roaming eventually discovering The Castro! More to follow if this posts. I left several posts that didn’t appear 🙃
There’s never much mention of the small cluster of bars on California Street between Polk and Leavenworth…The Sanctuary, Company, and one at California and Hyde, the name of which escapes me now. They were friendly little bars for the neighborhood denizens, circa late 80s/early 90s.
Phil, the bar you are remembering at Cal and Hyde was called Gilmores. The space is now the Hyde Out.
What was the name of a Gay Bar located south of Market? Around the turn of the new Millennium this small bar featured a smoking room which was really a skinny “alley” way, where patrons would smoke cigarettes & joints while lit-up under blacklights highlighting local artwork using glow-in-the-dark markers? I spent hours drinking, partying and drawing brilliant artworks on the walls, floor & ceiling of that skinny alleyway? (great memories!)
Keri, are you thinking of the Powerhouse. The place is still there, and going strong.
I think you mean My Place now it’s Driftwood at 1225 Folsom.
Wow not one south of Market Bar, Polk Gulch, or Grant Ave Bar! Must have a short memory!
Back in the old days lol the gays didn’t say South of Market we called it Folsom. South of Market came much later when thr under 40 gays