Polk Street
Index for Polk Street: A Study of Transitions
On Polk Street, a coveted bloc of San Francisco central city space long zoned as a commercial corridor, the buck has always been the bottom line. The economic principles that would help create a gay neighborhood in the late 1950s would also lead to its demise by the early 2000s. This essay is not a comprehensive history of Polk Street. Instead, it is an attempt to trace the street’s primary economic shifts over the past sixty years.
1960s to 1970s: Polk Street Emerges as a Gay Economic Engine
- "Mom and Pop" to Gay Mecca
- A Citywide Blue-collar Economy Evaporates
- Blue-collar Heterosexual Taverns and Restaurants “Turn Gay”
- The Tavern Guild and Imperial Court
- Commercialized Sex and Economic Uplift
- Economic Power to Political Power
1960s to 1970s: Queer Sex Work Zones Shift
- Market Street and Union Square Sex Work Economies
- Redevelopment Displaces Sex Work Economies
- “Trade” Sex Work Moves to Polk Street
- Polk Street Merchants Push Back
- Police sweeps to social service
Late 1970s to 1990s: Polk Street Sex Work Economy
- Polk Street Gay Commercial Health Undermined
- Gay Bars “Turn Hustler”
- A Polk Street Sex Work Economy
- Sex Work Economy Breaks Down
- Dynamics of Polk Street Sex Work Change
- Polk Street Homelessness
Late 1990s-2008: Dot.com Boom and “Gentrification”
- Dot.com Boom
- “Bottom feeder” Bars to Upscale “Metrosexual” Bars
- Vestiges of Economy: Polk Street Homelessness
Epilogue: the Rise and Fall of a Polk Street Hustler
Index for "Polk Street: Lives in Transition"
“Polk Street: Lives in Transition” examines Polk Street’s history through the lens of current neighborhood change, focusing on the 1980s to the present. We ask: what does it mean for San Francisco’s identity as a “safe haven,” and for its queer sociability and politics, that Polk Street’s economy and culture is changing so dramatically? In an effort to better understand the actions and attitudes of Polk Street denizens, we present personal histories from stake-holders who are living through and shaping these changes.
Audio and photos:
Saving People
"The litter of a changing economy"
A hustler bar becomes a church
"We Are Family"
