Why is the castro the gay neighborhood of sf

The Castro wasn’t San Francisco’s first gay neighborhood, nor even its second or third. But since the early 70s, it’s been the epicenter of gay life in San Francisco and arguably the world. Although the greater gay community was, and is, concentrated in the Castro, many gay people live in the surrounding residential areas bordered by Corona Heights, the Mission District, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, and Haight-Ashbury neighborhoods.

Some consider it to include Duboce Triangle and Dolores Heights, which both have a strong LGBTQ presence. Homosexuals across America consider San Francisco a "Gay Mecca" thanks to the rise of the distinctive gay community, primarily in the Castro District, centered at the intersection of Castro and 18th Streets, a block from upper Market Street. InLife magazine declared San Francisco the capital of gay America. And the Castro was its beating heart.

Arguably the single most famous “gayborhood” in the United States, some of the. In the 70s, following the Stonewall Uprising and the first Pride march, the Castro was the headquarters of the gay liberation movement.

Hotels in castro district, san francisco

Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City Novels immortalised gay San Francisco, especially the Castro district. With the opening of the Castro Street segment of the Market Street Cable Railway inEureka Valley became a desirable and accessible neighborhood. There was economic solidarity; everyone was working class. Many well-educated, middle-class gay men with capital and a real appreciation for old architecture found Eureka Valley a perfect place to settle.

A park may not seem like a must-see, but Dolores Park is the most popular scenic spot where Castro residents go to soak up the sun, relax, and admire the lovely views of the city. Concert Archives. The "gay" and euphoric delirium of the s was replaced by the sobering crisis of the s. Castro Theater Credit: Dan Nicoletta. Admire the neighborhood art scene From street art to galleries, the Castro District has a vibrant art scene that captures the diversity and uniqueness of the neighborhood.

The Holy Redeemer Church was more than a place to worship: it was the focus of social activities and the school for all the neighborhood children. Guest User. Get Started. And he was everything the Castro was about. And then of course there is the Twin Peaks Bar. One of the most dramatic consequences of AIDS is that a large number of men were catapulted out of the closet when their illness became obvious.

Another surprise I found-and this is not really trivia at all, but pretty important-was regarding San Francisco's well developed gay political community long before the Castro and Harvey Milk. Or perhaps it was in May ? At the time, the trend in the why is the castro the gay neighborhood of sf straight taverns was the "fern bar" look -- big windows, lots of plants, and a big wooden bar.

Even though AIDS and HIV encouraged a negative view of gay sex, the educational efforts to combat the disease, inadequate as they were, helped to demystify same-sex unions. Humankind -- with its additional definitions -- marches on. It turns out that San Francisco in the s was pretty well known as a friendly town for gays, despite the routine entrapments, harassment and police raids they suffered.

Explore Video. In the s, during its post-industrial years, San Francisco experienced an explosion of white-collar workers.

The Castro | Castro History

But before the era of the Castro, so-called "gay neighborhoods" were associated strictly with nightlife, or vice and prostitution, or at best a kind of Bohemian attitude that tolerated everybody, not just gays and lesbians. Virtual Experience Explore our interactive video tour, from wherever you are in the world. The twist is, though, that these immigrants weren't fleeing distant tyrants or famines, but intolerant communities and families in their own country.

By it was estimated that 17 percent of the city's population,people, were homosexual. There's nobody here who looks like me. At Home in the Castro? The races are less segregated. It also became a lightning rod for America's discomfort with so-called "gay power. In the s when Irish, German and Scandinavian families homesteaded on the slopes of Twin Peaks, a village of dairy farms and Victorian houses flourished.