“United we stand, divided they’ll catch us one by one.”
Jose Sarria, founder of the Imperial Court
This week’s Bay Area Reporter reviews a new documentary, 50 Years of Fabulous, by Jethro Patalinghug that shows the half-century history of the Imperial Council and its founder, Jose Sarria.
The documentary goes back far before the Imperial Court’s founding in 1965, all the way back to the post-War emergence of a gay community in San Francisco in the 1940s, through the 1950s when Sarria, as a drag performer at the Black Cat Cafe, to Sarria’s run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961, a run that, while unsuccessful, cemented the gay community’s growing political power in San Francisco.
50 Years of Fabulous will have an online screening at the Roxie Cinema’s virtual screening room on October 23. The evening will include a drag show featuring members of the court, and a post screening panel discussion with the filmmakers and members of the court.
Tickets: www.roxie.com
Check out the documentary’s trailer:
I’m writing a gay-themed novel that partly takes place in San Francisco in late 1983.
In particular, I’m looking for info on bars, discos, and hangouts. I’d also be interested in the types of guys you would’ve found in those places.