Chinatown

During World War II, Li-Po at 916 Grant Street, which opened in 1937, was a refuge of sorts for gay people driven by police raids from other better-known gay hangouts. But when the police turned their attention to Li-Po’s and the Rickshaw around the corner, Li-Po’s management started to deny entry to the “more swishy ‘girls’” in order to keep things more discrete. The Rickshaw closed in 1984; Li-Po’s has evolved many times and remains open today.

The Tenderloin

Once one of the three major gay neighborhoods in the City, along with the Polk and SOMA, the Tenderloin was home to establishments catering to poorer and more flamboyant gays. The Gangway (841 Larkin Street) professes to the City’s first gay bar, opening on April 10, 1910 and experiencing its first raid for allegations of sexual activity in 1911.

In August of 1966, a police crackdown on trans* patrons of Compton’s Cafeteria triggered a riot – two years before Stonewall. The next day, other gays in the City joined a picket when the trans* patrons were not allowed to return.

Western Addition

The Big Glass, the city’s first black-owned and -oriented gay bar, opened at 1801 Fillmore Street in 1964. It closed in 1968.