Visitors might expect only hard bodies and vampish transvestites, but the Castro is home to historic struggles and architectural gems. As the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender epicenter of California, if not the entire US, it buzzed with equal rights organizing, blaring disco and full-on hedonism in the ‘70s and downshifted to HIV education and AIDS vigils in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
The Castro still teases (with shop names like “All American Boy,” “Does Your Mother Know?” and “Hot Cookie”) and still loves a party (witness its annual street fair or Gay Pride Celebration). But you’re more likely to see glbt couples that are gray-haired or pushing baby strollers than coquettish drag queens.
The towering Rainbow Flag waving above Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market streets, is a perfect place to start exploring. Milk, who won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 1977, was the country’s first openly gay elected official.
