SF Polk gay bar (former) (1364)

Playland, formerly Kimo's gay bar. From my first encounter with SF gay life in the 1970's, well into the 1990's, this intersection was in the center of what was the gay Polk Gulch neighborhood. In those days several blocks along Polk and nearby on cross-streets consisted of gay bars; exclusively or predominantly gay restaurants; bookstores, clothing / leather stores, and sex shops catering to gays; and a movie theater that was a key place to go for movies that were relevant for gays.

I hear that many gays still live in the neighborhood, but the street itself has largely been de-gayed. That is partly due to changes in gay culture, partly due to the shifting in the 1980's of gay culture to the Castro neighborhood, partly due to the influx of straights once gays made the neighborhood desirable (happens everywhere), and partly due to gentrification that raised the rents and forced poorer gays out of the city.