A local lesbian bar in Bernal Heights, the last of its kind in San Francisco. Originally located in North Beach from 1968 to 1976, it was founded by two lesbians, Pat Ramseyer and Nancy White, and moved to this location in 1976. People in the neighborhood originally protested its opening by dumping broken household items, including toilets, in front of the bar, but in defiance, the bar’s owners repurposed these items as décor. The bar continues to be lesbian owned and operated.

El Rio has been a mainstay in the Mission since 1978, when it began life as a leather Brazilian gay bar. Its original owner, Malcolm Thronley, was formerly a bartender at Gus’s Pub, a gay bar located in the Haight-Ashbury. Now under new ownership, the space continues to welcome all and frequently hosts well-attended events.

Moby Dick opened in 1978 and has long been a popular neighborhood hangout. Since the early 1980s, the space behind and above the bar has been occupied by a large, colorful fish tank. Moby Dick hosts various events throughout the week and sponsors two softball teams. It has been a constant fixture in the Castro for four decades.

Now operating as Toad Hall, this space was the home of Pendulum, a gay bar in the Castro that catered to African American men, from 1971 to 2005. It had previously housed the I-Do-Know, the second gay bar in the Castro. The establishment’s current name of Toad Hall was borrowed from another historic bar that operated at 482 Castro Street from 1971 to 1979.

Twin Peaks opened in the 1940s and originally attracted a working-class clientele. It was purchased in 1972 by two lesbians, Mary Ellen Cunha and Peggy Forster, who transformed the establishment by installing large, vertical plate-glass windows. The bar is believed to be the first known LGBTQ bar in the U.S. that made it possible for passersby to view patrons seated inside, becoming a symbol of a liberated, proud, and visible community.

This is the former home of the Missouri Mule, which became the first gay bar in the Castro when it opened in 1963. The pioneering establishment, which would begin to attract the businesses and residents that would transform the neighborhood into an LGBTQ area in the 1970s, was known for Sunday afternoon honky-tonk piano. While the Mule closed its doors in 1973, the location has since housed numerous other gay bars. The current occupant, Beaux, carries on the tradition with regular drag shows.

Trax Bar is the longest-running queer bar in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, having opened in the early 1980s when it replaced another gay bar called the Question Mark. Once surrounded by a variety of queer establishments including bars, restaurants and other businesses, it is now the only remaining such space and a last reminder of the Haight’s history an LGBTQ neighborhood in San Francisco.

Eagle Plaza is the location of the Eagle, a leather-oriented gay bar that opened in 1982. It became one of the city’s hottest leather-cruise bars during the 1980s and has continued to operate with only a few interruptions since then.

Aunt Charlie’s Lounge opened in 1989, replacing Queen Mary’s Pub, which had opened a decade earlier. The bar is well known for its drag shows, including the Hot Boxx Girls. It is a mainstay of the Tenderloin district and is currently the only queer bar in that neighbhorhood. The Tenderloin has historically been home to a large number of transgender people, and was the site of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot in August 1966, among the earliest known protests against police brutality in LGBTQ history.

The Cinch is located in one of the city’s earliest modern gay neighborhoods, Polk Gulch. The Polk corridor's heyday was the 1960s and 1970s when it was known as “the gayest street in San Francisco,” and was home to the city's first Pride march. The Cinch Saloon opened in the 1970s and is the longest-running—and last remaining—gay bar on the street.