A gaggle of gay men and a few women gathered Monday night on a street corner in the city's South of Market neighborhood for a walking tour like no other. Over two hours the group heard tales of yesteryear on everything from alleyway sex, drugs, dancing, arson, politics, race and even famed bathhouse chanteuse Bette Midler.
One part trip down memory lane, one part academic research project, the SOMA walking tour explores and recalls life along Folsom Street and the surrounding area during the 1970s, a time when gay men where free to have sex without the fear of contracting AIDS and the gay rights movement found a national voice. The tour is believed to be the first of its kind. It surely is not found in any guidebooks.
"A lot of men view the Folsom era as the golden age of the gay scene," said tour creator Eric Rofes, a Humboldt State University professor and gay man who has spent the last decade studying gay male culture from 1973 to 1984. "Other men didn't. One man felt estranged from the Folsom scene, which he viewed as a fake masculinity. What I have learned is that not everyone who came here had a good time."
The tour began at one of Rofes's old stomping grounds, the Barracks at 1147 Folsom Street near 7th, now the site of the Globe Hostel and Cassidy's Pub. Back then the bar was called the Red Star Saloon, remembered one of the men in the group, and patrons of the sex club would come down wrapped in towels. There, Rofes recounted how a fire swept through the building, a common occurrence for gay bars, bathhouses, and even churches across the country at that time. Arson caused some, faulty electrical wiring others.
"Gay men were at the forefront of organizing around fire safety," noted Rofes, who credited fire codes being changed due to the gay community's work.
At the next stop, the Club Baths at the corner of 8th and Howard, now an Episcopal sanctuary, Rofes said the old bathhouse "really looms large" in men's memories of that time. "I have pages and pages in my book about it."
Rofes read one man's recollection of the place, who recalled "there was a strong smell of poppers, because they were very prevalent, but it was much more a clean smell because there was all this cleaning solvent and disinfectants going around all the time, so you didn't get this hyper-masculine smell."
Instead of leather men frequenting the place, the man remembered that the crowd "was much more either clone or the little blonde guys. Certain times of the day it could be an older crowd, men in their 50s, 60s. ... I think oddly enough it still seemed pretty segregated, and I'm not sure if that was by choice or by chance or by policy."
The bathhouse's supposed discriminatory policies led to protests, similar to present-day accusations of gender and race-based discrimination at the Badlands bar in the Castro, Rofes told the crowd.
 "The things taking place today like with the Badlands is nothing new. There was a lot of controversy at this place," he said.
At stop number three, 953 Natoma between 9th and 10th streets, where the Cauldron was, Rofes said the sex club, "which had a really sleazy feeling," was owned by founding members of the Gay Men's Chorus. After the chorus' practices, the men would proceed to the Cauldron, which was only open for the chorus members.
"They played opera music while the sex was going on," said Rofes.
Other stops along the way included the stretch of Folsom between 11th and 12th streets, where the Stud, Hamburger Mary's, and Febe's used to be.
"This was once the center of gay activity in the 1970s," said Rofes.
The tour wound past the Powerhouse, which went by such names as The Brig, The No Name, and the Bolt. Bob Brown shared a story of how one night he was standing at the bar and Midler came up and pinched his nipple. Rofes then led the group to Ringold Alley between 8th and 9th streets where men cruised each other and had sex late into the night.
Eventually the tour wound up at 1010 Bryant Street, where the famed Boot Camp once stood. Rofes said many customers of the bar and sex club would now find it ironic that Bed, Bath and Beyond is across the street.
"That is what many people would say about what it was like at the Boot Camp," said Rofes.
The tours have sparked intense interest from people around the world. Sixty-seven people RSVPed for the Monday night walk. More than 300 people have inquired about the tour. No space remains on the next two tours Rofes has scheduled in the coming weeks, though he is planning to launch monthly tours to handle the demand.
"I think as much as people disparage people's interest in history, a lot of gay men are interested in our history. And anything that involves sex usually can get a crowd," said Joey Cain, who recalled going to the Stud back then. "He needs a bullhorn there are so many people."
Joanne Cronin, a queer woman and member of a San Francisco sex politics group, said she came on the tour because she was curious to learn about the old SOMA scene.
"I am not part of the sex scene in clubs and bars and there has not been a lot about women, but I am interested to hear about the history. It's important to see how things have changed. You hear so much about it being the heyday in our gay history, pre-HIV and all those fears," she said.
The tour is drawing interest from those men who lived through those years, as well those who didn't. At Monday's tour, about 20 men in the crowd identified as "survivors" of the SOMA scene while an equal number said they were "newbies."
Jim Van Buskirk, who co-authored the book Gay by the Bay in 1996, said he could not recall anyone ever conducting such tours of SOMA's bygone days. He applauded Rofes for creating the tour, and allowing people to "see the layers of history embedded in various locations."
"I think it is incredibly exciting," said Van Buskirk, program manager for the library's James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center. "I was not part of the leather scene but I used to go to the Stud."
Bill Hollabaugh, who moved to San Francisco in 1976, wore his leather and Eagles Motorcycle Club T-shirt to the walk. He reminisced fondly of those times he enjoyed then, noting how different the city is today and bemoaning the change in gay men's style of dress.
"To me it has changed, the community has changed. I remember standing one time in full leather at the corner of Castro and Market streets and someone in a car threw a pie at me," he said. "Now I can wear my leather in the state legislature chambers or City Hall and no one notices. One of the things I don't like these days is how guys wear jeans down to their knees. You are supposed to show off what you got."
For himself, he said much from the 1970s has been lost forever and SOMA will probably never regain its glorious past.
"I think a lot of it has been lost. I don't come down here often myself," he said.
Bill Jones, owner of the Sutro Baths, now the site of dance club 1015 Folsom, said he hoped people's interest in the tour led them to question the city's policy of not allowing bathhouses.
"The city should reexamine its policy," he said.