LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District

Clementina Street’s New Glimmer 

A new sculptural lighting installation by local artist Josh Hubert, entitled “Glimmer”, is now on display on Clementina and 8th Street, in the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District of San Francisco.

Stop by (after dark, for true impact), and see this delightful creation, which not only brings art into our District, but also adds light for greater public safety and activation.  We are told that there are some final details still being worked on, and that when completed, the lights will be fully programmable for special occasions like holidays and events.

Glimmer may be seen as a companion piece to Shimmer, another colorful and kinetic work currently on display at the intersection of Kearny and Broadway in North Beach.

Glimmer was made possible by the SOMA West Community Benefit District, with the cooperation of the owners and managers of the adjacent buildings, Google Webpass and SF Moto.

The image above (provided by SOMA West) only gives you a general idea of the thing; really, go and see it yourself!

A fascinating interview with key staff and volunteers of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District was conducted on July 14 by Vas Kiniris, Business Development Director for Next-SF, as part of the “Square Celebrates SF Cultural Districts” series.  

The panelists — Shayne Watson, Jonathan Ojinaga, Bob Goldfarb, and Cal Callahan — talked about the work of the Cultural Districts in preserving local cultures, shared some fun historical tidbits about SOMA, and shared about how they would spend an ideal afternoon (and evening!) in the District.

You can watch the recordings of the webinar here:

• Highlights Reel:  https://youtu.be/IeojFbR-jyg
• Full Recording:  https://youtu.be/41dCrpNx49Q

As reported on their Web site, on Hoodline, and in the Bay Area Reporter, Blow Buddies will not be reopening after the pandemic. The club, which opened on August 8, 1988 and saw its last guests on March 15, 2020, will be much missed by many in our community. As the Web page says, “The club was created in response to one virus and done in by another.”

It joins Watergarden, the San Jose bathhouse which recently closed after 43 years of operation, a victim of both the cost of being closed, and the uncertainty about when they might return to normal. A Bay Area Reporter article on that closing can be found here.

The good news, however, is that San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors is taking steps to make it easier for a bathhouse to operate in the city. In legislation passed by the Board of Supervisors in July 2020, and adopted by the Department of Public Health in January 2021, they have removed the mandate for inspections and the ban on locking doors, making traditional gay bathhouses possible.

They have also implemented zoning changes which allow “Adult Sex Venues” (ncluding bathhouses) to operate in broad areas of the city, including key locations in the Castro, Tenderloin and SOMA, where such venues would be most welcome and successful. You can learn more about the zoning changes here.

The first impact of these changes was the opening of the new Eros SF Sex Club, an SF Legacy Business formerly located on Market Street. The new facility at 132 Turk Street opened in June, in time for SF Pride. Read about the move here, and visit the Club’s website here. 

Of course, the Steamworks bathhouse remains open in Berkeley, for those willing to travel across the bay.

With the new zoning, other adult sex venues are likely to open in San Francisco. If you would like to create one in SOMA, the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District would love to help you. Write to business@sflcd.org for information.

Update:  As of the summer of 2024, we understand that the Blow Buddies building is now a tea warehouse.

San Francisco LGBTQ+ Pride returned to the streets, with a two-day in-person celebration in Civic Center and the historic Pride Parade down Market Street on Sunday.

The dates were June 25-26, 2022, the theme was “Love Will Keep Us Together”, and of course the LEATHER and LGBTQ Cultural District was there, marching in the parade with the Leather Contingent and hosting a booth at the Celebration.

Here are a few pictures and videos of the Leather Contingent in the Parade, taken by David Hyman