When bars like the Gangway close, it’s easy to dive into conversations about nostalgia. As San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating gay bar, the Gangway opened in 1910 and served primarily gay customers since the 1960s. Its shuttering earlier this year rippled through the LGBT community. Known as a humble yet familiar locale, it served as a safe haven and a rock of the gay community even before the days of Harvey Milk.
Over the past few weeks, my friends and I have spent a lot of time discussing the Gangway’s legacy, realizing that none of us had been to the nautical-themed Tenderloin destination more than a handful of times but always took comfort in the fact that it was there. Off the beaten path from our usual haunts in the Castro and SOMA, the Gangway had an aura of historical fortitude. It was a novel to visit, as if you were peeking into a window of time when gay bars weren’t dominated by house music and go-go boys in Andrew Christian jock straps. Covered in kitch, the decor was always louder than the crowds.
Turns out, the gayborhoods of San Francisco have evolved significantly over time, moving several times over the past century, with influences ranging from wartime to Prohibition to leather daddies to strollers.
Given all this recent discussion, I got to thinking about how San Francisco’s gay-bar scene has evolved over the years when one of my friends noted that the city’s original gay neighborhood was actually Polk Gulch. I’d heard that fun fact before and always accepted it without much care for its accuracy. “It wasn’t until Harvey Milk got elected that the gay community found its home in the Castro,” the friend went on. The story felt sufficient to whet my historical appetites, but much like Carrie Bradshaw often contemplated if her friends were, in fact, correct about everything they said, I needed to do my own research.
Turns out, the gayborhoods of San Francisco have evolved significantly over time, moving several times over the past century, with influences ranging from wartime to Prohibition to leather daddies to strollers. And while Polk Gulch did, in fact, host a slew of gay bars back in the day, gayborhoods here date back much further back and farther north.
We’ve taken a look way back, putting together a timeline of how San Francisco’s gay-bar scene has transformed.
Long before the Gangway opened its doors in 1910, San Francisco solidified its role as a sausage fest during the gold rush, when the population went from 800 to 35,000 from 1849 to 1850 — mainly men looking to make a buck.
Gold Rush Man-ia (1849–1907)
Before diving into the migrating nature of the gayborhood, it’s fun to speculate about why San Francisco has such a strong LGBTQ history. Long before the Gangway opened its doors in 1910, San Francisco solidified its role as a sausage fest during the gold rush, when the population went from 800 to 35,000 from 1849 to 1850—mainly men looking to make a buck. Suddenly, the region was filled with eligible and not-so-eligible bachelors who came from around the country, many who likely didn’t fit in back home, alone before it was deemed safe for their wives to join. They came to mine for dick…er…gold, and built a city basically overnight. They had to do something on Saturday nights, right?
The first gay bar in San Francisco—The Dash—opened and shut its doors in 1908.
Barbar(e)y Coast (1908–1935)
While sodomy laws were still in full effect at this time, the first gay bar in San Francisco opened and shut its doors in 1908. Notorious for the sexual favors you could procure for a hefty $1 charge, The Dash was brought down within a year by the vice squad along with others in this red-light district, as prominent politicians and judges were getting busted for frequenting the seedy nightclubs. Famous for brothels, jazz clubs, saloons and other old-timey, forbidden forms of revelry, the Barbary Coast (modern-day Chinatown) wasn’t necessarily a gay district, but as the center of hedonism and performing arts, it’s often credited as one of the incubators of the vibrant, artistic culture San Francisco celebrates today.
Through a practice called “Blue Discharge,” the navy systematically discharged known homosexuals in port cities like San Francisco, indirectly flooding these neighborhoods with a dejected queer population and giving seamen (and women) a new meaning to the words “wet dream.”
North Bitches (1936–1961)
While the Gangway opened in 1910, it still served mostly straight patrons at this time (it didn’t come out of the bar closet until the early ’60s). It was during these years that the military was inadvertently establishing San Francisco — North Beach and Jackson Square, specifically — as queer hubs.Through a practice called “Blue Discharge,” the navy systematically discharged known homosexuals in port cities like San Francisco, indirectly flooding these neighborhoods with a dejected queer population and giving seamen (and women) a new meaning to the words “wet dream.”Bars like Finocchio’s, the Black Cat and Mona’s were the hippenest, hoppenest joints in town, the latter largely considered the first lesbian bar, complete with cross-dressing servers catering to the more adventurous patrons in the city. From Prohibition to World War II, these bars were still largely out of the public eye and subject to brutal harassment from the police.
While Polk Gulch was prominent for its reportedly 930 gay bars, the Tenderloin also flourished as a gay destination as well as a target for multiple bar raids.
Poke Gulch (1962–1971)
Perhaps one reason Polk Gulch is largely considered the first gayborhood is due to the establishment of the Tavern Guild. The first of its kind, this gay business association met at Suzy Q., a Polk Street gay bar, and conspired to alert one another of impending police raids; fixed drink prices to reduce competition; and monitored practices like rumormongering, whereby straight bars catered to gay patrons in lean times and then turned them away once business picked up. Bars like the Handle Bar, Jumpin’ Frog and the D’Oak Room thrived from this collaboration, which lasted into the ’90s and established San Francisco’s first and largest drag ball, the Beaux Arts Ball, which lasted a few decades. While Polk Gulch was prominent for its reportedly 930 gay bars, the Tenderloin also flourished as a gay destination as well as a target for multiple bar raids.
In the Castro, the original Toad Hall was largely considered the first gay bar of the Castro and paved the way for the likes of Twin Peaks, famous for unabashedly advertising its culture, refraining from covering its windows with black paint to protect its patrons.
SOMA(ny men) and the Castro (1972-Present)
Just as the Gangway started feeling the music and opening its doors to gay patrons (gaytrons?), the Castro and SOMA emerged as prominent gayborhoods while leather culture took over much of the vibe in SOMA, and a new gayborhood flourished with the disco harbingers of the Castro. The Tool Box gained fame with a feature in Life magazine in a special report called “Homosexuality in America.” The Stud catered to the abundance of hippies in the area. And Compton’s Cafeteria witnessed a historic clash between trans activists and policemen three years before Stonewall. Meanwhile in the Castro, the original Toad Hall was largely considered the first gay bar of the Castro and paved the way for the likes of Twin Peaks, famous for unabashedly advertising its culture, which refrained from covering its windows with black paint to protect its patrons.
With more and more historical bars closing their doors to pave way for the Hi Tops’s and Oases of the world, don’t discount the courageous pioneers who gave up a lot for our Thirsty Thursdays. Consider visiting and joining the GLBT Historical Society and patronizing bars off your beaten path.
Now, back to my vodka soda.
