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By 1962 Stoumen and other local bar owners had formed the Tavern Guild of San Francisco, America's first gay business association.
BLACK GAY BARS SAN FRANCISCO FULL
(At a time when men could be arrested for masquerading as women, Sarria dressed in full drag, wearing a sign that read "I am a boy.") Despite frequent police raids of the Black Cat and harassment by city politicians, Stoumen resisted paying unwarranted fines and refused to close until the state succeeded in revoking the Black Cat's liquor license in 1963.īut the gay business community had had enough. Through humor, Sarria turned serious subjects on their head-a drag show staple to this day. His shows had strong political undertones, and he packed the house once a week, giving audiences their first taste of gay pride. In the '50s and '60s, the Black Cat was also the site of José Sarria's popular drag revue. In 1951 owner Sol Stoumen won a case with the California Supreme Court that gave bars the right to operate with primarily gay clienteles. I met some nice people at Toronado and I drank some excellent beer - in fact - the beer I had a Toronado was better than the stuff I tried at the SF Brew Fest the night before, so.if you're a beer lover, go to Toronado and bring cash! You'll be happy you went.In the post-WWII era, the Black Cat, on Montgomery Street in North Beach, was one of the city's most popular gay bars. The guy next to me at the bar was drinking a hazy IPA and it looked so good I had to ask - he recommended Alvarado St Flight of the Condor, and that was my next selection. I'm pretty sure you'll have a good experience. Maybe it's attitude - be respectful, keep your face out of your phone, and have your cash ready.
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Bartender was quite the opposite of surly. Not a bad place to land! Clean glass, fresh pour, great beer. I read the beer board, which has an extensive selection of local beers, and when I just couldn't decide I left it up to the bartender who brought me a pint of Russian River Blind Pig IPA. I went in, and I'm not sorry because I had one of the best beer experiences ever. As I was walking into Toronado on a sunny Sunday afternoon, a young guy walking slightly behind me quietly said, "Don't go in there"! And he kept on walking. We will return, and maybe try to catch sunset.Īs a female traveling solo, I usually do pay attention to local advice. In all, this was a very good visit, and the City was glowing, down below us. Our service was good, though we did have to flag down our server to settle the bill, but think that he was busier with the tables along the windows. The views (if there is no fog) are spectacular, and few other bars/lounges in San Francisco offer anything close.ĭuring our visit, the noise level was minimal, but on a previous visit, the bar area was full, and very loud – so one’s experience could differ, by the evening. Now, the wine list is short (I think that cocktails and beer are the prime focus for most patrons), but does have enough choices to keep us happy. Since we had both eaten, we did not even look at the menu of bar food, and went straight to a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir - the Belle Glos “Las Alturas” Santa Lucia Highlands. Just read the signs at the bank of elevators carefully. I had to text her instructions for finding the correct elevator from the ground floor in Tower 1, as the signage is not 100% clear – even though she and I had been up to CityScape before. On this visit, my wife met me at CityScape, since she had a business dinner, and I dined solo elsewhere. On this visit, we were seated on the raised area, but had great views, because the window seating was lower, than we were. There are different seating arrangements, from larger tables, with sofa-style seating, small tables, and then bistro-style tables, with stools.
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This area consists of a raised seating area, back a bit from the walls of windows, with a lower seating area, next to those windows. It is a lovely venue, and functions as a “rooftop lounge,” but has two somewhat separate areas: first, there is a central bar area (lots of purple/magenta lighting), but that is surrounded on 3 sides by the lounge area (more subdued lighting but expect some bleed of the purple/magenta from the bar area), with stadium seating, of sorts. Once this space was the Hilton HHonors Lounge, but was converted into a meeting space, and then repurposed as CityScape, a few years back. Luckily, on this visit, we did not have the fog, from previous visits, so got to take in some of the lovely views, from the top floor of the hotel’s Tower 1. During our March stay at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, we visited their lovely CityScape Lounge, for some wine.