The Stud — at long last — has found a new home. The historic queer bar will soon begin a fresh chapter at 1123–1125 Folsom St., just a short walk away from its former home at 9th and Harrison, which closed suddenly in May 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new Folsom Street spot you might fondly remember for its recent Golden Girls pop-up. Now it’s a large entry room with a bar, a spacious courtyard patio, nice bathrooms, and a back room with a large bar and plenty of room to move around. I visited Sunday alongside 200 of The Stud’s closest friends.
Everyone expressed gratitude that this collective lives on. In a phone call the day before, bar co-owner Honey Mahogany told me they were “really afraid” of backlogging unpaid rent in the pandemic, and that’s why they shuttered three years ago.
“We felt like if we risked that, we would be putting the legacy of The Stud at risk,” said Mahogany, the San Francisco Democratic Party chair. In talking with her, it’s obvious she holds The Stud and its rich history in high regard.
The Stud first opened in 1966 when San Francisco’s gay neighborhoods looked a little different than they do today. In those days you wouldn’t find San Francisco’s gays out in any notable number in the Castro — that neighborhood was just beginning to become a gay enclave. The homos of the early 60s were up on Polk Street in the Tenderloin and in SoMa.
The SoMa leather scene really started in 1961 with the opening of the city’s first dedicated leather bar, Why Not. The Toolbox followed in ’62 and The Stud — located where Eve/Holy Cow is today — joined the neighborhood in the mid 60s as SoMa rapidly became a safe and popular place for queer expression. By the 1970s The Stud had evolved into the hangout for the queer, transgressive, hippie contingent. In 1987, the club moved to Ninth and Harrison.
In 1996, Heklina launched a weekly event called Trannyshack at The Stud. The event showcased everyone outside gender norms and became a cult favorite not only in San Francisco, but within greater drag culture. Names like Peaches Christ, RuPaul and Lady Gaga performed at the kitschy party. Heklina passed away in April of 2023 at the age of 55.
Ownership of The Stud changed hands a handful of times over the decades, and in 2016 a co-op including Mahogany purchased The Stud when the previous owner decided to retire. It was a bit of a struggle for them to settle on a new location.
“We have gotten close on a couple of different locations,” said Mahogany, but she noted that staying in west SoMa was a priority along with considerations like safety and, “having enough of a capacity that we’d be able to afford our rent.” Many of the available SoMa storefronts the team looked at had a capacity of roughly 70 people, not nearly enough for The Stud to stand on its own ground financially. Even in the last location, things were tight.
“We were paying a lot of money in rent and we were just sort of barely scraping by,” said Mahogany. The Stud was — like many bars — doing its core financial business during what Mahogany called the “gay high holidays” like Folsom Street Fair, Dore, Pride, etc. During the other months The Stud mostly operated at a loss. If The Stud is to come back in brick and mortar form, it has to pay for itself.
Then, in 2023, the correct space popped up. 1123–1125 Folsom Street encompasses a former sports bar and a former restaurant, linked together with a central patio and multiple points of entry and exit. After some negotiations with allies at City Hall, the building was rezoned for nightlife and The Stud co-op bought the space.
Over drinks and music the co-op shared their dreams for the future of one of San Francisco’s oldest queer institutions. The bones are strong, but the space needs a lot of work to become a nightclub. The co-op seeks about $500,000 in seed money to get up and running.
“We’re really interested in preserving the legacy and atmosphere of The Stud,” said Mahogany.
This space on Folsom Street checks all the boxes, and if the money shows up so will a sparkly new version of The Stud. There is no planned opening date, and many specific details are in flux, but Mahogany says the “epic long drag shows” will be back and The Stud promises to be more queer than ever.
“San Francisco drag is really gritty and alternative and maybe not something that you’ll see anywhere else.” boasts Mahogany, “The co-op is really excited to revive that spirit of The Stud, and make sure that it is alive for generations to come.”
Christopher J. Beale is an award winning journalist, media host, producer and audio engineer living in San Francisco.
The Bold Italic is a non-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. Donate to us today.
