James "Robbie" Robinson, a gay man and a founding member of the Tavern Guild, an organization of gay bars in San Francisco that was formed to stem ongoing police harassment, died February 5. He was 89.
Mr. Robinson had been in poor health for some time, said his good friend, gay former supervisor and state legislator Mark Leno. Mr. Robinson died at Ivy Park Cathedral Hill, an assisted living facility in San Francisco where he had lived.
"He was universally known throughout his entire life as an extraordinarily gentle, loving, and caring individual," Leno said in a phone interview. "He had strong opinions and was not shy to express them. But he had a good word for everyone."
"Everyone knew and loved Robbie," Leno added.
In addition to a career in bartending, Mr. Robinson later became a barber, first working at, and then eventually buying, the old Viking barbershop that was in the Castro LGBTQ neighborhood.
According to an obituary written by his nephew, Will Prater, Mr. Robinson was the consummate storyteller and enjoyed sharing his lifetime of experiences with his friends and customers. He was active in the gay community and local politics for years.
"The biggest thing was he was just a storyteller," Prater, a gay man who lives in Atlanta, said in a phone interview. "He had a great memory."
Prater said he began visiting Mr. Robinson regularly in 1990. "He'd sit there in his chair and tell stories of his past," he said. "He talked at a slow, even pace."
Prater said sometimes he would interrupt. "He'd always say, 'Let me finish,'" Prater recalled with a laugh.
Mr. Robinson bartended at the old San Francisco watering holes Silver Dollar, the Hideaway, and the Rendezvous, among others. In 1970, Mr. Robinson left bartending to become a barber at The Viking barbershop. He bought The Viking in 1980, becoming one of San Francisco's early gay-owned businesses.
"Robbie was a witness, a hard working foot soldier, and an eager historian of the San Francisco gay community's evolution from suffering police harassment, organizing HIV/AIDS services, to becoming an influential voice in San Francisco government and politics," Prater wrote in the obituary.
In 2005, then-mayor Gavin Newsom, now the state's governor, proclaimed it James Robbie Robinson Day in San Francisco on March 30, which was Mr. Robinson's 70th birthday.
One of Mr. Robinson's clients at the Viking was gay former supervisor Bevan Dufty.
"Robbie's life spanned some of the harshest times and generations of monumental changes and progress," Dufty wrote in a text message. "Robbie was a great adviser and friend. And he could dish with the best of them."
Tavern Guild
Helping start the Tavern Guild was a major accomplishment, as the Bay Area Reporter noted in a 2019 article about Mr. Robinson.
As the paper reported, Mr. Robinson recalled the first time he walked into a gay bar in San Francisco in the 1950s.
"This guy looks at me, and I wasn't used to that – cruising," Mr. Robinson said in an interview at the time. "Then we get up to Eddy and Market and as he goes inside; as he goes inside he looks at me and smiles."
But Mr. Robinson soon learned about ongoing police harassment at gay bars at a time when homosexuality was illegal in every state.
"They did everything they could to find out if it were a homosexual place, and with that then they could close it," Mr. Robinson said in the interview. "The cops would come in the bar and terrorize the customers."
In his self-published memoir, "My Story, One Gay's Fight: From Hate To Acceptance," which is available at the San Francisco Public Library, Mr. Robinson wrote that police tactics included demanding to see the identification of every patron of the bar, pretending real driving licenses and IDs were faked – and even standing with their genitalia exposed at toilets and arresting people based on their reactions.
Some businesses found to be gay bars were closed and their owners lost their liquor licenses. Others had envelopes of cash on hand to pay off police officers, his autobiography noted.
Mr. Robinson and others started discussing the issue, and in 1961, came up with a phone tree system whereby if police came into one bar, someone from there would call another bar, which would then call the others. That was the beginning of the Tavern Guild, he recalled in his memoir.
The Tavern Guild officially started in 1962. The network of gay bars and employees by the summer of 1980 included 184 people and 86 different establishments, according to the Online Archive of California.
While some gay bar owners were initially apprehensive about the guild, they came to see its benefits, Mr. Robinson recalled. Bar staff started to receive better treatment from alcohol distributors, he said in the 2019 interview, and the guild worked with owners to prevent them from losing their liquor licenses.
The guild also played an important role in early LGBTQ history. It was at the Beaux Arts Ball – organized by the guild – in 1965 that gay Latino veteran José Julio Sarria declared himself "Empress of San Francisco," an important moment in the founding of the Imperial Council of San Francisco, which continues to this day. Mr. Robinson was friends with Sarria, who died in 2013.
Bob Lanning, known as the drag queen Gladys Bumps, was friends with Mr. Robinson. Lanning and his husband, Keith Osborne, lived in San Francisco for many years but moved to Palm Springs about four years ago, Lanning said in a phone interview.
"We're going to miss Robbie Robinson," Lanning said.
Lanning explained he became Gladys Bumps while performing "Play Pal Joey," a spoof of the 1957 musical comedy film "Pal Joey," starring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth. In the film, the part of "Gladys," a stripper, was played by Barbara Nichols, Lanning said.
"I thought it'd be fun to be a guy playing a stripper," Lanning said, adding that his drag name "stuck" after the performance.
Lanning said he and his husband were Navy veterans, and they had that in common with Mr. Robinson, who served in the Air Force.
"He was very witty and lots of fun to be around," Osborne recalled of Mr. Robinson.
The Tavern Guild was hit hard by the AIDS epidemic and disbanded formally in 1995, according to the OAC, but not before its model was copied by groups of LGBTQ establishments in other cities.
Scammed in later years
Mr. Robinson was the victim of an online phishing scam a few years ago, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported. He lost $190,000, most of his life savings, he told the paper. He decided to go public as a warning to others.
Prater had started a GoFundMe campaign, now disabled, that was able to recoup almost $55,000.
Dufty praised those who donated to the fundraising campaign.
"It was so gratifying that in the difficult time when someone absconded with Robbie's retirement savings, so many people came forward and supported the GoFundMe," he stated.
Early life
Mr. Robinson was born in Blacksburg, Virginia on March 30, 1935. He was the son of Douglas and Juanita Robinson. His two sisters, Betty Jo Prater and Bertha Crabtree, recently passed away, and he is survived by his brother, Douglas Robinson Jr. of Blacksburg VA. Mr. Robinson will be laid to rest next to his mother, whom he loved dearly, Prater's obituary stated.
After his 1954 graduation from Blacksburg High School, Mr. Robinson joined the U.S. Air Force and then moved to San Francisco following his release from service in 1957. Mr. Robinson resided on 21st Street for over 40 years.
Updated, 2/11/25: This article has been updated with comments from Mr. Robinson's nephew and former supervisor Bevan Dufty.
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