FoundSF

Historical Essay

By Drew Bourn PhD MLIS for San Francisco Heritage, October 2025

November 1993 exterior shot of the San Francisco Eagle.

Photo by Marcos Hernandez. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

After WWII a new kind of gay bar emerged in the United States—the leather bar. These catered to leathermen—a subculture of gay men who were interested in exploring new and queer kinds of masculinity. Leathermen drew inspiration from such sources as motorcycle clubs and the military, and they sought each other out for heightened sexual experiences that involved role-play, bondage, and fetishes. The first leather bar in San Francisco was the Why Not, which opened in 1962 at 518 Ellis in the Tenderloin. Later that same year the Tool Box opened at 399 4th Street—the first leather bar in the South of Market. This marked the beginning of an era in which Folsom Street and the surrounding streets became “the Miracle Mile” or the “Valley of the Kings”—a concentration of bars, bathhouses, and other businesses that catered to leathermen. News of this nascent development was broadcast across the country in 1964 when Life magazine published a sensationalistic exposé, “Homosexuality in America,” featuring a two-page photo spread of the interior of the Tool Box.

As leather bars began to appear in cities across the U.S., some of these bars began to call themselves “the Eagle”—beginning with the Eagle in New York City in the 1970s. Other cities followed suit, including Washington DC, Detroit, and Seattle. This was not a franchise or chain; there was no legal connection among the bars. At present there are leather bars called the Eagle throughout the U.S. and in other countries.

In 1981 Bob Damron and Jay Levine opened the San Francisco Eagle at 398 12th Street, on the corner of 12th and Harrison. The bar has remained there ever since, even as the ownership has changed. After Damron passed away in 1989, Jay Levine was the sole owner until he sold the bar to John Gardiner and Joe Banks in 1997. The new owners changed the bar’s name to the Eagle Tavern, and a dispute with the landlord led to the bar closing in 2011. In 2012 the bar was sold again—this time, to Mike Leon and Alex (“Lex”) Montiel. They re-opened the bar in 2013 and changed the name back to the Eagle. Leon passed away in 2019; Montiel has since been the sole proprietor.

1988 flyer for Deaf AIDS Fund: 1988 flyer for a Valentine’s Day fundraiser at the Eagle for the Deaf AIDS Fund. The flyer repurposed artwork that Robert Uyvari created for the San Francisco Eagle in 1981. Uyvari divided his time between San Francisco and Milwaukee in the 1970s and 1980s before passing away in 1986.

Image: San Francisco LGBT Business Ephemera Collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

1990 flyer opposing Jesse Helms: 1990 flyer for an event at the Eagle to raise funds to oppose Jesse Helms, US Senator from North Carolina. Helms was openly racist and homophobic and he obstructed federal funds for HIV-related research and care. This event was sponsored by the Outcasts, one of many women’s S/M groups that have organized in the Bay Area since the 1970s.

Image: Club flyers, “Eagle,” LGBTQIA Club and Event Flyers Collection (GLC 194), LGBTQIA Center, San Francisco Public Library.

The San Francisco Eagle has always been more than just a place to drink, socialize with friends, or look for sexual partners. It has served as a place where members of the LGBTQ community can create or engage with many kinds of art, activism, and community building.

One example is the bar’s use by motorcycle clubs. Since the emergence of the leather subculture in the U.S., there has been an overlap between leathermen and motorcycle clubs. Many gay motorcycle clubs in Northern California have adopted the San Francisco Eagle as their home bar or held club functions there. These include the Warlocks, the California Motor Club, the California Eagles, the Constantines, the Satyrs, the Rainbows, the God Damn Independents, the Barbary Coasters, the Cheaters, the Cycle Runners, and the Defenders. In addition to events specific to each of those clubs, the Eagle has also hosted the christening of unnamed motorcycles and the blessing of motorcycles by ministers of the Metropolitan Community Church.

The July 1988 Blessing of the Bikes. The motorcycles are lined up along 12th Street outside the Eagle.

Photo: Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

From at least 1984 until 1998 the Eagle was one of the sites of Mr. S Leather, a local retailer of leather gear and goods. Mr. S was founded by Alan Selby, who was popularly known as “the Mayor of Folsom Street,” and whose activism included co-founding and fundraising for the AIDS Emergency Fund. Mr. S Leather still has a retail store at 385 8th Street in the South of Market.

In 1984 the owners hired Terry Thompson to manage the bar. He remained in that post until 1994, the year he passed away. Thompson was so prolific in his organizing of events and fundraisers such as the Bare Chest Calendar that in 1990 San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos declared September 28 Terry Thompson Day—an opportunity that Thompson took to do fundraising for the AIDS Emergency Fund.

Alan Selby at the Eagle in December 1988. Selby did volunteer support for people with AIDS at San Francisco General Hospital and served on the Boards of many community organizations.

Photo by Marcus Hernandez. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

Thompson was instrumental in establishing a long-standing institution at the Eagle: the Sunday beer bust. This event takes advantage of the Eagle’s large enclosed open-air patio to host crowds of many hundreds. Almost every Sunday the Eagle beer bust serves as a fundraiser for a variety of community organizations, including the Rainbow Deaf Society, Theatre Rhino, Project Open Hand, the Castro Lions Club, the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, the Lyon Martin Lesbians with HIV Clinic, the GLBT Historical Society, Coming Home Hospice, the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, Rocket Dog Rescue, and hundreds of other groups. In 1995 Marcus Hernandez, leather columnist for the Bay Area Reporter, estimated that the Eagle had raised approximately five million dollars through what was then fourteen years of beer busts and other fundraisers. Thirty years after that report, the number is undoubtedly much greater today.

The Eagle has also hosted other functions, including political rallies, leather titleholder contests, and art exhibits. Performers at the Eagle have ranged from stand-up comics like Danny Williams, Marga Gomez, and Tom Ammiano to local queer musicians such as Pansy Division, Tribe 8, the Cinnamon Girls, Connie Champagne, and Leigh Crow, to entertainment legends like Sylvester and Connie Francis.

Graylin Thorton modeled a leather coat at a Sunday beer bust and auction at the Eagle in 1990 to benefit the Shanti Project, a direct service organization for people with HIV and AIDS.

Photo by Marcus Hernandez. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

Steve Kajikawa (left) and Joe Scibetta (right) competed in the Mr. S.F. Leather contest at the Eagle in 1991. Titleholder contests are frequently fundraising events, and winners often engage in community organizing, advocacy, and fundraising work.

Photo by Marcus Hernandez. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

Some instances of community-building at the Eagle are not immediately apparent within the bar itself. One example is the sports and recreation teams the bar has formed over the years for softball, basketball, bowling, and pool. Another example is “Men Behind Bars,” an annual fundraising variety show that began in 1984 in which Eagle bartenders performed with staff of other local bars.

As a long-standing site of art, activism, and community organizing, the Eagle has received many recognitions. In 2017 the Eagle was placed on San Francisco’s Legacy Business Registry, and in 2021 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors granted the Eagle an historic city landmark designation (no. 295). In 2018 the Board of Supervisors approved the creation of an Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District in the South of Market— an event that was celebrated with champagne at the Eagle. In 2019 the city broke ground for the creation of Eagle Plaza, a pedestrian park that now extends outside the Eagle to commemorate the history and contributions of the LGBTQ and leather community to the city.

Singer, educator, and activist Adilifu Fundi performed at a cabaret at the Eagle in September 1994.

Photo by Marcus Hernandez. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

Kenneth J. Lackey celebration of life: The Eagle has been the site of many memorial services, including this celebration of the life of Kenneth J. Lackey on October 12, 1989. A former writer for the leather magazine Drummer, his obituary in the Bay Area Reporter requested that donations in his name be made to the AIDS Emergency Fund and Hospice by the Bay.

Photo by Marcus Hernandez. Marcus Hernandez (Mister Marcus) collection, The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society.

In spite of the Eagle’s long and storied role as a community center, the site is slated for a building height increase under San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s 2025 “family zoning” plan, raising the possibility of the Eagle’s demolition. Paul Dally, Chair of the Land Use Committee of the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District, has argued against such a demolition before the San Francisco Planning Commission. Whether the Eagle will be able to continue to exist as a place for art, activism, and community building remains to be seen.

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