Activity: North Beach Queer History Walking Tour

with Shawn Sprockett of Unspeakable Vice Tours
Sunday, 10/6/2024
2:00 - 3:30
North Beach General Floor Area
North Beach

850 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
United States

415-355-5626
Register

Explore North Beach and reveal the locations of dozens of queer-friendly spaces as far back as the 19th century in San Francisco's original "gayborhood." This walk guides you through the historic and scenic sites of the Jackson Square district.

Join Shawn Sprockett, a local queer professor and independent researcher, as he details the sights, sounds and scandals that shaped emerging queer identity in early San Francisco. Decades before Stonewall, the rainbow flag, or Harvey Milk, queer-friendly entertainment venues were all over the Barbary Coast, providing some of the earliest prototypes of LGBTQ spaces and often showcasing revolutionary gender non-conformity. Learn how a Latinx drag queen, a Black bisexual "bomber" and scores of misfit bohemian allies banded together to resist anti-vice oppressors and give voice to that "unspeakable vice of the Greeks."

Please note: The tour group will meet outside of the SF Historical Society (608 Commercial St.), NOT the library. It will start at 2 PM sharp. 

Space limited to 20 attendees. Reservations required: sign-up online (starting September 22).

Connect: Unspeakable Vice Tours | Website

Community & Neighborhood

Build connections with others in our local programs.

History

Learn more about local history.

LGBTQIA+ Interest

Gather, share knowledge and celebrate our unique identities at the queerest library ever. 

For more resources, the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center is the gateway to the Library’s broader collections documenting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual history and culture, with a special emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area.

Spotlight

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.