San Francisco is a city divided up into many different districts. One of the districts that I was most excited about visiting was the Castro. Much like Boystown in Chicago, the Castro is San Francisco's gay and lesbian neighborhood. Aside from just exploring, there were two things that I for sure wanted to see, and as it turns out they were both movie related.
The first was the Castro Theatre. I saw a picture of the Castro in my Time Out guidebook and had to see it for myself. It is an old movie palace that has survived over the years, and is still showing movies today. Unfortunately I did not have time to see a movie so I had to be content with taking pictures of the exterior. (Although I have another addition to my next time list: I bet the marquee is spectacular lit up at night. Next time!)
I am not much into movies, but one of my favorite movies of the last few years was Milk. It was a biography movie about Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay city council member in San Francisco. Harvey Milk's story is not a happy one as he and the then current mayor were gunned down by a rival council member at City Hall (thus my desire to see City Hall from the previous post). The murder's trial resulted in a mere 5 year sentence which sparked outrage and resulted in the White Night Riots. The movie is very inspiring, and I wanted to make a pilgrimage to see the real life locations in the Castro.
Harvey Milk started off in San Francisco by opening a camera shop and lived upstairs from his shop. This building eventually became the center of his political activism, and the building still exists today. Thankfully the old camera shop has several memorials to its former inhabitant like the above mural.
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My visit to the Castro and Harvey Milk's former home was a sad reminder of just how far our society has come since he was murdered in 1978: not far at all.
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