I have come to realize that the gay community at large is a curiosity to me. No, I am not gay nor do I have any interest in being gay, but just like the Chassidic community intrigues me so does the gay community. It may have something to do with the fact that I will never actually be a part of either community as a full fledged member, or the fact that their looks and practices hold some sort of mystique. Whatever it may be, San Francisco is very gay, in a good way.
I hopped off my bike to have a closer look at The Castro section of San Francisco and suddenly everything struck me as gay. Rainbow flags hanging from the lampposts fluttered in the gentle breeze as I walked my bike down Castro Street, and I immediately began staring at people. I felt like I was in Mea Shearim in Israel, where I would walk and just stare at all the people as if it were the first time I was seeing their type. In Castro, I did the same thing because everyone seemed to become super exotic and interesting.
A poster for an event called Battle of Bulges made me laugh out loud, as I read the fine print that stated you could win $100 for the biggest bulge. Then I passed a store called Hot Cookie, which had skimpy underwear with hot cookie printed on the flies. I passed by a restaurant called The Sausage Factory and wondered if my mind was making all of these things into innuendo, or the names were actually intentionally chosen because of the locale. I looked at the menu and I started laughing to myself as I read sausage and meatballs.
I saw a butch lesbian with a green Mohawk wearing a leather vest. I saw a man with a handlebar mustache holding hands with a guy in a kilt. I saw a skinny little guy who walked like a girl and I wondered if he ever had trouble maintaining that act, or was it even an act? I noticed a guy that could have been a chabad Rabbi, had he not been wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt. I saw a lot of men with facial hair. Though, wait, in retrospect, maybe they weren’t even males.
I noticed that most of the men walking around were manly men. Where were all the femmes? Maybe the femmes all were working in their white collar jobs, or maybe pink collar is what they call it in the gay community, and maybe all the “bears” (manly men) were roaming the Castro at 3 o’clock on a Monday afternoon. Where were all the stereotypical gay folk, the guys in tight jeans with nicely groomed hair and wing tipped shoes. Why did everyone have a mustache?
No one gave me a second glance and I began to think that I was not good looking enough for these men. Maybe they could tell I was straight — even though I was wearing a dirty yellow shirt and spandex pants. Then again, no one looked gay (whatever that means) but almost everyone looked bizarre and the lack of women on the street, as well as the nail salon being full of men, could have been a clue. But still this was San Francisco and everyone looks weird in SF.
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
The touristy parts of SF (Chinatown, Fishermans Wharf, etc.) don’t feel gay to me at all.
The touristy parts of SF are the worst parts of the city, seriously, there is no point in going to those places. Happens to be that SF is so hilly that most tourists wouldn’t be able to get around, SF is one of the coolest cities and it’s such a shame that people don’t venture far from the tourist sites.
Sounds like a fun place to have a bike, though you’d better be in good shape.
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/021591.html
U’d love it up the ass…hence your trolling in fag-town.
Projection is an ugly thing.
charming.
I heard this at a comedy show Friday night:
You know why no one protests homosexuals by burning the rainbow flag?
A “flaming flag” would just be seen as an affirmation of support!
I’d say welcome to hell. I hope you have some straight areas to hang around in.
When I was in SF I got the feeling it was all about conspicuous consumption. It seemed like everyone was wearing some outlandish crazy style I’d never seen before, and driving a Porsch or Mercedes. Maybe that was just in downtown, though.
Where are you for Shabbas?
sigh…
Hesh, I hope you know (and I’m sure you do)that we’re not all like the ones in the Castro
I wish you were – because they were all so cool looking
My main man in San Fran Dr Michael Savage once devoted a large segment of a show dissuading tourist from coming to San Fransisco. He cited the hyper-aggressive bums, the gays, the fact that it’s very anti children, very expensive. But most of all the bums – all ex-hippies – they follow you defecate in the street belittle you and your children and wife and urinate and stick needles in their arms in public.
Even though it’s an attractive looking city I would never visit.
I am a fan of Savage – but the homeless in SF are the friendliest I’ve seen, all around the area are loads of homeless people mostly because the residents and police are friendly toward them. They are pretty clean, neat and don’t bother you for money like the one’s in New York. No one has ever come up to me telling me that their car is broke down and they need some money.
If someone would listen to what was obviously a hateful talk on not visiting such a glorious city, I have to doubt your intelligence. I guess he failed to mention anything good about the Bay Area – which is fine, because I don’t want my parks filled with dumb asses like you.
As hateful as Savage is, he never calls anyone a dumbass.
Savage has lived in San Fransisco for a very long time. Even though he lives in a rich upscale neighborhood, he always talks about his daily bike rides and walks through the city. He knows the city inside out and I trust his judgment. I’m not just accepting what he says because I like him as a talk show host, rather because he knows the city so well and he always talks about it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Mike Savage get his TV show taken off the air because he called a gay caller a “Sodomite” and said “I hope you die of AIDS”?
Yes.
He said those things to a prank caller from a local radio show who was heckling him. The caller was not gay and Savage knew that. He acted as any angry guy off the street would act – the only problem was that he was on national TV.
If just mentioning the fact that I respect Savage’s opinion incited Heshy to call me a dumbass on a national or rather international blog – than certainly Savage who is a much angrier person than Heshy can say such a thing on national TV.
If someone were to say in anger “I HATE YOU I HOPE YOU DROP DEAD” that doesn’t (necessarily) mean that he actually means what he is saying. It’s called a figure of speech.
Hey Hesh. You call it a glorious city? I think it’s one big fat glory hole. LOL. its true.
Your “main man” is as cruel and vicious a mamzer as has ever graced the airwaves. I used to listen to him until I quite literally got physically ill one day from a particularly disgusting little tirade… “White, Christian, married heterosexual men represent all that’s good in this country” was one of the high points that day.
I suppose if you’re a physical coward and grow up with the name “Mike Wiener” it can have an effect…
It’s funny how whenever liberals deep down agree with Savage they get all frustrated and turn to kindergarten tactics such as calling Savage by the name he was born with (Weiner).
Wow. That is real mature.
And calling him “a coward”??? Anyone that you disagree with is a coward? What did ever do that warrants that title?
Just the fact that he openly speaks his mind to strangers in restaurants and other public arenas – tells me that he is not a coward and not afraid of saying something to the wrong person and getting into a fight with them.
“Just the fact that he openly speaks his mind to strangers in restaurants and other public arenas – tells me that he is not a coward and not afraid of saying something to the wrong person and getting into a fight with them.”
Where I come from, that’s called OBNOXIOUS rather than coward.
I’ve lived in SF for 31 years and I’ve never seen anyone shoot up in public, nor is the city in any way anti-children. Also, there are annoying homeless ex-hippies here, but most are just people down on their luck folks, usually suffering from mentally illness. And speaking of mental illness, anyone who thinks gay people make a city less pleasant to visit has gotta be crazy.
The most interesting place in SF was the Power Exchange. You could get a full education on the culture of SF by just sitting outside, letting alone going into it. The place closed down, I believe.
As an orthodox gay, I never really was charmed by SF. It is pretty, sure. Has some interesting sites. I do recall the huge amount of harmless (you say) homeless.
As for the Castro, the best thing about it was that until 2002, they had a branch of Noah’s Bagels, which were under hashgachah. Noah’s is no longer kosher.
San Francisco has one of the original GLBT synagogues – Sha’ar Zahav http://www.shaarzahav.org (not orthodox, duh)
Stop getting up in my rims. I have a mustache but nowhere to comb it. With knives I cut meats, and with flowers I touch rainbows. Lampshade humor is your style, but mine is here and now. Give me your toes and I will give you sesame kugel
Heh. Are you the dude with tzitzis I saw walking a chihuahua through the Castro for the past two Shabbosim? Seriously, he confuses me. Is there even an eruv here?
Michael Savage is the aptly named gentleman who recently called autism “a fraud” and autistic children “brats”. Good to see he’s still a coprocephalic bigot.
Imagine a 90 year old man named Sol who is world renown for his mesmerizing speeches and stories of his spectacular experiences in the Holocaust.
Imagine Sol is booked in every city in America. People come from far and wide to hear of Sol’s miraculous fight for freedom during the Holocaust. He makes MILLIONS just for speaking – never mind all the book deals.
And now imagine that one day – Breaking News – Sol was never lived in Europe. He was never through the Holocaust, He was living in America all his life.Wow.
Wouldn’t the REAL Holocaust survivors be royally pissed at Sol? And rightfully so. Using the Holocaust – a real serious tragedy just to make a couple of million.
I think you see what I’m getting at.
Shouldn’t the REAL Autistic kids and their families be ROYALLY PISSED at all the fakers out there? All the fakers that use the label “Autism” for their own selfish reasons – whether it be pharmaceutical companies in a billion dollar Autism drug industry. Whether it be parents looking for government aid. Whether it be parents looking to put the blame of their poor parenting on a disease. Whether it be doctors who make a nice buck when they say the word Autism.
Yes Autism the fake Autism that everyone parades around is a fraud
and the REAL cases of America should be pissed NOT at Savage but at all the FAKERS. just like in the parable.
you’re absolutely correct. Michael Savage rocks.
I hear Castro Street and the Mission aren’t what they used to be. In any case, all gays/lesbians/bisexuals are not the same flamboyant people you might see on Castro St.
I lived in SF for almost all of my life. I lived on the Peninsula for a couple of years, but still worked in SF.
On the whole the homeless are not bad, although of course some areas of the city are worse than others. They do not accost you and can be ignored. Although to be fair tourists have it tougher just becuase they haven’t developed a tolerance. On the whole the homeless are not just defecating anywhere by choice, they don’t have anywhere to go, there are very few public restrooms.
You have to separate hippies from homeless. Many of the homeless are mentally ill, or have just hit on hard times. It’s scary, but if you didn’t have family or good friends who can help you, we could all easily end up homeless.
In order to see what SF is about you have to go outside of the standard tourist areas. I haven’t gone to the Wharf for years becuase it is simply a wharf themed shopping center now. Parts of Chinatown are still real, but definitely not the Grant and California area. The only good thing in the traditional tourist areas are the cable cars.
If you are downtown you are bound to see more expensive cars. I’m not sure where where YY was, but there isn’t alot of crazy dressing there. I don’t think the City is all about conspicious consumption. However, if you were downtown, Union Square or tourist areas I could understand why you think that.
SF is not kid unfriendly on purpose. It’s just extremely expensive and difficult for families to live in. I moved becuase housing is too expensive. I think the average two bedroom 1 – 1/5 bath house is $750,000 now and that’s not in an expensive area. Almost everyone I grew up with moved out of the City becuase it was too expensive. I’m guilty of it as well. I moved 100 miles away 1.5 years ago.
The Castro, the reason you didn’t see many women is becuase they are in the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland.) The Castro has women, but it’s more of a male area.