Castro District

The Castro is a neighborhood in San Francisco often described as one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Beginning in the early 1970s, gay men transformed a declining Irish Catholic working-class district into a thriving, politically active queer community. Harvey Milk opened Castro Camera there in 1972 and was elected to the Board of Supervisors from the area in 1977. The neighborhood was hit hard by the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, which killed thousands of residents and reshaped community life. Today the Castro remains a symbol of gay history and a destination, home to the Castro Theatre, the giant rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza, and the GLBT Historical Society, while contending with rising housing costs.