The Castro, San Francisco, California
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The Castro District, more well known as The Castro, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, which is also known as Eureka Valley.
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[edit] Description
San Francisco's gay village is most concentrated in the business district that is located on Castro Street from Market Street to 19th Street. It extends down Market Street toward Church and on 18th Street on both sides of Castro from Sanchez Street to Eureka Street. The greater Castro includes the surrounding residential areas. It is bordered by the Mission District, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, and Haight-Ashbury. It may be considered to include Duboce Triangle and Dolores Heights, which both have a strong gay presence.
Castro Street itself runs south through Noe Valley, crossing the 24th Street business district, and terminating a few blocks farther in the Glen Park neighborhood.
[edit] History
Castro Street was named for José Castro (1808-1860), a leader of Mexican opposition to U.S. rule in California in the 19th century.[1]
The neighborhood now known as the Castro was born 1887 when the Market Street Cable Railway built a line linking Eureka Valley to downtown.
From 1910 to 1920, the Castro was known as "Little Scandinavia" on account of the number of people of Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish ancestry who lived there. A Finnish (Finela's) bathhouse dating from this period was located behind the Cafe Flore on Market Street until 1986. The Cove on Castro diner used to be called The Norse Cove. The Scandinavian Seamen's Union was in the area. And the Swedish-American Hall remains in the district. Scandinavian-style "half-timber" construction can still be seen in some of the buildings along Market Street between Castro and Church Streets. Mama's Bank Account, a novel by Kathryn Forbes (it was made into the movie I Remember Mama with Irene Dunne in 1948), portrays life in the Castro among Norwegian immigrants circa 1910.
The Castro became a working-class Irish neighborhood in the 1930s and remained so until the mid-1960s.
The Castro came of age as a gay center following the controversial Summer of Love in the neighboring Haight Ashbury district in 1967. The gathering brought tens of thousands of middle-class youth from all over the United States. The neighborhood, previously known as Eureka Valley, became known as the Castro, after the landmark theatre by that name near the corner of Castro and Market Streets.
By 1975, Harvey Milk had opened a camera store there, and began political involvement as a gay activist, further contributing to the notion of the Castro as a gay destination. Some of the culture of the late 1970s included what was termed the "Castro Street Clone", which was a mode of dress in vogue with the gay population at the time, and which gave rise to the nickname "Clone Canyon" for the stretch of Castro Street between 18th Street and Market Street. There were numerous famous watering holes in the area, contributing to the nightlife, including the Corner Grocery Bar, the Norse Cove, the Pendulum, and the Elephant Walk. A typical street scene of the period is perhaps best illustrated by mentioning the male belly dancers who could be found holding forth in good weather at the corner of 18th and Castro, on "Hibernia Beach", in front of the financial institution from which it drew its name.
The area was hit hard by the AIDS/HIV crisis of the 1980s. Beginning in the 1980s, city officials began a crackdown on bathhouses and launched initiatives that aimed to prevent the spread of AIDS. Kiosks lining Market Street and Castro Street now have posters promoting safe sex and testing right alongside those advertising online dating services.
[edit] Notable locations
- Castro Theatre, a movie palace built in 1922
- Corner of 18th St.-Castro
- The F Market heritage streetcar line's turnaround at Market St.-17th St.-Castro
- The Castro Street Station, a Muni Metro subway station
- Harvey Milk Plaza, location of Muni MuniMetro Lightrail-Subway Castro street station
- Site of Harvey Milk's Camera Store - 575 Castro St.
- Pink Triangle Park - 17th Street at Market [2]
[edit] Special events
[edit] Demographics
In November 2000, the Noe Valley Voice reported the following statistics for city District 8, which includes Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, Glen Park, Twin Peaks, Corona Heights, Duboce/Reverse Triangle, and Castro/Dolores Heights. The paper cited a 1999 poll of registered voters by David Binder Research, a prominent local polling agency.
- White: 81%
- Age 30-49: 54%
- Male: 58%
- Heterosexual: 59% (89% city-wide)
- Rent housing: 55%
- College graduate: 71%
- Democrat: 72%
- Republican: 12%
- Religious affiliation: 56%
- Not religious: 40%
[edit] In popular culture
- In one episode of the Simpsons, The Castro is mentioned by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. After suggesting to a room full of his subordinates that he is thinking of calling the USA to let them know that communism hadn't worked out and that Cuba was on the verge of going bankrupt, Fidel Castro responds to a disbelieving military officer by saying "They're not so bad, they even named a street after me in San Francisco". After his right-hand man whispers to that the area is full of gay bars, Castro replies "It's full of what!?"
- In Carlos Mencia's stand-up performance, "No Strings Attached", he states that he inadvertantly visited Castro thinking it was a Mexican suburb.
[edit] References
- Demographics: "AND NOW FOR THE RUMORS BEHIND THE NEWS" by Mazook. Noe Valley Voice, November 2000. [3]
- Demographics, see also: "District 8: Under the rainbow" by Betsey Culp. San Francisco Call, 25 September 2000. [4]
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Castro SF - The Complete Local Guide
- Guided photo tour of Castro
- SF Gate: Gay & Lesbian Guide: Castro
- Uncle Donald's Castro Street
- GayCities San Francisco: Gay/Lesbian nightlife & hotel guide to Castro and SF
