1976 Henley Pictorial Map of 'Gay' San Francisco as 'Alligator Oz'

A rare and most humorous 1976 J. Clark Henley pictorial map of San Francisco as the 'gay' paradise, 'Alligator Oz'. The cartography roughly mirrors the northern top of San Francisco Peninsula, with the San Francisco Bridge, Alcatraz Island, and the Bay Bridge clearly recognizable. Most structures have been transformed into penis shaped towers, with some, such as the Transamerica Pyramid, the Palace of Fine Arts, Painted Ladies, and City Hall recognizable. Throughout, homosexual alligators, some in drag, frolic and enjoy themselves, their notably salacious thoughts on clear display. In what would be Golden Gate Park, a parade of happy alli'gay'tors sing,

Oh happy day, we don't have wives who need their hair done, or children who need their stocking filled, so we can need Bill Blass, Vidal Sassoon, Elsa Peretti, and Wilkes Bashford, not to mention a complete collection of toys from Leather Forever…

LGBTQ Life in San Francisco

Scholars associate the development of LGBTQ culture in San Francisco with its origins as a gold rush boom town - when some 95% of the incoming population was male, although ethnically and culturally diverse. Gold wealth and rough frontier life gave the city a 'wide open anything goes' reputation. During World War I (1914 - 1918), the U.S. Navy practice of the 'blue discharge', where known homosexuals were discharged in port cities, created a growing gay-identified culture. By the 1920s - 1930s, the LGBTQ community in San Francisco was fully developed. The permissive culture led to an LGBTQ population boom in subsequent decades. By the 1960s, San Francisco was being called the 'Gay Mecca.' The first openly gay bar, 'Twin Peaks Tavern' opened and in 1978. The famous rainbow flag was designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker. Today San Francisco remains, along with New York, one of the largest centers of LGBTQ culture in the United States.

Publication History and Census

This map was issued in 1976 by J. Clark Henley. Although presumably printed in some quantity, this is the only known example of Henley's poster. No reference in OCLC or in known collections.