4121 18th Street
San Francisco, California 94114
(415) 626-9320
SFBadlands.com
Status: LGBT Bar
In Their Own Words: San Francisco Badlands is the Castro’s most popular location for video/music entertainment and dancing. Our dance floor features a state-of-the-art EAW-powered sound system, and colorful dance floor lighting with a traditional rotating mirror ball. Our front room lounge area is a great place to meet people or hang out with your friends and enjoy the music videos.
History
Summary
| Name | Dates of Operation |
| Badlands | 1975 – 2020 |
| Watergate West | 1973 – 1974 |
Details
After briefly opening as the topically-named Watergate West in 1973, the bar became Badlands in 1975, which originally served dinners and weekend brunches. The dining room, known as the Winchester Room, had stained glass highlights.
By the late 80s, the bar had a rustic, almost honky-tonk vibe, with automobile license plates from every state decorating the walls and with several pool tables. In 1999, the bar was purchased by Les Natali, who owned the Patio Café. He closed it for remodeling, and it reopened as a dance bar in 2000.
In 2004, Natali – who by then also owned the Detour – sought to buy the Pendulum, a bar across the street from Badlands that largely catered to African American gay men. The move spurred accusations that Natali discriminated against minorities at Badlands by asking them to show multiple forms of identification and by failing to serve them at the bar. The group, which initially called themselves IsBadlandsBad.com before changing their name to And Castro For All (AC4A), filed complaints with the San Francisco Human Rights (HRC) Commission and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). The official filing included 32 allegations of discrimination from eight complainants.
After a 10 month investigation involving interviews with more than 60 people, the 11-member HRC issued a report that found 13 of the 32 complaints to be valid, determining that the bar “required multiple forms of identification from some black customers, used discriminatory hiring practices, applied a dress code only to black patrons, and denied entry using other policies rarely applied to whites” (The Advocate, April 28, 2004). Though the HRC didn’t have power to issue sanctions against the bar since it was not a city contractor, its report could be used by the Entertainment Commission to revoke the bar’s dance license.
Natali disputed the charges, arguing that the allegations were based on misunderstandings from people asked to leave because of being overly intoxicated or on drugs, not because of their race. He argued that the HRC’s findings did not follow proper due process because he was not allowed to cross examine his accusers, and that their accusations were “politically motivated and inflammatory.”
In June of 2005, former Mayor Willie Brown, who is African American, agreed to mediate the dispute at the request of then-Mayor Gavin Newsom. Natali’s attorney asked that the mediation be delayed until the state ABC issued their own findings.
The ABC conducted their own investigation, including interviewing witnesses and conducting undercover investigations. In July of 2005, the ABC announced that they were not able to substantiate the allegations and closed their investigation. Had they found against Natali, he could have lost his liquor licenses for all of his bars.
The ABC nevertheless required that as conditions for his liquor license for the Pendulum that he post signs at the door announcing that the bar does not discriminate, and that his employees complete a discrimination training course. At first, it appeared that the conditions would be moot, since Natali was in negotiations to sell the bar to John MacNeil, who was suing Natali and former Pendulum owner Rod Kobila claiming breach of contract. MacNeil claimed that he had an oral agreement with Kobila to buy the bar from him before Natali made a better offer.
A few weeks later, Natali and MacNeil closed the Pendulum for badly-needed renovations to the deteriorating bar. Opponents argued that his closure of the Castro’s only African American gay bar proved his racism. Supporters, including staff members of the Pendulum, said that staff had been told the previous winter that the bar would have to close for badly needed repairs for unsafe conditions, and that they had received severance packages ranging from $500 to $5,000, depending on their length of service.
In August of 2005, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing began their own investigation, as did the city’s Entertainment Commission, which had the power to revoke the bar’s permit to allow for music and dancing.
At the Entertainment Commission’s hearing, Commissioner Joseph Pred compared the bar’s staff who were speaking in support of Natali with Germans during World War II who claimed to know nothing about the Holocaust. Pred later apologized for his remarks and recused himself from any further hearings about Badlands.
The Entertainment Commission ultimately took no action against Badlands. Mediation between Natali and the AC4A complainants proceeded slowly. Meanwhile, negotiations for Natali to sell the Pendulum to MacNeil and his business partner, Gail Irwin, fell apart and they took Natali to court to force the sale. At the same time, Natali was forced to close the Detour when his lease expired in October of 2005 and the owner of the building, Greg Bronstein, refused to renew the lease, though Natali retained ownership of its liquor license.
In January of 2006, after a 19-month fight, Natali and AC4A complainants reached a settlement that remains confidential, but both sides expressed happiness with the resolution. With the complainants withdrawing their charges, the Entertainment Commission dropped their investigation of Badlands and approved Natali’s entertainment permit for the Pendulum, still closed for renovations.
Natali proceeded to sue the HRC to rescind its report against Badlands, but the courts threw out the suit on the grounds that the report hadn’t been formally adopted by the HRC despite being publicly released. MacNeil and Irwin’s suit against Natali was also dismissed after the parties reached a settlement that left Natali with the Pendulum and MacNeil and Irwin with the Detour’s old liquor license.
In July of 2020, while bars remained closed for the COVID-19 pandemic, Badlands abruptly announced that they not be reopening in its current incarnation when the restrictions on bars were lifted. “Later this fall, a new bar, under new ownership, will open in the Badlands location,” they posted on Facebook. “The name of the new bar and other details will be announced later, closer to the opening date.”
Notably, the post did not specifically say that the bar had been sold, nor did Natali respond to press inquiries, leading some to question whether or not Natali would be staying on as a partner in the new bar. The notice also did not mention Natali’s other bar across the street, Toad Hall, nor his restaurant/bar in the Castro, Hamburger Mary’s.
Sources
Bajko, Matthew S., “ABC upholds Natali’s liquor license,” Bay Area Reporter, August 4, 2005.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Badlands mediation derails,” Bay Area Reporter, August 11, 2005.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Badlands mediation reached,” Bay Area Reporter, January 19, 2006.
Bajko, Matthew S., “City moves to dismiss Natali suit,” Bay Area Reporter, August 3, 2006.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Commissioner to clarify Holocaust remark,” Bay Area Reporter, August 11, 2005.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Court dismisses Pendulum lawsuit,” Bay Area Reporter, April 6, 2006.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Detour bar to close Sunday,” Bay Area Reporter, October 13, 2005.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Natali, city spar over lawsuit,” Bay Area Reporter, December 28, 2006.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Natali sues HRC,” Bay Area Reporter, July 6, 2006.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Pendulum closing sparks protests,” Bay Area Reporter, August 4, 2005.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Pendulum deal collapses,” Bay Area Reporter, September 15, 2005.
Bajko, Matthew S., “Third Badlands probe heats up,” Bay Area Reporter, August 4, 2005.
Batey, Eve, “Controversial Castro Gay Bar and 12-Year-Old SoMa Seafood Spot Both Close for Good,” Eater San Francisco, July 30, 2020.
Bracco, Steven, “45-year-old Castro video bar Badlands to permanently close,” Hoodline, July 30, 2020.
Buchanan, Wyatt, “Castro group settles differences with neighborhood bar,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 19, 2006.
Buchanan, Wyatt, “Gays at receiving end of bias,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 26, 2005.
Buchanan, Wyatt, “State board finds no discrimination by Castro bar owner,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 15, 2005.
Ferrannini, John, “SF Castro’s Badlands to close permanently,” Bay Area Reporter, July 30, 2020.
Hill, Kelly, “Bar owner accused of race bias accepts mediation by ex-mayor,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 4, 2005.
Johnson, Jason B., “Board likely to back Castro bar bias finding,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 2005.
Laird, Cynthia, “Badlands mediation deal,” Bay Area Reporter, August 25, 2005.
Larson, Kris, “Activist Calvin Gipson to leave San Francisco,” Bay Area Reporter, July 19, 2007.
Marech, Rona, “Castro nightclub owner accused of discrimination,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 15, 2004.
Mooney, Paul, “Guest Opinion: Landmark fight – 1 year later,” Bay Area Reporter, April 27, 2006.
Natali, Les, “Letters to the Editor,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 3, 2005.
Peterson, Bill, “Controversial owner of S.F. bar draws fire from activists,” The Advocate, August 13, 2005.
“San Francisco finds gay bar owner discriminated against blacks,” The Advocate, April 28, 2005.
Szymanski, Zak, “Pred apologizes for Holocaust remark,” Bay Area Reporter, August 18, 2005.
Location
Racism in the gay community is nothing new – I had a friend of a friend who was disparaging of any non Euro-American gays, often quipping that the Castro should be “OUR neighborhood” alone. When he contracted AIDS around 1985, he’d shriek to my face that “White gays don’t deserve AIDS; it should be an affliction of minorities!”