What Happened to Polk Street?

This once-vibrant street, former ground zero for Pride, is now lined with vacant storefronts

It’s A Grind Coffee House closed back in 2016 and remains vacant. Photo: Bj Gopinath

The year was 1972, and San Francisco was hosting its first Gay Pride Parade on Polk Street — the city’s oldest gay district. The parade attracted more than 50,000 people who came to celebrate Pride for the very first time, laying the groundwork for LGBTQ…