It was so close to the YMCA I now understand why The Village People sang about it. Can I have my gay card back please? However, the Folsom Street Fair we know today would not start for another few decades. The leather community in San Francisco started in the Embarcadero and Tenderloin neighborhoods. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Folsom street became the center of the leather scene. Febe’s, the first leather bar on Folsom street opened in 1966. However, the first leather bar in SoMa, or South of Market, where the Folsom Street Fair is now held, wasn’t open until 1961. This was just the beginning of the leather culture in San Francisco. From here, Life Magazine, the Mattachine Society (the San Francisco Chapter) and another gay bar called The Tool Box played a vital role in making the leather fetish scene in this city famous. Once Upon a Time Folsom Street Fair was a Gay Eventĭuring the hight of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s the city of San Francisco started shutting down bathhouses and other gay venues in order to “clean up the city.” As a result, the leather community started a non-profit and began a yearly fair. This fair would, not only raise awareness of the lather-kink culture, but also served as a place where gay men could get vital information on safer sex practices now that central locations were closing. In 1985 another leather-fetish event began. Up Your Alley, now known as Dore Alley is still a well celebrated yearly event. Dore Alley has more kink and more fetish and is considered a concentrated version of Folsom Street Fair.
However, I have not been to this event yet. Today Folsom is the Largest Event of its Kind Just watch me! With so many amazing gay events to attend and report on, one only has so much time. The Folsom Street Fair attracts around 400,000 people yearly. Nudity until you can’t stand it anymore (and why would you want to?) and people having an all around good time.