6 Legendary Gay Bars in the Bay Area
By: Casey O'Brien
Tags: Bay Area, San Francisco, Business, Gay Bars, LGBTQ

6 Legendary Gay Bars in the Bay Area

Aunt Charlie’s Bar. Photo: Vilen Gabrielyan

Pride Month has arrived, and we here at The Bold Italic are celebrating our LGBTQ community by taking a look back at its roots in our city. If you’ve ever been out for drinks in the Bay Area, you know our gay bars are a blast. But they’re more than that — many are among the most historic gay bars in the country and served crucial roles in the early days of the gay rights movement. Today, they remain important community gathering places for LGBTQ people to safely connect with each other.

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The number of gay bars in the city has dwindled in recent years due to high rent prices, and now, due to Covid-19, they’ve shuttered for the foreseeable future. Let’s take a look at some of these iconic bars and how you can help make sure they’ll be able to reopen one day.

1. Twin Peaks Tavern

Twin Peaks Tavern, located in the heart of the Castro, first opened in 1935 but really became a queer gathering space when lesbian friends Mary Ellen Cunha and Peggy Forster bought it in 1971. The women — affectionately known by patrons as “the girls” — made history with Twin Peaks because of a simple yet bold design choice: floor-to-ceiling plate-glass windows. It’s believed to be the first gay bar in the nation to feature full-length windows that allowed the world to see inside. This was monumental because, at the time, many LGBTQ men and women still feared losing their jobs or families if their sexual orientation became known. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors designated Twin Peaks a historic landmark in 2013 for that bold move. The bar is closed due to Covid-19. The owners are asking for donations to their GoFundMe to cover rent and monthly operational obligations until they can reopen safely.

2. Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

When it opened in the late 1980s, Aunt Charlie’s was one of a bevy of divey gay bars in the Tenderloin. Today, it is the last one remaining. The bar has hosted some of San Francisco’s most legendary drag queens, including beloved performer Vicki Marlane, who passed away in 2011. The block where Aunt Charlie’s is located is named after her—underneath “Turk Street” on the sign reads “Vicki MarLane.” Aunt Charlie’s provides an important refuge for many queer people in San Francisco, especially those who are new to the city.

3. Moby Dick

Moby Dick, one of San Francisco’s legacy businesses, is one of the Castro’s classic gay bars, run by life and business partners Scott Riffe and Joe Cappelletti. The couple are committed to running a neighborhood bar that is open to all. Since its founding in 1977, the bar has attracted its fair share of stars, too, including Robin Williams. Its original owner, Victor Swedosh, envisioned it as an art space for gay artists as well as a community gathering space. In the early 1980s, Moby Dick’s even had its own record label. The bar is asking for donations to help it get by during the pandemic through its GoFundMe. According to the page, the owners say, “ [T]he money ran out before we could get a PPP loan. We haven’t heard back from the [EIDL] loan, so far crickets from the $10,000.00 grant.” The donations will help cover rent, utilities, insurance, health care, keeping the bar’s fish alive, and more.

4. Harvey’s

Harvey’s, opened in 1974, was originally named the Elephant Walk (after the Elizabeth Taylor film). It followed in the footsteps of Twin Peaks: a space with large, open windows where the queer community could gather together (something that was particularly important to one of the original owners, Fred Rogers). The community was devastated after the tragic assassination of Harvey Milk in 1977. In 1979, when Milk’s murderer, Dan White, was charged only with voluntary manslaughter, outraged people protested at city hall. In retaliation, police officers raided and destroyed the Elephant Walk. The owners rebuilt using some reparations from the city, but only a few years later, a fire destroyed the building. The restorations took years. Once the bar was refurbished in 1996, it reopened as Harvey’s, in honor of Milk. The bar is filled with historical memorabilia, including Milk’s campaign posters, and it helps fundraise for local nonprofits in the supervisor’s honor. Because Harvey’s also serves food all day, from brunch to dinner, it is now open normal hours seven days a week with outdoor dining. Go show them some love!

5. White Horse Inn

Nestled in the Bushrod neighborhood on the Oakland-Berkeley border, the White Horse Inn says it’s the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the United States. Although it’s temporarily shuttered due to Covid-19, the White Horse Inn is still going strong almost 90 years since its opening and is planning to reopen when safe. It officially opened in 1933, although it was rumored to have been a speakeasy before that during Prohibition. The bar is about a mile from the UC Berkeley campus and has long catered to many of the school’s queer students and faculty. Historically, it was easier to get a liquor license in Oakland than in Berkeley, so the White Horse is strategically placed right over the city line to be accessible to Berkeley students without being subject to Berkeley laws.

6. The Stud

The Stud, located in SOMA, is the oldest gay bar in San Francisco proper. It opened in 1966 in what would later become the Leather District. The original owners, George Mason and Alexis Muir, hung a sign over the bar that said “Everyone Is Welcome Here,” a motto the bar has lived up to for decades. Many gay bars initially did not welcome trans people or women, but the Stud has always been much more inclusive, partially because Muir (the grand-niece of legendary naturalist John Muir) was a trans woman herself. Heartbreakingly, the original beloved Stud location is closing down due to lost revenue from Covid-19, but the owners hope to find a new location when it makes more sense financially. “It breaks our heart to leave our historic home, but at this point we have no other choice,” said Rachel Ryan in a recent press conference. Ryan is part of the collective that took over the Stud in 2017. The bar hopes to find a new venue that will allow for social distancing. As a final send-off, the Stud held an online drag funeral for the space at the end of May. In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the efforts to find the Stud’s forever home.

These bars are an amazing part of the Bay Area’s history and part of what makes our home so special. Hopefully soon we will be able to say cheers in person to our LGBTQ community.