Whether you live near San Francisco’s Castro district, or just stopping by for a visit, there are many landmarks and sites you don’t want to miss! My name is Mira Coluccio and as a longtime San Francisco resident who both lives and works in the Castro area, I have created this site to provide visitors a thorough to-do list for this charming, Victorian neighborhood. Many of these sites are favorites of mine and also of friends and colleagues, and while you may not be able to see all of them in one visit, that’s all the more reason to come back!

About the Neighborhood

The Castro District is San Francisco’s world-famous gay district that is friendly and inviting to people of all sexual and religious preferences. Formed in 1887, the Castro district was named after Jose Castro, former governor of Alta, California, and a key figure in the Mexican opposition to the United States’ control over California in the 1800’s.

The Castro wasn’t always a gay district. Initially, it was simply another neighborhood, until the early 1910, when it became known as “Little Scandinavia”, due to the large influx of Scandinavian immigrants who resided there. By 1930, Little Scandinavia had dissipated, leaving in its place a bustling working-class Irish community, which remained in place for the next thirty or so years, until 1960. By the 1960’s, an urban migration to the suburbs had taken flight, and many of the Irish, working class families began leaving the city and heading to the surrounding North, South and East Bay area. This left the city with plenty of room for singletons looking for a community of their own. Rumor has it that the reason so many Gay men specifically chose the Castro district as their home is because during WWII, soldiers kicked out of the military for being gay were dropped off in the Castro neighborhood after discharge.

Following the Summer of Love in 1967, the Castro was cemented as the “gay district,” as young gay men and women from around the United States flocked to the area. Soon, the Castro was home to famed gay rights activists like Harvey Milk. Businesses catering to gay patrons began to open, especially bars, clubs and bathhouses.  Many of the bathhouses were closed in the 1980’s when the AIDS crisis began, further transforming the Castro to a center for activism and HIV/ AIDS awareness.

Today, the Castro is still the heart of San Francisco’s gay culture, with shops, clubs, restaurants, hotels, cafés and theaters catering to the gay community. The rest of this site will attempt to share some of the best of these sites with you.