San Francisco's Castro by Strange de Jim, 1980s

Photo Bob M. Harvey Milk protégé Cleve Jones, later to be the creator of the AIDS Quilt, leads a protest from the City Hall steps.

Photo Daniel Nicoletta Members of ACT-UP, AIDS protesters, at the Cafe Flore, 1980s.

Photo Janis Greenberg Trinity Methodist Church on the corner of 16th and Market burned under suspicious circumstances in 1982.

Photo Cavalier Landscaping and Koi The empty space is now a garden designed by Cavalier Landscaping and Koi and is the future site of the Community Ministry Center of Bethany United Methodist Church.

Photo Strange de Jim Consecrated in 1902, Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church was the center of this Irish Catholic neighborhood until the 1950s and 1960s when young families started moving to the suburbs, blue collar jobs disappeared from San Francisco, and gays started moving into the neighborhood. The two pastors in the 1970s wanted nothing to do with gay people. Attendance at Most Holy Redeemer dwindled away to almost nothing, and the church was about to close.

Photo Most Holy Redeemer Father Tony McGuire (r) became pastor in 1982 and decided to conduct an outreach to the gay people in the neighborhood. As a result, today Most Holy Redeemer is thriving, and, at 80% gay, is the gayest Catholic Church in the world outside the Vatican.

Photo Robert M. Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin (l) with photographer Bob M., 1980s. Click to see Armistead's Tales of the City DVD.

Photo Janis Greenberg A 1991 protest march against President Bush's Iraqi war.

Photo Strange de Jim Tom Boyer (l) and Martin Hyland at the 1992 Castro Street Fair. Tom is now the head of the San Francisco chapter of the Pink Pistols, an organization for gay gun aficionados. Martin's older sister dated Bill Clinton before he met Hillary. Martin danced with another man in front of the Marine Band in the White House.

Photo Strange de Jim Two more cuties at the 1992 Castro Street Fair. When Harvey Milk started the Fair in 1974 it attracted 5,000 visitors. Now it's closer to 250,000.

Photo Daniel Nicoletta Dedication of the Harvey Milk mural at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy.

Photo Robert M. Tom Ammiano became the first openly gay president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Photo: White House Bill and Hillary Clinton with NAMES Project founder Cleve Jones (r) inspecting the AIDS Quilt on the Mall in Washington, D.C. October 11, 1996. Al and Tipper Gore also visited the Quilt.

Photo: White House Elizabeth Taylor speaking at the AIDS Quilt.

Photo Robert M. The Rah Rahs perform at the 1998 Castro Street Fair.

Photo Robert M. Harvey Milk protégé, photographer Dan Nicoletta, at a Tom Ammiano fundraiser at Josie's Juice Joint in 1999.

Castro photos 1880s to mid-1980s

Castro photos 2000 - 2004

All other Castro photos 1880s to present