Two iconic LGBT businesses in San Francisco – the Stud bar and the recovery-based Castro Country Club – could get some help after the city's Small Business Commission granted them legacy business status.
Among other benefits, a legacy business's landlord may get grant money if he's willing to enter into a 10-year lease.
The commissioners voted 5-0 Monday, November 28 to support the businesses. Two commissioners were absent.
The legacy business registry is the result of Proposition J, which was approved last November. It defined a legacy business as those that have operated for more than 20 years and that the Small Business Commission has found have significantly contributed to the history or identity of a particular neighborhood or community and would face a significant risk of displacement.
The Stud has been in business since 1966, when it opened at 1535 Folsom Street as part of the "Miracle Mile," a group of leather bars that lined the street and made the South of Market neighborhood famous. Since 1987, it's been at 399 Ninth Street, a building a few blocks away that was constructed in 1906.
The bar has hosted everyone from blues singer Etta James to actress and musician Charo, and in the mid-1990s, it became the original home of the long-running Trannyshack drag show.
Trannyshack "would go on to grab the attention of journalists and clubgoers around the country, helping to define 1990s nightlife and drag culture," a report submitted by the bar's backers says.
Citing Trannyshack founder Heklina, the report says the party "rose out of the ashes of the AIDS crisis. It brought together many of the defining elements of the queer San Francisco nightlife scene at the time: its gender-irreverent drag sensibilities, punk-rock rebellion, and the pain and fear fueled by the AIDS crisis, as well as an expression of resiliency and hope."
As other gay bars in the city have shut down over the years, the Stud, which is still regularly packed with its Some Thing drag revues, has been facing changes, too. An adjacent property that once was the site of a bus parking lot has been transformed into condominiums.
Current Stud owner Michael McElhaney announced in July that the bar's building had been sold, and performers and others formed the Stud Collective in an effort to save it. (The collective will announce its next steps at a community meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, December 6 at the Stud.)
"As SOMA is rapidly built out with new developments," such as the neighboring condos, the report says, "the Stud's architecture and stature stands unique against a shrinking sky."
The bar's backers added that its placement at the corner of two "major thoroughfares" – Ninth and Harrison streets – "allows for the prominent placement of a gay flag in a neighborhood that is not exclusively gay. ... That flag stands as testament that San Francisco has a commitment to not only tolerance but also to the acceptance, protection, and celebration of its gay community."
'Solidarity and empowerment'
At Monday's hearing, drag performer Honey Mahogany referred to President Barack Obama's remarks after the June massacre at Orlando, Florida's Pulse nightclub, where Omar Mateen fatally shot 49 people and wounded 53 others. Obama said the gay club had been "a place of solidarity and empowerment."
Mahogany said the Stud's filled that role for 50 years.
It's been "a place for patrons of all stripes," including men, women, and every gender in between, she said, and "that ethos continues today."
It's also been a venue "where queers and artists could come let their hair down and be themselves," Mahogany said. "... The Stud remains a place where all are welcome," whether it's on the stage or on the dance floor.
Stud supporter Matthew DeCoster, 51, told commissioners that he hadn't planned to speak, but then he noticed the candle wax on his shoes from the previous night's vigil to honor slain gay icon Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone.
DeCoster recalled the late 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic was decimating the community and he and his first boyfriend used to go to the Stud every week.
People at the time were "terrified and needed community and solidarity," he said. He added that he didn't think anybody commenting on behalf of legacy businesses was against development, and it's possible to keep the city's "original delicious fruit filling and still add to the beautiful pie that we have."
Also approved for legacy business status Monday was the Castro Country Club, at 4058 18th Street.
Founded in 1983, the nonprofit offers numerous 12-step meetings and other services.
"Upon its founding, the Castro Country Club quickly became a sober destination in the neighborhood which eventually expanded with the onset and spread of the AIDS epidemic when the space became a second home for men and women living with and impacted by AIDS," according to documents filed with the club's legacy business application.
In response to an email from the Bay Area Reporter after Monday's meeting, Billy Lemon, the nonprofit's executive director, said, "In a city where the rising costs of rent create feelings of uncertainty, the legacy business registry will offer us assistance in negotiations with our landlord. The recognition by the Board of Supervisors, the Historic Preservation and Small Business Commissions just reaffirm what we already know to be true. The Castro Country Club remains relevant and vital and impacts the community we serve in a positive way."
Commission President Mark Dwight said before Monday's vote on the Stud, the Country Club, and several other businesses, "This is the best part of our job." He also remarked on "how important" the businesses "are to the character of our city."
Gay Commission Vice President Stephen Adams told the business representatives, "Every one of you is deserving, and you're all awesome."