Castro, The

The Castro is San Francisco's most famous LGBTQ+ neighborhood and one of the most historically important gay communities anywhere. Starting in the early 1970s, gay men reshaped a working-class Irish district into a lively, politically organized queer enclave. It became a center of gay political life, powered in part by Harvey Milk's camera shop and his 1977 election to the Board of Supervisors. The neighborhood suffered devastating losses during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Today it remains an iconic destination, home to the Castro Theatre, the GLBT Historical Society, and the giant rainbow flag at Harvey Milk Plaza, even as San Francisco's housing pressures affect its queer residents.