1989 Zell-Breier Pictorial View of Gay San Francisco, California

A Panorama of San Francisco's LGBTQ Community in the Late 1980s.

This is a 1989 promotional pictorial view of San Francisco drawn by Rob Zell-Breier for City Graphics. It adopts an unusual motif for a promotional map, presenting the city as a fantastical land of Oz, with a strong emphasis on local businesses related to the city's LGBTQ community.

A Closer Look

Although not immediately apparent at first glance, the view acts as a directory of sorts for gay-friendly businesses in San Francisco, condensing the city's geography to emphasize the main gay-friendly neighborhoods of the Castro, the Mission, SoMa, the Tenderloin, and Lower Nob Hill / Polk Gulch. The stretch of Market Street running through or near these neighborhoods is covered in a rainbow, while below the title cartouche, the flags of San Francisco and the Gay Pride rainbow flag are crossed. The rainbow flag was designed in San Francisco in 1978 by Gilbert Baker (1951 - 2017), a local artist and friend of Harvey Milk.

The businesses advertised include gay and lesbian bars, clubs, bookstores (including the adult variety), and leather shops, but also more banal enterprises such as restaurants, stationers, real estate agents, and bowling alleys. A small handful of these businesses are still in operation, including the Twin Peaks Tavern in the Castro and the Stud (though it has moved to a nearby location). On the other hand, Maud's, billed here as 'the oldest women's [i.e. lesbian] bar in the world,' closed the same year this view was printed.

San Francisco's LGBTQ Community in the Late 1980s

This map appeared at a complex time in the LGBTQ movement in San Francisco. On the one hand, the city had become a beacon for gay rights. The LGBTQ community was increasingly accepted and even celebrated by the city's political leadership (such as Mayor Dianne Feinstein, in office 1978 - 1988). The year this map was published, the city's Board of Supervisors passed landmark legislation on registered domestic partnerships that allowed gay couples rights of survivorship, hospital visitation, and other related rights. (It was immediately, narrowly rejected by voters in a ballot proposition but then reinstated by another proposition the following year and has been in law ever since.) On the other hand, the community was still dealing with the heavy impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the often-uninterested response by public health authorities and the wider public. The local chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), formed in 1988, mobilized thousands in acts of civil disobedience, staging shut-ins and protests against federal agencies and pharmaceutical companies to demand faster drug trials and affordable healthcare. Concurrently, San Francisco activist Cleve Jones (b. 1954) unveiled the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in 1987, a sprawling monument born on the city's streets that forced the nation to confront the human toll of the crisis.

Why the Wizard of Oz?

Perhaps the most immediately distinctive feature of the map is its title and Wizard of Oz theme, with Dorothy appearing next to the title cartouche and the Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow, and Glinda portrayed in the corners, set against rainbow backdrops. This design choice is a reference to the 1939 film's popularity in the LGBTQ community; although clearly not produced as a queer film, 'The Wizard of Oz' became a foundational piece of LGBTQ culture through its poignant themes of escapism, self-discovery, and chosen family. Dorothy's journey from monochrome Kansas to the vibrant, welcoming sanctuary of Oz mirrored the real-life experiences of marginalized individuals leaving restrictive hometowns in search of accepting communities. This deep resonance gave rise to the mid-20th-century covert phrase 'friend of Dorothy,' which gay men and lesbians used as a secret code to safely identify one another during an era when homosexuality was criminalized. Furthermore, the movie's high-camp aesthetic, including the flamboyant grandeur of the Emerald City and the theatrical, non-traditionally masculine Cowardly Lion, also made it an enduring staple for drag performers and queer artists alike.

Publication History and Census

This pictorial view was drawn by Rob Zell-Breier in 1989 and published by City Graphics, a local company seemingly managed by Zell-Breier himself. A woman named Renay, depicted in a car near the center, was likely a consultant of sorts, though her exact role in the map's production is unclear. The view is cataloged only in the holdings of the University of California, Berkeley.

Cartographer

Robert Zell-Breier (July 26, 1947 - April 7, 2010) was an American artist known for hand-drawn poster maps and montages. Zell-Breier attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts and the Maryland Art Institute.   Further Details...

Condition

Good. Some edge wear. Fading upper left.

References

OCLC 760115061.