San Francisco - Alison Bing [181]
Brava’s been producing women-run theater for 20 years, and it’s the nation’s only company whose sole purpose is to produce original works by women of color and lesbians. Nodding to the neighborhood’s Mexican heritage, Brava posts hand-painted billboards like the kind you’d see in old Mexico – see some in the lobby.
FEMINA POTENS Map
415-864-1558; www.feminapotens.org; 2199 Market St; noon-6pm Thu-Sun; F, Castro St
SF’s showcase for women’s talents is a tiny storefront gallery by day, performance and workshop venue at night. Check the web for current offerings, ranging from the Crafty Bitches, a knitting-and-crafts night, to seminars on BDSM for queers and trans.
NEW CONSERVATORY THEATER
Map
415-861-8972; www.nctcsf.org; 25 Van Ness Ave; tickets $10-30; 47, 49, Van Ness
This respected gay company draws playwrights like Terrance McNally and continually shows new works. There’s usually a boy partially naked on stage, earning it the nickname ‘Nude Conservatory Theatre,’ but it’s never a strip show. Shows range from camp to dead serious. Worth investigating.
SF LESBIAN GAY BISEXUAL TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY CENTER Map
415-865-5555; www.sfcenter.org; 1800 Market St; 6, 7, 71;
When the center opened up, the entire community grew excited with the possibility of finally having a gathering place, but because of poor endowment, too-high rental rates and weak programming, it hasn’t panned out. Still, it’s worth a look to see if something’s on.
THEATRE RHINOCEROS
Map
415-861-5079; www.therhino.org; 2926 16th St; tickets $10-30; 16th St Mission
By turns edgy, bawdy, serious and experimental, the Rhino mounts noteworthy shows on a shoestring. Despite being a small, no-frills black-box studio, it’s the nation’s longest-running GLBT company. Check the calendar.
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GYMS
GOLD’S GYM
Map
415-626-4488; www.goldsgym.com; 2301 Market St; admission $15; 5am-midnight Mon-Thu, 5am-11pm Fri, 7am-9pm Sat, 7am-8pm Sun; 24, 33, F, K, L, M, Castro St
The definitive gay gym draws a neighborhood crowd of chatty muscle-Marys and quiet straight gals who appreciate being left alone. Full selection of equipment; packed after work. Notorious steam room. Testosterone-y daddies prefer the SoMa location (Map; 415-552-4653; 1001 Brannan St; 10, 19), a vast warehouse space with twice the equipment, a sauna and a steam room. Both have classes – Body Pump to yoga – but the Castro has a proper dance studio instead of a gymnasium.
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FESTIVALS & EVENTS
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL LESBIAN & GAY FILM FESTIVAL
415-703-8650; www.frameline.org; Castro Theatre, Roxie Cinema & other local movie theaters; mid-Jun to end of Jun
GLBT-themed cinema is showcased at this two-week extravaganza with intensive scheduling (250 to 300 films) that reveals the best of queer filmmaking. Films by John Waters and Gus Van Sant, and crossover programs like the British Queer as Folk TV series premiered here. A word to the wise: if you can afford a festival pass, get one. Pass-holders avoid the interminable queues.
DYKE MARCH
415-241-8882; www.dykemarch.org; Dolores Park through the Mission to the Castro; last Sat in Jun
The annual Dyke March, the Saturday-night event preceding Pride, got its start by a single rallying call. At the 1993 LGBT March, a group called the Lesbian Avengers set forth to Washington, protesting what they saw as the control of Gay Pride by white gay men and corporate sponsors. Armed with one bullhorn and word-of-mouth, the Avengers announced the first-ever Dyke March and, to their shock, thousands swarmed the White House. The same gals organized San Francisco’s first Dyke March the following year. The event draws 50,000 lesbian, bi and transgender women. (Men are welcome as supporters but not necessarily as marchers.)
The march kicks off at 7:45pm, led by the Women’s Motorcycle Contingent (Dykes on Bikes). Wrapping up on Castro, it joins Pink Saturday – the Castro’s best annual street party. Castro and upper Market Sts close to traffic, punk bands mouth off, and dancing goes till