Iconic SF Queer Bar “Stud” Reopens April 20th

Dreamyshade CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikipedia

Thanks to SF Gate for sharing the news that San Francisco’s historic LGBTQ+ bar The Stud is reopening on April 20, 2024.

The country’s only cooperatively owned LGBT bar had been in operation for 54 years, but sadly shut down in May of 2020.

San Francisco’s oldest Gay Bar, dating back to 1966, was originally located on Folsom where Holy Cow is now. In 1987, the bar moved to 9th Street where it was for 33 years until it shut down with a drag funeral on May 31, 2020 in the midst of COVID.

The Stud Collective is raising funds for the new venue. > Learn More.

Thankfully, it wasn’t the end for The Stud. The worker-cooperative, Stud Collective purchased a new venue at 1123 Folsom St. (btwn 7th and 8th) in SoMa in SF’s historic Leather District, previously home to Julie’s Supper Club and Trademark sports bar.

What’s the Tea On the New Space?

You know we love our history… and the new space we found is historic as hell. In the early 70s it was the site of a collectively owned (yay!!) vegetarian restaurant called Wellsprings Reunion. But the collective was eventually unmasked as a front for an armed revolutionary cult (ewwww) named Tribal Thumb whose members were implicated in the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, the San Francisco assassination attempt on Gerald Ford, and a shoot out at a food-coop that ended with multiple deaths (okay seriously that part really sucks.) 

When the now famous Julie’s Supper Club took over the space in the 80’s, they found cult graffiti on the walls of the upstairs office and a weird space in the basement that everyone has told us is one of the places where Patty Hearst was held (we love you Patty…you’re an ally, girl.)

The new location will be double the size of our notoriously crowded old space, we’ll have two bars, a new stage and sound system… and best of all, multiple working toilets (no more having to squat in the piss trough, ladies) And we’re definitely bringing back the crazy collections of queer, chotchkies that made the design of the Stud so awesome.

But we are gonna need that coin… seriously. I know everyone is kind of over this shit, but if you can help us on this one and share this on your socials, we need you.

 

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