Special Issues
50 years in 50 weeks: 1997 got booked
Back in the mid-1990s, every author —and their eager publicists— knew the value of a good or even bad review in the 'Bay Area Reporter.' One deserved standout was the work of Scott Heim.
In late October 1999, film writer Gary Morris focused on the San Francisco Film Society's Dark Wave series, a three-night mini-festival of unusual independent films screened at The Victoria Theatre.
As he bids farewell to his role as James Bond in the action franchise's 'No Time to Die,' let's look back to Daniel Craig's earlier years in cinema, particularly 1998's 'Love is the Devil,' where he played the butch lover of painter Francis Bacon.
The Bay Area Reporter's "No obits" cover from August 13, 1998 is probably our most famous.
LGBTQs who embraced Levi's popular button fly 501 blue jeans were in for a shock when the May 15, 1997 Bay Area Reporter had a cover story on the possibility of San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. no longer selling the denim items in some establishment
The film 'Bound,' described in the October 3 issue of the 'Bay Area Reporter,; was 'Noir lite with a dyke twist.' The Gina Gershon/Jennifer Tilly stylized romance got off to a passionate start only minutes into the crime flick.
Cinema and television through five decades of 'Bay Area Reporter' coverage will be discussed by two prolific film writers, Brandon Judell and Brian Bromberger, on Oct. 7 at 6pm. Arts & Nightlife Editor Jim Provenzano moderates the online panel.
Extra Fancy front man Brian Grillo may have been the most prominent out gay rock singer of the year. The band headlined the 1995 Folsom Street Fair in one of several queer rock moments of the year.
Looking back at our September 22, 1994 issue, Leather Week was upon San Francisco as the third annual LeatherWalk commenced from the old Headquarters bar in the Castro to the Eagle in the South of Market neighborhood.
The April 29, 1993 cover of the Bay Area Reporter featured that year's March on Washington for lesbian, gay, and bi rights.
Perhaps the most visually striking lead Arts feature of 1993 showcased the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Tim Farrell interviewed members of the drag nun collective who were banned from the March on Washington stage.
In one short column, Justin (pre-Vivian) Bond's May 21 Glam on a Rampage write-up encapsulates a wacky weekend at The Woods with the late drag persona Miss Kitty.
Let's zoom in, dot by dot, to a rare January 3 interview with Rex, whose erotic images might have answered the question, 'What if Georges Seurat was a late-20th-century South of Market leather man?'
California LGBTQs had a lot riding on Assembly Bill 101 in 1991.
Despite the smaller independent film 'Parting Glances' having preceded it by a few years, 'Longtime Companion' hit strong with a wide national release, becoming essentially the first largely-viewed AIDS-themed narrative film of the decade.
In addition to the disastrous earthquake (see this week's News edition of this series), 1989 was full of AIDS: protests, drug treatments, and the staged reading of a new play-in-progress about AIDS by Tony Kushner titled 'Angels in America.'
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 17, 1989 — just as the Bay Area Reporter was going into production for that week's paper.
Can one page sum up an entire year? The late 1980s, while still in full-on Reaganomics hell, offered bits of resistance and joy amid the continuing oppression, epidemic deaths, and discrimination.
The October 13, 1988 issue of the Bay Area Reporter had two interesting stories on the front page.
The lengthier arts section in the October 29, 1987 B.A.R. focused on the boom in 'gay and lesbian' literary subjects and reviews, from lesbian theater history to the work of James Broughton and a then-new author, Christopher Bram.
One of the Bay Area Reporter's most famous covers greeted Pope John Paul II in 1987.
Determined to pick some prominent arts event from 1986's Bay Area Reporter issues, what stuck out more prominently was the high number of phone sex ads.
The Bay Area Reporter celebrated its 15th anniversary and the 17th observance of the Stonewall riots in our June 26, 1986 issue, which also marked San Francisco Pride.
Seven years after he shot and killed gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk and mayor George Moscone, the end came for Dan White when he died by suicide October 21, 1985 in the garage of his family's home in the Excelsior district.
Our weekly search for the year's best item stopped still for a fascinating two-page interview with the late great Sylvester. The feature served as an advance to his now-legendary Feb. 4 One Night Only concert at The Castro Theatre.
In 1984, the AIDS epidemic was raging and some officials in San Francisco thought that if the city closed bathhouses, which were frequented by gay men, the spread of the disease could be slowed.
Let's gander at a June 23 interview with Tom Ammiano, gay comic and later, politico and memoirist. Writer Scott Treimel's ruminative feature focuses on the politics of Tom's "sissy" stand-up style.
Bay Area Reporter founding publisher Bob Ross was appointed to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District Board of Directors.
1982 saw the Bay Area Reporter moving to a weekly format, which provided twice as much fascinating coverage, including the year's best in arts, and a popular Dog Show on Castro Street with an appearance by Shirley MacLaine.
The 1982 San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day parade took a tragic turn when 19-year-old Darryl Anderson was killed when he fell under the wheels of a float.
As Frameline celebrates its 45th anniversary, let's look back at coverage of their fifth anniversary in late June 1981, and the adult film advertised on the next page.