Landmark Designation Report: Twin Peaks Tavern, 401 Castro Street (Draft)

This Landmark Designation Report was prepared for the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission, a seven‐member body that makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors regarding the designation of landmark buildings and districts. From overview: "The Twin Peaks Tavern, a local bar at 401 Castro Street is at the major intersection of Market and 17th Streets. First opening in 1935, the bar lease was purchased in 1972 by two lesbians and refurbished as a fern bar for a gay clientele1. The first known gay bar to feature full length open plate glass windows, the Twin Peaks Tavern is a living symbol of the liberties and rights gained by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) community in the second half of the 20th century. Housed in a turn-of-the-century building with an intact 1923 Mediterranean Revival-style façade in the heart of the Castro, the bar retains its expansive windows and other character-defining features and continues to serve the LGBT community. The period of significance for the Twin Peaks Tavern begins in 1972, when it opened as a gay bar to 2003, when the pioneering women who opened the windows sold the bar. In context, San Francisco’s nighttime entertainment industries are significant in the formation, expansion and diversification of modern LGBT subcultures. Nighttime entertainment including bars, played an important role in the development of social networks and the creation of an “out” community starting with the repeal of Prohibition and culminating with the opening of the Twin Peaks Tavern’s windows in 1972. The influence of nighttime entertainment and community-building organizations such as the Tavern Guild of San Francisco had a consciousness raising effect in society as a whole. Together these enabled collective resistance against persecution by the local, state and military policing agencies. The Twin Peaks Tavern is significant for its contribution to the evolution towards modern LGBT society and culture. The success of the Twin Peaks Tavern was a combination of several factors. First, it was located in the Castro, where a community of LGBTs was forming. Second, house rules as well as the organization of the physical space established the culture of the bar that encouraged personal bonding. Third, the lessons learned and advances made in LGBT recognition and political power in the 1960s by the Tavern Guild cleared the path for an “out” gay bar. Lastly, the normalization of an English pub in a social sense to a gay bar was attributable to the personalities and tastes of Cunha and Forster as “out” lesbians." Funding was provided in part by a 2010 Preserve America grant to the City of San Francisco (grant number 06-10-AP-5034) for the Market and Octavia Historic Resource Preservation Project. The grant was administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Preserve America is a federal initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural and natural heritage. The goals of the program include a greater shared knowledge about the nation's past, strengthened regional identities and local pride, increased local participation in preserving the country's cultural and natural heritage assets, and support for the economic vitality of our communities.

Landmark Designation Report: Twin Peaks Tavern, 401 Castro Street (Draft)

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