Neon Comes Out: San Francisco's Gay Bar Signs

Gay bars were often hidden, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Often veiled behind tinted glass, with narrow entrances to allow doormen to screen patrons, they needed to hide the goings-on within from the general public, and the police, as a matter of survival. In the late 1960s they started coming out of the dark, announcing themselves with neon signs. These photographs, chiefly by Henri Leleu (from the GLBT Historical Society Archives) capture a dawning of San Francisco's gay bars and clubs, circa 1960s-1970s.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, "Beacons" exhibit on view in gallery space.

Presented by Jim Van Buskirk with Al Barna and Randall Ann Homan of SF Neon.

Jim Van Buskirk was the founding Program Manager of the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, and co-authored Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the SFBA and Celluloid San Francisco.

Arrive early to view Nathanthiel Bice's painting exhibition "Beacons" at this gallery venue. In this exhibtion Bice shifts to large-scale studio works that spotlight the neon signage and iconic queer spaces that define the city’s nighttime landscape. Rendered with high contrast, saturated color, and dramatic perspective, the works in BEACONS celebrate both the craftsmanship of handmade neon and the cultural weight these sites carry.Timed with the reopening of the Castro Theater, the exhibition engages questions of visibility, preservation, and the precarity of long-standing neighborhood spaces.

Banner photo: Al Barna, Twin Peaks Tavern. Photo below: Randall Homan, Lexington Club.

Photos below from the Henri Leleu collection, GLBT Historical Society Archives.

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