Cinematic San Francisco Neon
This deep dive into the intersection of San Francisco’s robust role as a center of filmmaking and as a site of many, many neon signs focuses on films from 1947 through 2014 — seven decades demonstrating that directors have always relied on neon as an essential cinematic element.
Gay bars were often hidden, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Often veiled behind tinted glass, with narrow entrances to allow doormen to screen patrons, they needed to hide the goings-on within from the general public, and the police, as a matter of survival. In the late 1960s they started coming out of the dark, announcing themselves with neon signs.
Gay bars were often hidden, unmarked enclaves for only those in the know. Often veiled behind tinted glass, with narrow entrances to allow doormen to screen patrons, they needed to hide the goings-on within from the general public, and the police, as a matter of survival. In the late 1960s they started coming out of the dark, announcing themselves with neon signs.
These photographs, chiefly by Henri Leleu (from the GLBT Historical Society’s online archives) capture a dawning of San Francisco’s gay bars and clubs, circa 1960s-1970s. Plan to share your personal histories of some of these long-gone (as well as a few surviving) sites.
Photos from the Henri Leleu collection, GLBT Historical Society Archives.