tjpayne

28 May 2025

Step Back to 1966: Experience the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot

The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play is a living act of resistance that tells the story of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history, through an immersive experience that includes raw and lived-in performances, attention to detail, and a focus on the defiance and joy of the rioters.

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30 Apr 2025

The Black Cat Café: San Francisco’s Original Queer Mecca

The Black Cat Café, a queer sanctuary and cultural revolution in postwar San Francisco, was a bohemian salon, a civil rights battleground, and the stage on which one of America’s earliest drag queens dared to sing opera in a floor-length gown—in public.

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23 Apr 2025

The Time SF Tried to Deny it Had the Bubonic Plague

In 1900, San Francisco was plagued by the Black Death, with Governor Henry Gage attempting to deny the outbreak, but ultimately the city’s residents and health officials took action to contain the disease and protect the public.

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26 Mar 2025

Travel Back to 19th Century San Francisco at the Haas-Lilienthal House

The Haas-Lilienthal House, built in 1886 by William Haas, is a Victorian residence that symbolizes the rise of immigrant families contributing to San Francisco’s growth, and is now preserved by San Francisco Heritage as a window into the city’s Victorian past.

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19 Mar 2025

The Camera Obscura: San Francisco’s Hidden Gem

The Camera Obscura at Ocean Beach is a unique and fascinating attraction that combines art, science, and nature, providing visitors with a dreamlike reflection of the outside world.

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12 Mar 2025

The Martini was Likely Invented at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco

The Occidental Hotel in San Francisco, where the Martini cocktail was born, was a hub of social activity in the late 19th century, and its legacy endures today as the Martini becomes an international icon.

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06 Sep 2023

San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries: How One City Failed Their Dead

San Francisco’s Forgotten Cemeteries, A Buried History by Beth Winegarner is the historical account of one city’s failure to their dead. As a kid growing up in San Francisco, I remember hearing various stories from my grandparents about the cemeteries and their demises. Bodies being moved from one end to

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22 Jun 2023

Drag & Trans Performers Give The Real Queer Sex and The City Re-boot We All Wanted

And just like that, drag queens saved my life. Not that my life was in danger, besides the general impending doom that exists in the world today around queer and trans people. What I mean to say is, last night drag performers made me full-body cackle for two hours straight and it was the purest joy I have experienced in a long time.

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