San Fran made history in the 1960s both as a gay city and as the home of the Summer of Love. Read on to follow the steps of Harvey Milk and some of the greatest musicians of all time. Here’s a round up of what you can see around Castro and the Haight Ashbury neighbourhoods of San Francisco.
Just outside of The Mission neighbourhood, after Dolores Park, you can find Castro street. You can get there by climbing some of San Francisco’s famous hills. Here you will be able to visit the GLBT museum, which is currently hosting an exhibition celebrating the 50 years of Frisco as a gay town. Here, the first gay club owners protested against bar closures and Harvey Milk campaigned for homosexual rights before he was murdered.
Walking up and down Castro Street you will find the Human Rights Association shop with gay-friendly merchandise right where Harvey Milk used to have his photography shop. You will also find Harvey Milk Plaza in his memory.
The Haight is about half an hour walking uphill from the Castro. You can also reach it via bus 33 and MUNI, the tramway. It’s divided by Buena Vista park between the Lower and the Upper Haight.
The Lower Haight is a lively street full of boutiques and small restaurants. It’s the home of Idle Hand, San Francisco’s best tattoo shop, recommended by everyone I’ve spoken to.
The Lower Haight is still the ‘cool’ part of the neighbourhood, while the Upper Haight, at the crossing with Ashbury, is now a very mainstream tourist trap.
Once the home of the Summer of Love – it still sports flats once inhabited by Janis Joplin (pictured) the Gratefuk Dead and Hunter S. Thompson – it now hosts mainly chain stores, expensive boutiques and souvenir shops. Stoned kids are all you will see around here.
If you’re a nostalgic, don’t miss out on those areas! Stay tuned for more posts about life in Frisco.
Pictures: Carolina Are
_________________________________
San Francisco ha fatto la storia con i suoi movimenti a favore dei diritti degli omosessuali e con l’Estate dell’Amore negli anni ’60. Ecco che fare se volete ripercorrere quegli anni.
Poco dopo il quartiere Mission c’é Castro, il quartiere gay di SF. Qui potrete visitare il museo GLBT, che al momento ospita un’interessante mostra sui 50 anni di San Francisco come storica cittá gay. Qui negli anni ’60 ci sono stati i primi movimenti contro l’omofobia, capeggiati dal politico Harvey Milk, in seguito assassinato.
Su e giú per Castro potrete vedere il negozio di fotografia di Milk, ora trasformato in un negozio di merchandise pro-gay, e la Harvey Milk plaza in suo onore.
Il quartiere dell’Estate dell’Amore, l’Haight, é piú o meno a mezz’ora a piedi (e in salita) di distanza dal Castro. É diviso in Haight basso ed alto dal Buena Vista Park.
L’Haight Basso é ancora una zona ‘in’, con piccole boutique, ristoranti e soprattutto il tatuatore piú famoso ed amato della cittá, Idle Hand.
L’Haight Alto, all’incrocio con Ashbury, é una trappola per turisti. Certo, ci sono ancora le case di Janis Joplin (nella foto), dei Grateful Dead e di Hunter S. Thompson, ma ora é pieno di catene di negozi internazionali, boutique carissime e negozi di souvenir. Qui vedrete solo ragazzini fatti di marijuana!
Se siete nostalgici peró non ve lo farete scappare. Rimanete sintonizzati per alto post sulla bellissima San Francisco.
Foto: Carolina Are
