GAY PEOPLE'S Chronicle CHRONICLE

JUNE 5, 1998

Evenings Out

Cruisin' the Castro

Film shows history of the first true gay neighborhood

CRAWFORD BARTON

by Dan Hlad

San Francisco-Long considered a mecca by gay and lesbian people, a new documentary takes an in-depth and honest look at the history of San Francisco's Castro District and the part it played in America's modern gay and lesbian rights movement.

The 1997 George Foster Peabody Award winning film The Castro: A Neighborhood, A Battleground, A Mecca, chronicles the district from its beginnings as an Irish Catholic neighborhood in the 1920s through its designation as America's first "Queer City" in 1955 to the more recent political events that help shape its reputation.

The film, scheduled to debut on PBS in June uses residents' personal recollections of events to provide insight into everything from the riots of the 1950s to the district's criticism over its current commercialization.

Gensidered the center of the gay rights movement by 1955, the Castro was considered a haven where gay and lesbian people could come out of the closet.

"Before the era of the Castro, so-called gay neighborhoods were associated strictly with nightlife," said Peter L. Stein, the program's producer, director and writer. "The Castro was really the first place where gay people set out to own businesses, buy property, elect their own officials, or walk down the street as a gay or lesbian person 24 hours a day."

Among several other topics, a large portion of the film focuses on San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay

Me HAPPY

A corner of San Francisco became contested ound as the quiet, working-class Eueka Valley neighborhood was transformed into "The Castro,” a world renowned gay mecca.

elected official in California, who was assassinated in 1978.

"I will never forget that day, for as long as I live," recalled Castro resident Thomas Van Etten. "I just thought, 'Well, it'll all end. Life as we know it is going to end in San Francisco."

But, as chronicled in the film, Milk's assassination and the light sentence of eight

The "Castro clone” look became a feature of the neighborhood in the 1970s.

years given to the gunman-fellow supervisor Dan White-did anything but lessen the movement. Riots following the announcement of the sentence are attributed in the film to furthering the national gay and lesbian

movement.

The Castro uses several other examples of events, including the AIDS pandemic of the early 80s, to demonstrate how oppression

EMERY RIEFF

and tragedy fueled the community.

"When we began shooting, it seemed that gay men of the generation were just beginning to turn the corner on AIDS," said Stein. "It seems people were beginning to try to make sense of the big picture—and to remember with fondness the roller coaster ride they had been on."

Not without controversy, the community's reputation surrounding sexism and racism are spelled out in the film.

"Women and people of color have always felt marginalized by the very white, very mainstream, very male world the Castro became in the 1970s," said Stein; an issue the community still grapples with.

In addition, in what is billed as the "Disneyization" of the area, The Castro explores the effects of the overwhelming commercialization of the neighborhood.

Rachel Timoner, a Castro youth activist and resident, says its like a mirage.

"On the surface it's supposed to be a gay mecca, but when you get there it's a commercial strip and houses," she said.

But Stein believes that one day a gay neighborhood will be as obsolete as San Francisco's Chinatown or Boston's North End.

"As gays and lesbians find that they can live in lots of different places without fear, the very need for a 'gay neighborhood' may in fact be obsolete."

Stein also added, "(The Castro) has always opened its arms to newcomers who needed a place to call home. I hope it never loses that."

The Castro can be seen on WVIZ Channel 25 in Cleveland June 16 at midnight; on WEAO/WNEO Channels 45 and 49 in Ak-** ron and Youngstown on June 14 from from midnight to 1:30 am; on WOSU in Columbus on June 26 at 9 pm; on WGTE in Toledo on June 23 at 11 pm; on WPTD in Dayton on June 13 at 9:30 pm, and 4 am; and on WCET in Cincinnati on June 12 at 11:30 pm. Dan Hlad is public relations director of the Cleveland Lesbian and Gay Center.