We stood inside Allan Lowery's new bar, the Leatherneck, at 11th and Folsom. It was about to open with its new United States Marine Corps theme. Gregg Coats, designer of the bar's logo, stared at the row of horizontal windows boarded up with plywood.
"It needs something there," Gregg said, pointing at the windows.
"Like what?" Allan said.
"Something USMC-ish," I said.
"Pictures of Marines."
"Marines in a leather bar."
"In boot camp!"
"A Marine initiation!"
We were all talking at once.
"A cartoon strip!" "Each window could be a different panel in the strip!" "Who could paint such a cartoon strip? And that size?"
"Don't look at me!" Gregg said.
Al Shapiro, better known as A. Jay, was a prominent illustrator from the 1960s through the 1980s who created the first continuing gay comic strip, Harry Chess. The strip debuted in QQ Magazine in New York. When Drummer magazine moved north to San Francisco, Jack Fritscher became editor-in-chief and A. Jay the art director. Harry Chess continued in the new "mag for the macho male." Allan Lowery contacted Shapiro.
A. Jay agreed to create a Marine-themed comic-erotic cartoon strip large enough to fill each of the boarded-up windows. Thus the 4' x 8' panels depicting "The Perils of Pecs O'Toole" were created specifically for the Leatherneck bar. The panels would come out slowly, with a month or more between each in order to build anticipation of the further perils of Pecs O'Toole. Each panel had a special unveiling with the artist present. The introductory panel was ready for its debut in early July, 1977.
Prior to the installation, I went to A. Jay's home in Potrero Hill. We lugged the completed work of art to the roof where I took several shots of both Pecs O'Toole and his creator. Once installed behind the bar's pinball machines, I took additional pix of the panel. It looked great in the smoky confines of the Leatherneck. Allan held a second grand opening for the unveiling of Pecs O'Toole as he was initiated into the U. S. Marines Corps. It was a hit! The bar was packed. The doorman's line went to the corner and extended down Folsom Street.
Later that fall, I took several rooftop shots of the second panel depicting the further adventures of Pecs O'Toole. It was then installed in the second window of The Leatherneck to cheers from the crowd of Pecs O'Toole fans.
By the end of 1977, the bar started to wan as new leather bars, such as the Black-and-Blue and the Brig, lured away many of the Leatherneck's customers.
Allan closed the bar for a week. We completely redid the interior. The name Leatherneck was dropped in favor of a Marine chevron with no name. It worked. For a while. But before the third and final panel could be painted, the bar closed for good.
Lowery sold the Pecs O'Toole panels to a private buyer. The last I heard, their whereabouts was unknown.
Copyright 2014 [email protected] For further true gay adventures check out the award-winning Folsom Street Blues: A Memoir of 1970s SoMa and Leatherfolk in Gay San Francisco by Jim Stewart.