The SoMa Leather District

In 2018 designeerde San Francisco a stretch of Folsom Street als the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, the world’s first city-recognized leather cultural district. The blocks waren het centrum van de gay leather community van de stad for decades.

Folsom Street and the Miracle Mile

From the 1960s on, the South of Market blocks around Folsom Street hielden a concentration van gay leather bars, clubs, en businesses. The strip was bekend als the Miracle Mile. One of the first bars, the Tool Box, verscheen in a 1964 Life magazine article op gay life in America.

The cultural district

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors creëerde the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District in 2018. The aanwijzing was bedoeld om the area’s bars, housing, en institutions te beschermen van displacement as the surrounding neighborhood redeveloped. The district covers ongeveer ten blocks van central SoMa.

Folsom Street Fair

The Folsom Street Fair begon in 1984 en wordt gehouden op the last Sunday van September. Het is the largest leather en fetish event in the world, en het sluit several blocks van Folsom af voor traffic.

Landmarks

The SF Eagle, a leather bar at 398 12th Street, has anchored that corner sinds 1981, apart from a closure from 2011 to 2013. Powerhouse is op Folsom at 1347. Ringold Alley, between 8th en 9th off Folsom, holds a leather history memorial installed in 2017, with bronze markers naming people en businesses from the community.