San Francisco’s Castro District is currently home to 20 gay bars – more or less, depending how you define the parameters of the Castro, or even how you define “bar,” much less “gay bar.”

But at the peak of the Castro’s glory gay days, there were even more. Some spots that used to be LGBT bars have become restaurants. Some have become other retail shops. Two have subsequently become straight bars. And two are now residential.

Here are ten locations in the Castro (from Castro Street down Market to Church Street) that used to be gay bars but aren’t even bars any longer.

1. Vacant (was the Body Shop) – 506 Castro Street

Before it moved to 18th Street, the Midnight Sun started on Castro Street from 1971 to 1972. The spot briefly became a gay bar called City Dump in 1973 before again being the Midnight Sun from 1974 to 1981. In 1981, the same year that MTV premiered, they took over an old plumbing warehouse around the corner at 4067 18th Street, where it became the city’s (and perhaps the nation’s) first gay video bar. 506 Castro has been a retail spot ever since, though it’s been vacant ever since the Body Shop moved out in January of 2014.

2. Walgreen’s (mezzanine) – 482 Castro Street

In 1971, a street-level bar at 482 Castro became Toad Hall, a bar for gay hippies that played music with carefully prepared mixed tapes at a time when most bars still used jukeboxes. When other bars started to use their own mixed tapes, Toad Hall put in a state-of-the-art sound system and hired DJs to spin music. The owners originally wanted to call it the Iron Nun, but the landlord, though willing to rent to gays, was a devout Catholic who didn’t want a blasphemous name. The bar was hit by three fires in 1973, but continued to thrive until 1979, when it was sold and briefly became DJ’s before rising from the ashes of Toad Hall’s many fires to become the Phoenix (1982-1997), one of the Castro’s few dance bars. Walgreen’s Pharmacy on the corner eventually took over the Phoenix along with two other shops in between. The current Toad Hall on 18th Street has no formal connection to the original bar.

3. Slurp Noodle Bar – 469 Castro Street

In the 1950s, a straight bar at 469 Castro Street — Club Unique — proudly called itself “the gayest spot in town!” Years later, it finally did become a gay bar when it became the aptly-named Nothing Special in 1972. That changed to the Special in 1985, and then the military-themed gay bar Headquarters in 1991. After operating as Night Shift from 1995 to 1997, it became a restaurant, the home for many years of Fuzio’s before becoming Fork Café in 2011. It became Slurp Noodle Bar the day this article went to press.

4. Makli Chinese Cuisine – 290 Sanchez Street

In the mid-1990s, a bar on the corner of Sanchez and 16th named Dicks – a straight bar, believe it or not – went gay and changed their name to the Jackhammer. It was a bar that would not have felt out of place on Folsom Street; one of their regular events was a “Red Hanky Night” for fisting enthusiasts. It later became a restaurant, operating for many years as Daimaru Sushi before the owner decided in mid-2013 to return to his roots and revamp it as Makli Chinese Cuisine.

5. Books, Inc. – 2275 Market Street

From 1972 to 1977, the Shed was an after-hours dance club at 2275 Market that was open from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Some might argue it shouldn’t be included as a gay “bar” since they didn’t serve alcohol, but most guidebooks then and now listed it as such. When the Shed moved to 3520 16th Street, the location served as the “No on 6” campaign headquarters to fight the Brigg’s Initiative that would have mandated firing gay teachers. It’s now Books, Inc.

6. Pesce – 2223 Market Street

It’s been a restaurant for decades, but from 1972 to 1977, 2223 Market Street was a gay piano bar called the Purple Pickle. In 1977 it became Burton’s, a restaurant, and the spot has only had restaurants ever since. Since then, it’s been Leticia’s, 2223, and then (briefly) Jake’s. In 2013, Pesce, a seafood small plates restaurant, moved from their Polk Street location to take over the spot.

7. Klotz Watches & Clocks – 2166 Market Street

It’s hard to imagine Klotz Watches & Clocks ever being a bar, but from around 1975 to 1977 (exact dates are disputed) it was a restaurant/bar called Cardi’s. It then became the Balcony from 1977 to 1983, a restaurant that quickly became a gay leather bar, and then the Academy from 1983 to 1988, a safe-sex men’s sex club.

8. Residential (garage) – 10 Sanchez Street

Scott’s Pit, named after the owner, a lesbian named Scotty, was another improbable location for a gay bar in the basement of a Victorian building. Though it was popular with the lesbian biker crowd and was billed as a lesbian bar, it always drew a mixed crowd. It opened sometime between 1970 to 1972 (accounts vary). Scotty eventually sold it to a gay man who shortened the name to Scott’s. It closed in 1984 and was for a time a corner grocery store. The owners have subsequently converted the space into a residential garage.

9. Vacant (was Home Restaurant) – 2100 Market Street

2100 Market Street has always been a restaurant, but two of its incarnations also included small gay bars. From 1974 to 1976, the restaurant Truck Stop has a gay bar called the Rear End Bar. Then from 1977 to the mid-1990s, it was Church Street Station with a bar called the Hideaway. Afterwards, it became a series of restaurants without gay bars, including Boston Market, JohnFrank, and Home. It’s been vacant ever since Home went bankrupt in 2011. Developers are now hoping to demolish the building to make way for a seven-story condo high-rise.

10. The Residence – 718 14th Street

From sometime in the 1970s to 1995, 718 14th Street was a restaurant with a popular piano bar called the Galleon Supper Club. For a time it was Amber Lounge, a straight bar that got around the state smoking ban by making all of their employees co-owners so that it wouldn’t be defined as a workplace. It is now the Residence, which does not permit smoking.

Bonus

Farther Down Market

Many guidebooks like Damron’s extend the Castro down to Van Ness Avenue in order to be able to include Martuni’s. There are four more former gay bars along that stretch of Market Street.

Now apparently residential, 2097 Market Street was the Naked Grape (1972-1975), the Tool Box (1976), and Hustle Inn (1976-1977).

The doomed restaurant Shanghai at 2029 Market Street was Mecca (1996-2009) and Gingerfruit (2011), restaurants with large bar areas and popular gay events.

From the last 60s to the early 80s, 1884 Market Street was a series of gay bars: Libra (1967-1972); Tree House (1972-1973); JB’s House (1973-1974); and Eagle Creek (1975 until some time in the 1980s). It’s now a medical marijuana prescription clinic.

1760/1770 Market is now a private events venue, but its incarnations as a gay bar have included Octavia Lounge (closed in 2008), Triple Crown (2009-2010), and Rebel (2011-2012).

Straight/Mixed Bars That Used to be LGBT Bars

The Castro has had a number of straight bars go gay, but there are currently only two straight bars open today that used to be LGBT watering holes.

Churchill at 198 Church Street was the Transfer from the 1980s to 2008, and then the Bar on Church from 2009 to 2011.

Just up the street, Lucky 13 at 2140 Market Street was Mind Shaft (1973-1977), Alfie’s (1977-1983), Prism (1984-1985), 2140 Market (1985), Industrial Dance Company (1985-1986), and High Chaparral (1988).

Related

• History of existing gay bars in the Castro

[Update Oct. 2, 2014 – This has been updated to reflect a business’ changes for #3 that occurred on October 1, the same day this was published.]

[Update Oct. 3, 2014 – Updated to correct errors in #9 and #10.]