LGBTQ+
The Stud queer bar reopens in San Francisco
San Francisco’s historic queer bar finds a new home after four years.
By Adriana Roberts
“It’s the event of the season!” I can’t tell you how many times I heard this uttered this past Saturday amongst the packed, wall-to-wall throngs of people who came out for The Stud’s grand re-opening, as it finally threw open its doors at its new space at 1123 Folsom near 7th Street.
Befitting a place that’s been around for 58 years, the theme of the party was “Time Machine,” as each hour of the party moved through the music of the decades, starting with the ’60s at 6pm, and changing each hour with different DJs and drag acts.
The Stud is one of San Francisco’s oldest LGBTQ+ establishments, originally opening in 1966, not long after Wild Side West in 1962 and just before two queer women bought Twin Peaks Tavern in 1971.
As a resident DJ of The Stud’s most legendary party in the 1990s and 2000s, the Tuesday night drag show retro-actively referred to now as T-Shack, run by the late, great drag queen Heklina, I was invited to represent the ’90s at 9pm. And by the time I arrived for my set — over 90 minutes early — the place was already so packed it was difficult to get to the DJ booth!
But from the minute I walked through the doors, it felt like a family reunion. Of course, any iconic bar that’s been around as long as The Stud will bring out “the olds.” But I was relieved to see that it wasn’t all “gays of a certain age,” re-living their misspent youth. There was also plenty of new blood, as younger queers came out to check out the new space, creating a generational mix that The Stud was always known for.
The Stud was always known for welcoming queers of all stripes, genders, and persuasions, especially in the bar’s early years when segregation amongst San Francisco LGBT community was very divided: gay men went to gay clubs, lesbian women went to lesbian bars. And as for bis and trans? Well, there just weren’t enough of us to even matter.
Except for places like The Stud. Longtime bartender Bernadette Fons was gracious enough to give us a tour of the new space, complete with a history lesson of The Stud’s longtime inclusionary policies. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, when women were barred from gay male spaces with such arcane rules as “no open toed shoes” and “no perfume,” The Stud — which at the time was predominantly still a leather bar — welcomed everyone, regardless of gender.
The “through the decades” theme was certainly appropriate considering The Stud’s reputation as San Francisco’s oldest LGBT bar still in existence. It first opened in 1966 at 11th & Folsom, at the space now known as Eden, but known for decades as The Holy Cow. This is back when Folsom Street was filled with leather bars, and The Stud was merely one of several.
The bar changed ownership a few times over the decades, with some of its owners being drag queens or identifying as transgender. It moved to 9th & Harrison in 1987, to the space that most people now associate it with. But after over 20 years of ownership, Michael McElheney — who flew in from Hawaii on Saturday for the opening party — decided to retire. However, in an unprecedented act of community action, a collective formed to purchase The Stud, and by the end of 2016, it became the first co-op nightclub in the United States.
Of course, the pandemic put a stop to all nightlife in 2020, and facing financial ruin due to the high rent, The Stud Collective decided to let go of its space in order to survive. Through community support and fundraising, they finally found this new home in the former Julie’s Supper Club on Folsom near 7th Street, and along with Cat Club and F8, fellow venues on the same block, it’s looking like there might be a new axis of SoMa nightlife besides just 11th & Folsom.
“It feels surreal to have The Stud open again,” says co-owner and collective member Honey Mahogany. “But after four long years of searching, and many months of hard work, it’s finally here! It was heartbreaking to have to close The Stud. Ever since, it’s felt like San Francisco has been missing a piece of its heart, and now with the re-opening in the heart of SoMa, it’s finally getting it back.”
The new space is definitely bigger than the old Stud and is still coming together. And while everyone involved was definitely scrambling the past few weeks to get everything ready in time for Saturday’s big party, the team managed to pull it off.
Of course, this is just the beginning. There are already plans to knock out a wall and build a new stage. But these things take money, and hopefully starting up operations will help fund further renovations.
But for this opening party, drag performers made due by lip-syncing on a go-go box on the side of the dance floor, just like The Stud’s old, tiny stage where drag performers first cut their teeth at T-shack in the late ’90s and ‘00s.
This being San Francisco, it was no surprise that less than 3 hours into the party, there were already noise complaints, and the lovely outdoor patio had to be shut down before 8:30pm. This is a common NIMBY issue in the mixed-use neighborhood like SoMa. But hopefully, a solution can get implemented soon, as it was a lovely gathering space for conversation and for patrons to get some air.
Fortunately, I was there early enough to see one of my favorite things on the patio, a shrine of photos featuring several people who helped make The Stud what it’s been, including performers like Sylvester, Arturo Galster, and Heklina, along with former owner Ben Guibord, among many others.
Speaking of décor, it was a nostalgic joy to see a few signs and other pieces salvaged from the old venue, and they were a good reminder of the importance of preserving pieces of local LGBT history.
And that history is soon to be written anew — especially in the bathroom stalls, which were already getting festooned with several queer activist stickers, even on its first night of operation.
The Stud was — and now is again — a “queer bar” in the truest sense, especially within the historical context of other gay bars. It somehow became a refuge for those marginalized even within the LGBT community, a home for our various subcultures, which is why it’s so revered today. It was great to see such a diverse mix of women, men — and all those in-between or neither — co-existing in a new (but still “old”) community space. One hopes that history repeats itself at this new venue, as it continues to develop and grow in the coming months.
Adriana Roberts is a DJ and performer with her Bootie Mashup parties, as well as a writer and trans influencer.
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More photos of The Stud reopening
Photographs by Darryl Pelletier for The Bold Italic.
