The corner bar at Castro and 18th, now Harvey’s, was the Elephant Walk in May 1979, when a jury convicted Dan White of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder for killing Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The verdict, built on the defense’s infamous “diminished capacity” argument, meant White would serve about five years.
That night, May 21, 1979, thousands marched on City Hall. The protest became the White Night Riots: windows smashed, a row of police cars burned. Hours later, officers retaliated here, raiding the Elephant Walk and beating patrons inside the bar, then sweeping Castro Street.
The bar rebuilt, and was renamed Harvey’s in 1996 in Milk’s honor. The corner is the second half of the story this tour tells: the assassination is at City Hall, but the rage and the resilience happened here. The intersection above it is named Harvey Milk Plaza’s counterpart: Jane Warner Plaza, for a beloved neighborhood patrol officer.
