Castro’s first-ever night market was good, not great

Given Castro’s long reputation for throwing some of the wildest parties in America, its first-ever night market needed more sizzle.

I could tell you the 2-block bazaar had it all, and yeah we had outdoor dancing, tarot reading, and your typical long lines at food trucks, alongside equally expected political flyer pushers. I just wish it also had the bicep show like this year’s Castro Street Fair or costumed revelry like Halloween.

I asked Oscar Alta from Oakland if I was being dramatic (I can be kind of a bitch when I’m in my luteal phase). He shrugged. “Honestly this is like any other day in the Castro. If they want to do a night market they need to block off Castro and Market streets because I appreciate the ambiance and I want more vendors.” Said like a queen.

My editor Saul Sugarman felt somewhat rosier, so there was definitely a weird moon phase going on. He told me that people paused and conversed at this fair instead of constantly milling back and forth like at many other street markets.

“It was like the Castro bunnies took their party from the bar outside to the street,” he said, but added the eye candy began growing sparse and more hurried as the night wore on.

You may not know it but we still generally don’t booze outdoors in SF unless it’s inside an “entertainment zone,” so my eyes were attacked with signage everywhere letting me know that open containers were strictly prohibited. This was a literal buzzkill aided only by the fact that Castro Night Market bustled on an intersection packed with bars.

We still had fun of course, thanks in large to the remarkable charm of the Castro neighborhood, with establishments like Chef Coskun Abik’s consecutively placed restaurants Blind Butcher and Lark, the Castro Theater sign, and the omnipresent parklets. I love parklets. There’s a distinctly upscale ambiance to the brick-and-mortars here that could accent even the raunchiest street party.

The vibe picked up around sunset after a few naked guys walked by me; a trip to the Castro doesn’t feel complete if you don’t see naked guys. Local artist Morgen Roloff found her inspo and created a beautiful piece as the crowd enveloped her. Watching an artist’s mind spill onto the canvas is a religious experience.

A woman painted caricatures outside the Bank of America under a Castro Night Market neon sign, and I leaned over her shoulder to hear the odd playing “music” — which turns out was mostly just a woman moaning. I half-wondered if the person being drawn felt awkward, but no; Mayor London Breed just smiled as she does, unfazed, and always aware a camera lurks nearby.

Outside of Bottle Bacchanal Krista Kemple was tabling for her infused functional non-alcoholic spirits and cocktails, Aplos. I asked Kemple what she thought of the market. She told me decisively that it’s bringing community back to the streets and giving people a reason to come out. “I have more foot traffic now, so I can actually meet my customers face to face and interact with them on a more personal level,” she said.

Still jonesin’ for a beer — contraband at the Castro Night Market — I sampled a few of Kemple’s zero-proofs and they were that good. We bought a 6-pack for the group and drank them ceremoniously; maybe going booze-free for a night isn’t so terrible. (She said before many “cool mom” white wines later at Toad Hall.)

Mary Rose of Two Serpents Tarot was inside of the store and dressed to kill in red, standing behind some candles and otherwise spooky ambiance. I wanted to get my cards read but I’m scared.

The early sunset coaxed the market’s daytime vibes to night and the crowd shifted its weight from 18th Street to an alleyway behind Bottle Bacchanal for an improvised club that was actually really cute. We don’t need an expensive warehouse to have a party.

Drag queen Grace Towers then appeared onstage to cap off the night alongside Manny Yekutiel, a community organizer and cafe owner whose fingers have been in a ton of these events lately. He’s also been getting a lot of hate, something that my editor said he frankly noticed more than a year ago before the current conflict in Gaza. Sugarman added that the same hate recently spilled over on Instagram when The Bold Italic noted Manny’s involvement in Castro Halloween.

“I admire Manny for his courage right now to be simply himself, a prominent gay Jew,” said Sugarman, TBI’s editor-in-chief who is likewise queer and Jewish, with family who lives in Israel. He added:

“It is really disheartening to see our LGTBQ+ community divided in hatred, a word that’s formed many of our deepest bonds by enduring and surviving it together.”

We are grateful to Manny and all our local leaders who give us much-needed joy like the Castro Night Market. Make it bigger and gayer next time, guys.

We’ll have no shortage of night markets to choose from coming up; the pair noted freaking eight of them on the horizon. As the market ended promptly at 9 PM, the patrons filed out civilly, and it hit me — the Castro Night Market wasn’t insufficient, it was new. It was like a first date: No one wants to commit and everyone is a little awkward.

I hope I get a second date with the Castro Night Market.

Courtney Muro is a San Francisco-based content strategist, producer, designer, and creator.

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