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There’s also the music: While there are occasional winks to the past, the DJs utilize contemporary techno and synth music to whip up a heady eroticism that wouldn’t be out of place in Berlin’s notorious sex-dungeon Laboratory.
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Whereas the macho seriousness of original leather bar scene could be a turn-off for more playful-minded folks like myself, these parties are full of conviviality-almost relief, really, at the option of being able to come together in a steamy, red-lit atmosphere full of harnesses and chaps that weren’t just purchased on the fly for Folsom Street Fair trendiness.
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A leather dress code is strongly encouraged, as is making out with as many men as you can on the dance floor.ĭon’t be frightened, be titillated, a little curious even.
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Some of the dudes there are tanks, straight out of the stuck-together pages of a Tom of Finland calendar. The monthly Go Bang parties at the Stud delve into the gay disco vibe, too, with special guests from the heyday of bathhouses and all-nighters.īut Mister Drummer 1979 is the first to exclusively concentrate on the leather theme, and almost all traces of vintage camp have been subsumed in the sweaty embrace of hard looks and hot muscle. Honey Soundsystem has also feted the music and vibe of that far-off time, with parties that feature vintage porn soundtracks in legendary locations. DJ Bus Station John’s Thursday weekly Tubesteak Connection plays underground disco and Hi-NRG from the time and wraps everything in a retro-porno vibe-it’s now going on its 14th year at Aunt Charlie’s in the Tenderloin-and he also spins the classics third Sundays at Disco Daddy, the Eagle’s first-ever tea dance. These parties aren’t the first to model themselves on filthier-than-thou bacchanal of SF in its Folsom Street Miracle Mile heyday. “It’s time to make leather fun, sleazy, and relevant again!” An Eagle Sunday Beer Bust moment captured by photographer Doug Ischar “We wanted to recreate old school cruise bar environments while simultaneously celebrating iconic institutions,” DJ Matthew Paul, part of the crew founded by his friend Nick Wafle, told me. The first two explicitly commemorated lusty, long-gone SF bars the Tool Box and Febe’s, even printing retro logo t-shirts for the occasion. The Mister Drummer 1979 parties aim to revive the vibe of historic local leather bars. Drummer 1979-a reference to classic gay leather scene magazine Drummer, based in San Francisco for much of its 24-year existence and once edited by renowned writer Jack Fritscher, who now maintains the Drummer Archives. (The magazine was known for its competitive pageants around the country the Mister Drummer 1979 mascot is a toothsome hunk named Mike Glassman, who led a vibrant life, and died of AIDS in 1993.) Transformational!īoth parties were thrown by a new crew called Mr. It was like stepping into a time capsule that turned into a spaceship that turned into an orgy. In fact, the leather man mural featured in the Life photo spread was right about where the produce section is now.NIGHTLIFE Two of the best parties of the last year pulled off a gay miracle: They combined classic, raw sexuality straight out of the ’70s with forward-thinking music. The first wave of modern gay bars began in 1962, with one, The Tool Box in SoMa (399 4th Street) being featured a couple years later in Life Magazine in a pioneering piece about “Homosexuality in America.” It was a “rough trade” leather bar that helped establish San Francisco’s national reputation as a hub of gay culture, and the site where it stood is now the SoMa Whole Foods at 4th and Harrison. The place ended up being closed six months later by the vice squad, but it’s an example of a storied place that was probably one of many lost to history. First (though probably not the very first of its kind), there was The Dash, a Barbary Coast bar opened in 1908 at 547 Pacific Street where cross-dressing waiters were known to do special favors for the customers for a dollar. A shot at The Tool Box from the 1964 photo spread in Life.įollowing on a recent map project of the Lost Gay Bars of San Francisco, OUT just did a roundup of the 12 Bars That Made San Francisco Gay, and we’re betting you have not heard of most of them.