Special Issues
B.A.R. Talk 12: history in print
In closing our yearlong celebrations of the Bay Area Reporter's 50th anniversary, our twelfth online panel on April 7 will focus on five decades of the newspaper's history, with several current and former editors and writers.
This is the final 50 years in 50 weeks of the News section looking back at the Bay Area Reporter's half-century of covering the LGBTQ community.
For our final arts and nightlife-themed 50 years in 50 weeks tribute, we'd like to share our April 1, 2021 64-page special edition, which included more than a dozen expansive features on the Bay Area Reporter's five decades of coverage.
The 50 years in 50 weeks feature is from 2020 when the Bay Area Reporter examined a trove of Harvey Milk's naval records.
Listen to the sound of endurance. In December 2020, our first year of the pandemic reached its end, yet artists found ways to endure, including musicians cloistered in home studios.
The November 21, 2019 issue contained big news: the National AIDS Memorial Grove announced that the San Francisco-based nonprofit would become the steward of the massive AIDS Memorial Quilt, which started in San Francisco in 1987.
As we reach the end of our 50 short tributes to the Bay Area Reporter's five decades, let's take a moment to talk about sex, particularly the B.A.R.'s coverage of it, in abundance.
A year after the death of Gilbert Baker, who was widely credited with creating the iconic rainbow flag, a Southern California woman went public that she and another man actually helped Baker create the very first rainbow flag in 1978.
In our nearly final yearlong celebrations of the Bay Area Reporter's 50th anniversary, our eleventh monthly online panel, set for March 10, will focus on fifty years of arts coverage with former and current editors and writers.
When Big Freedia comes to town, we bow down for the Queen of Bounce. The New Orleans singer, TV star, cook and author performed at Mezzanine in April 2017, and writer Cornelius Washington shared a fun Q&A.
It was August 2017 when San Francisco activists and officials got word far-right Patriot Prayer group planned to hold a "free speech" rally at Crissy Field.
While probably not the most historic article of 2016, for this writer, it was a red-letter day to interview Shirley Manson, lead singer for the band Garbage.
It was a sunny day in the Bay Area on Sunday, June 12, 2016 when news broke that there was a terrible mass shooting inside Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
After years of delays and negotiations to see that it was affordable, the Bay Area Reporter's April 16, 2015 issue had good news for LGBTQ seniors: work was finally beginning on a below-market-rate apartment complex at 55 Laguna Street.
In an interview published in February 2015, Richard Dodds talked to Anthony Wayne, the creator and star of the rousing 'Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical,' which was performed at Brava Theater.
Crime reporting through the history of the Bay Area Reporter will be the focus of the tenth online panel discussion, part of the newspaper's 50th anniversary commemorations.
Andre Torrez weaves insightful perspectives in his July 3, 2014 interview with the late music legend Ronnie Spector. The Ronettes singer performed at Burger Boogaloo, Oakland's fun outdoor music concert that summer.
The 2014 Winter Olympics were held in Sochi, Russia, and our February 13, 2014 issue reported that the global athletic event included little gay visibility.
This week, we're showcasing two admirable men in very different community subcultures, because we can. Filmmaker James Broughton and leatherman Andy Cross were featured in our June 13, 2013 issue, and both share a connection to gay erotic liberation.
The April 18, 2013 issue of the Bay Area Reporter contained a rare first-person article by freelance reporter Ed Walsh on his experience living with HIV.
The year certainly had more 'important' arts and nightlife coverage, but Gregg Shapiro's June 2012 interview with Scissor Sisters front man Jake Shears brings back fond memories of their music.
In October 2012, the Bay Area Reporter had a rare opportunity to sit down with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.
In April 2011, the Bay Area Reporter celebrated its 40th anniversary with a mini-exhibit of vintage front pages, curated by photographer Rick Gerharter.
The Occupy Wall Street movement in the fall of 2011 quickly spread to other cities, including San Francisco.
When asked to create a nightlife spinoff mini-magazine for the Bay Area Reporter, it took editor Jim Provenzano only a few seconds to devise the title, BARtab. Putting out a monthly second publication took a lot more time.
The fight over marriage equality consumed the Bay Area Reporter for many years, especially after voters in 2008 approved Proposition 8, the state's same-sex marriage ban.
Our January 13 B.A.R. Talks panel focuses on drag and its local history, with guests Heklina, Fudgie Frottage, Khmera Rouge, Mercedez Munro, Persia, and Sister Tilda Nextime.
In Robert Sokol's May 14, 2009 interview with the late Joan Rivers, the celebrated comedian talked of her career and threw in plenty of timely jokes, which were very much of that age.
The Bay Area Reporter's October 29, 2009 issue saved some space on page 1 for the news that then-President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. hate crimes bill into law.
In the second week of August, 2008, a beloved drag show reached its zenith, as host Heklina hosted the last weekly Trannyshack night at The Stud before exporting it to DNA Lounge and other larger venues.
We could have scoured the year's worth of arts and nightlife articles, but then stopped. What's better than a concise interview with Lily Tomlin?