In the following decades, the Gangway held numerous benefits, fundraisers, and holiday parties for San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 5B, the first inpatient AIDS unit in the United States. “In a lot of ways, it became a community gathering space for the gay and transgender community,” says Laura Dominguez, communications and program manager at nonprofit San Francisco Heritage, which listed the Gangway to its Legacy Bars and Restaurants educational initiative. Records indicate the bar was also a member of the Tavern Guild, an association of gay bar owners and liquor wholesalers that formed in San Francisco in 1962 in the wake of police raids and other forms of harassment of gay bars throughout the city. Throughout the years, as many local businesses turned away members of the LGBTQ community, the Gangway threw open its doors. The Gangway is a favorite spot for tourists to get a strong drink and a neighborhood favorite for locals and drag queens. During Prohibition, its name changed to the Larkin Street Grill and housed a speakeasy in the basement. The nautical-themed dive bar first opened its doors in 1910 and was the site of a same-sex raid a year later. The Gangway’s history is colorful, going back to the beginning of the last century.
Just walk down Larkin Street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, and look for the big white ship projecting from a storefront.īehind that ship is one of the city’s oldest gay bars with a rich history of activism - and, as regulars attest, a laid-back, home-away-from-home atmosphere with stiff drinks, to boot.
Bartender Ed is known for his personable and easygoing attitude, not to mention his strong drinks and the occasional free shot of Jaeger.