2016-12-21 05:23:01
San Francisco Pride Parade San Francisco City Hall WHILE SAN FRANCISCO’S CASTRO DISTRICT IS ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S MOST FAMOUS LGBT-FRIENDLY ENCLAVES, THERE ARE LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY THAT HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR PRIDE IN DIFFERENT WAYS, REPRESENTING SOME SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO LGBT CULTURE AND HISTORY. HERE ARE A FEW PLACES THAT MAKE LOCALS AND VISITORS ALIKE PROUD OF THE CITY. ASIA SF Located at 201 Ninth St., this San Francisco favorite combines restaurant, lounge and dance club elements to celebrate diversity. Since 1998 its world famous transgender stars, Ladies of Asia SF, have been the focal point of the experience and their talent has made it a go-to location for celebrations. BLACK CAT CAFÉ In 1933, The Black Cat Café opened at 710 Montgomery St. and became the home base of drag performer and civil rights activist José Sarria in the 1950s and early 1960s. During a time when homosexuality was not fully accepted, the owner, Sol Stoumen, lost his liquor license in 1949 for serving “persons of homosexual tendencies.” After a successful fight in court, the California State Supreme Court legalized homosexual assembly — that is, the right to gather socially. Sarria went on to become the first openly gay person to run for office in the U.S. A street in the Castro now bears his name. GLIDE MEMORIAL CHURCH Three decades after it opened in the early 1930s, Glide Memorial Church (330 Ellis St.) joined the national movement among religious organizations to focus more actively on social justice. In 1964, Glide helped bring together homophile activists (precursors to the gay rights movement) and religious leaders in San Francisco to form the Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) — the first organization in the U.S. to include “homosexual” in the title. GOLDEN GATE PARK/ AIDS MEMORIAL GROVE The National AIDS Memorial Grove, or “The Grove,” is located in the eastern part of Golden Gate Park in the San Francisco Botanical Garden. This is a dedicated space where millions of Americans affected directly or indirectly by AIDS can gather to honor, cherish, embrace and heal. MONA’S 440 CLUB Well-known in the 1940s for its male-impersonating waitresses and lesbian entertainers, Mona’s 440 Club at 440 Broadway was arguably San Francisco’s first lesbian bar after the repeal of Prohibition. TRAX BAR The bar at 1437 Haight St. in Haight- Ashbury is the longest-running gay bar in the neighborhood and the only remnant of the Haight’s history as a pre-Castro LGBT enclave. The space that houses Trax has been a gay bar since the early 1970s when it was the Question Mark.
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