News :: Business

Bike lane wars come to the Castro

Bike lane wars come to the Castro

  • by John Ferrannini
  • Feb 1, 2024

Members of the Castro Merchants Association demanded answers from a representative of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency over alleged anti-car animus hurting the city's — and the LGBTQ neighborhood's — economy.

Business Briefing: SF program assists leather, kink entrepreneurs

Business Briefing: SF program assists leather, kink entrepreneurs

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Jan 10, 2024

Licensed marriage and family therapist David Khalili opened his Rouse Relational Wellness in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro district three years ago and now employs seven practitioners.

Staff at sex shop chain Good Vibrations file to unionize

Staff at sex shop chain Good Vibrations file to unionize

  • by John Ferrannini
  • Jan 3, 2024

The staff of Good Vibrations, a Bay Area chain of sex-positive adult toy retailers, have filed for a union election.

Business Briefing: Checking off the gift list at Noe Valley shops

Business Briefing: Checking off the gift list at Noe Valley shops

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Dec 13, 2023

Just over the hill from San Francisco's Castro district is another neighborhood long a welcoming home to the city's LGBTQ community.

Business Briefing: Scuba instructor provides safe space for LGBTQ divers

Business Briefing: Scuba instructor provides safe space for LGBTQ divers

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Nov 8, 2023

Pursuing a career in Antarctic biology, specifically to study penguins, Danny Khor in January signed up as a volunteer with the Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 in San Francisco's bayside Fisherman's Wharf shopping and dining district.

Business Briefing: SF coworking space incubates lesbian restaurateurs

Business Briefing: SF coworking space incubates lesbian restaurateurs

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Oct 11, 2023

In the coming weeks Suki and Katya Skye will open a restaurant near San Francisco's Polk Gulch neighborhood featuring fare from their Eastern European roots.

B.A.R.'s Bestie balloting begins

B.A.R.'s Bestie balloting begins

  • by Cynthia Laird
  • Sep 25, 2023

It's time for Bay Area Reporter readers to cast their ballots for the LGBTQ newspaper's annual Best of the Bay contest.

Local restaurants get grants

Local restaurants get grants

  • by BAR staff
  • Sep 20, 2023

The Golden Gate Business Association, the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and Grubhub held a reception last week and distributed grants to local restaurants.

Business Briefing: Queer owner's garage fermentation trials produce thriving cider business

Business Briefing: Queer owner's garage fermentation trials produce thriving cider business

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Sep 13, 2023

While working at various San Francisco restaurants in the late 1990s and 2000s, Bex Pezzullo was studying to earn her certification as a sommelier.

Art project seeks to bridge Castro's past, present

Art project seeks to bridge Castro's past, present

  • by John Ferrannini
  • Aug 16, 2023

A new art installation in the Castro is seeking to bring the LGBTQ neighborhood's history alive while at the same time enliven empty storefront spaces.

Business Briefing: From Castro start, yoga practice spreads across SF

Business Briefing: From Castro start, yoga practice spreads across SF

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Aug 9, 2023

Twenty-five years ago David Nelson got his start as a yoga proprietor when he opened his first studio in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro district in 1998 with co-owner Darren Main.

Business Briefing: Wine purveyors uncork joviality in SF SOMA district

Business Briefing: Wine purveyors uncork joviality in SF SOMA district

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Jul 12, 2023

Sommeliers and friends Cara Patricia and Simi Grewal opened their wine bar and shop DECANTsf in San Francisco's South of Market district on May 1, 2019.

Castro shop sending LGBTQ books to red states

Castro shop sending LGBTQ books to red states

  • by John Ferrannini
  • Jul 11, 2023

A Castro neighborhood bookstore is doing its part to fight homophobic and transphobic book bans by sending boxes of books with LGBTQ themes to organizations in conservative areas.

Business Briefing: Marking 3rd anniversary, Castro chocolatier hosts drag brunch

Business Briefing: Marking 3rd anniversary, Castro chocolatier hosts drag brunch

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • Jun 14, 2023

As it marks this month its third anniversary in business at 3901 18th Street in San Francisco's Castro LGBTQ neighborhood, Kokak Chocolates is shaking up its menu items and eying expansion into breakfast and lunch options.