WATCH: An unfiltered look at queer life in 1960s San Francisco, from leather bars to gay beaches

These days, most major U.S. cities are home to a robust LGBTQ+ population and even have their own “gayborhood.” But, go back in time some 50-plus years, and there really was nowhere else for the queer community as loud, proud, free, and fun as San Francisco.

In the late ’60s, filmmaker Jonathan Raymond set out to document queer life in the City By The Bay, capturing candid footage of bars, events, and other hot spots, as well as interviews with gay men, lesbians, drag queens, and even trans women living openly in the “original gayborhood,” the Tenderloin.

“The people in this city are a little more accepting to the gay life in San Francisco,” says one of Raymond’s subjects. “In all facets of life here, you’ll find some type of gay person employed.”

“Back east you could be it, but you couldnt do it,” adds another. “Out here, you could not only be it, but you could more or less do it and get away with a certain amount of safety.”

Eventually, Raymond assembled his footage into an hour-long documentary which was never screened in its entirety and thought to be lost for decades—that is, until it was discovered by filmmakers Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman while working on their Emmy-winning doc, Screaming Queens: The Riot At Compton’s Cafeteria.

In 2017, SF’s Tenderloin Museum and the California Preservation Program teamed up to restore the original 16MM film and present Raymond’s work, for the first time, as the documentary Gay San Francisco.

All these years later, the film is a fascinating and celebratory time capsule, an authentic peek into our community’s past that doesn’t shy away from the sexier, funnier, stranger details, providing a “shockingly complete depiction of homosexual life” in the Tenderloin.

Unprecedented for its time, Raymond’s project includes no shortage of fascinating materials as he takes viewers inside leather bars and novelty clubs and even captures a “tickle sacrifice” in one of its most memorable scenes. But even in these more lurid moments, his subjects are depicted with candor, humor, and respect.

There are also glimpses into the city’s thriving drag scene, featuring frank discussions with performers including the legendary Charles Pierce, who was known for his impersonation of Bette Davis and became so successful he was effectively America’s first drag superstar.

But Gay San Francisco‘s most show-stopping moment has to be its rare footage from a Halloween drag revue at the historic On The Levee (one of SF’s earliest gay bars that, sadly, shuttered its doors long ago) featuring live music from legendary organist and entertainer David Kelsey. Truly, this over 50-year-old drag show is not to be missed!

Thanks to the archivists at the Tenderloin Museum and the magic of the internet, Raymond’s documentary lives on for all to see. You can watch Gay San Francisco right now—in two parts—courtesy of the Internet Archive.

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