Author: AdminSFLD

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District works to help residents, workers and visitors appreciate the history and importance of the Cultural District’s buildings and streets.

Leather Legacy Landmarks (aka the Leather History Cruise) is a project to install bronze plaques at key historic locations around SoMa, in cooperation with the SF Arts Commission, Public Works, and the SFMTA, with funding provided by local developers and the community.  You can read about it in a September 2020 Bay Area Reporter article, also available in a pdf version.

A Resolution authorizing the plaques was unanimously approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (as reported in a Bay Area Reporter article) and signed by the Mayor on April 16, 2021.

Additional design reviews and approvals are still required.  Your presence and comments (via Zoom, or by email in advance) will be much appreciated.  Please consider signing up for our SOMA Action Network so we can let you know when we need that help. 

The first plaques will be installed as part of the Department of Public Works’ upgrade to Folsom Street, now under way.

Meanwhile, we invite you to view this presentation about the plaque project.  

View Presentation (PDF file)

Thanks!

We are a membership organization; our members elect our Board of Directors and our President. Three Board seats (each for a three-year term) and the Board President (for a one-year term) are elected each year.

You could be on the ballot. Now is the time to consider running.

Nominations open on July 3, 2024, and close at 5:00 pm Pacific Time on Friday, August 2, 2024.  

Being a Director of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District means having a voice in the future of our South of Market neighborhood: helping it to thrive during current challenges and remain the vibrant, safe, and uniquely kinky space we all love and enjoy.

For more information, or to nominate yourself, please review the full information on our Nominations Page.

Full information

Nomination Form

There are a large number of parties and other events in SOMA in advance of Up Your Alley.  We encourage you to visit Andy Wibbel’s Up Your Alley/Dore Weekend Party Guide 2024 now, and keep your eye on the Folsom Street Facebook feed for updates!

The next SOMA Walking Tours will happen on Sunday, July 21, starting at 12:00 noon.  For full info and to register, visit our SOMA Walking Tours page.

The next meeting of the Arts and Culture Committee is scheduled for Thursday, July 25, from 6 to 7 pm.  Arts and Culture Committee Facebook page.  Please contact the Committee chair to get on the mailing list for this Committee, or for more info!

The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District will have a booth at the infamous “Up Your Alley” Street Fair on Sunday, July 28, from 11 am to 6 pm. Stop by our booth and tale a kinky selfie! Up Your Alley is presented by Folsom Street.

The next online Diversity & Membership Committee meeting is set for Thursday, August 1, at 6 pm PDT.   Diversity & Membership Committee Zoom link. Facebook page.  Contact the Committee chair to get on the mailing list for this Committee, or for more info!

The next online meeting of the Communications Committee will be Thursday, August 8, from 6 to 7 pm.  Communications Committee Zoom link.  Facebook page. Contact the committee chair.

The next Play on the Plaza is Saturday, August 10, from 12 noon to 5 pm, at Eagle Plaza (12th Street, between Folsom and Harrison). Vendors! Entertainment! Kink/Leather Gear Swap!  Music! Pup Mosh with the SF K9 Unit!  Impact Play hosted by the 15 Association!  Spanking benches and crosses provided by The Communal Toy .Play on the Plaza info. August 10 event info.  Facebook event.

The next online meeting of the Land Use Committee Meeting is set for Monday, August 12, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Land Use Committee Meeting Zoom Link. Facebook page.  Contact the committee chair.

Join us for Candidates Night , to meet the folks running for seats on the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Board of Directors, on Tuesday, August 13, starting at 6 pm.  Online voting will open at the conclusion of the Candidates Night event, and will remain open for roughly 6 days. Facebook event. Candidates night Zoom link.  Full information about the election.  Candidates Statements.

The next meeting of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District Board of Directors will be Wednesday, August 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. As always, all are welcome to attend, and time is reserved for public comment.  ASL interpretation provided if requested ten days in advance. To participate, use the Board of Directors Meeting Zoom link, or call 1-408-638-0968 and use Meeting ID: 847 8906 0820 and Passcode: 972086.    Facebook page.  Draft agenda (link coming soon).  Minutes of past Board meetings. Please contact manager@sflcd.org if you have questions.

With the community and the District preparing for Up Your Alley Fair, we are cancelling the July Erotic Storytelling Hour. The next Erotic Storytelling Hour is set for Thursday, August 22, at 8 pm PST.  Come hear some provocative, graphic, sexy, titillating, and funny stories (and more) from selected writers of our community, hosted by award-winning author Sumiko Saulson. It’s fun, it’s naughty, it’s online.   Erotic Storytelling Hour information page.  Facebook Page.  Zoom link, Videos of some of our past evenings!  (Be 18+!)

The Fundraising Committee meets as needed.  Please contact the Fundraising Committee chair to get on the mailing list for this Committee, or for more info!

A Governance and Legislation Committee meeting will be scheduled when needed. Please contact the Governance and Legislation Committee chair to sign up, or for more info!

We send out a newsletter each month, right before our Board Meeting.  Do you get it?
If not, view a recent newsletter, then sign up to get it monthly.

Speaking of newsletters, the SOMA West Community Benefit District does a great one, highlighting events — both social and political — affecting our part of the City.  Subscribe to the SOMA West Community Benefit District newsletter.

San Francisco has ten Cultural Districts, each supporting a unique aspect of the City’s cultural mosaic You can learn about the San Francisco Cultural Districts Program, and subscribe to a Cultural Districts newsletter, published quarterly by the Mayor’s Office of Housing & Community Development.

We keep adding links to our Resource Guide page.  Use it!

Threats to our South of Market businesses and institutions can arise quickly, and may require a quick community response.  SOMA Action network sign-up link.

If you have not yet seen it, please read our Statement of Solidarity, and consider what you personally can do to fight racism, injustice, and abuse of police power.

The next meeting of the Board of the Friends of Eagle Plaza is scheduled for Wednesday, September 11, from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.  You can be added to the “Friends of Eagle Plaza” mailing list.  You can make a donation to the Friends of Eagle Plaza. You can like and follow them on Facebook.  You can learn more about the Plaza’s design, construction and stewardship on the Friends of Eagle Plaza website, or you can write to info@eagleplaza.org.