Date:

Thursday January 15, 2009
Time:

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Location:

GLBT Historical Society 657 Mission Street. #300 San Francisco, CA 94105
Notes:

January 15 - Exhibit opening 5:30pm talk by historian Susan Stryker. 7:00pm Opening reception.
The face of San Francisco is changing, and so are its stories. This is seen most dramatically in the Polk Gulch district. The exhibit focuses on the history of the Polk, from the 1980s to the present, by presenting stories from people in the middle of current changes in the area. We ask: what does it mean to the identity of San Francisco (or the identity of the LGBT movement?) that the Polk is changing so dramatically?
Since the late 1970s, the low-income Polk Gulch district has been a national destination and home for some of the most underrepresented segments of the LGBT community. These include runaway and homeless youth, often fleeing abusive or unwelcome homes; immigrants, primarily from Asia and Latin America; working class and poor transgendered women; the homeless; and seniors.
In the past five years, citywide building boom, escalating land values, and skyrocketing rents in the central city have pushed and pulled middle-income small businesses, clubs, and residents to the area. At the same time, the scores of gay bars that formed the backbone of the Polk community have all but closed. Tension, bitterness, and misunderstandings have emerged as a result of this transition, with new neighborhood and business associations, the homeless, the few remaining gay and transgender bars, and social service organizations competing for prized territory in the urban landscape.