The Pink Triangle Memorial consists of fifteen concrete pylons rising from the hillside of Corona Heights, arranged to form a massive triangle visible from the Castro district below. It marks the site where the city installs a lighted pink…
Castro Queer Liberation History
This walk guides you through the historic heart of the Castro to see where the modern LGBTQ+ civil rights movement took shape, from Harvey Milk's political headquarters to poignant memorials and pioneering community spaces.
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1. Pink Triangle Memorial
2. Harvey Milk Plaza
The heavy steel pylon rising from the corner of Castro and Market streets marks the entrance to Harvey Milk Plaza. It holds a permanent, oversized rainbow flag that flies above the intersection, signaling the heart of the city’s gay rights…
3. Jane Warner Plaza
The intersection of Castro, Market, and Seventeenth Streets holds a triangular wedge of pavement filled with wire chairs and umbrella tables. Before this was a public space, the plot served as a transit island for streetcars and buses. In…
4. Twin Peaks Tavern
The floor-to-ceiling glass walls of Twin Peaks Tavern face the intersection of Market and Castro streets, exposing the interior to the sidewalk. Before nineteen seventy-two, gay bars in San Francisco operated with covered windows and…
5. The Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre features an ornate, Spanish Colonial Baroque facade dominated by a towering vertical sign that spells out the name in bright neon bulbs. Built in nineteen twenty-two, the movie palace opened with a showing of the silent…
6. GLBT Historical Society Museum
A neon sign spelling out GLBT Museum hangs in the window above the sidewalk on Eighteenth Street. This space holds thousands of items spanning decades of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender life in San Francisco. Curator Gerard…
7. The Castro Camera and the Harvey Milk Residence
The storefront at five hundred seventy-five Castro Street features a plain, dark-framed window and a simple recessed entrance. This was the headquarters for Harvey Milk’s political campaigns and his photography shop during the nineteen…