{"product_id":"a-tinkers-damn-historic-santa-clara-gay-bar-1964-2014","title":"A Tinker's Damn (Historic Santa Clara Gay Bar\/1964-2014)","description":"\u003ch2 class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-section-id=\"44uvh7\" data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"52\"\u003eA Tinker’s Damn — Santa Clara Vintage Gay Bar Tee\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"54\" data-end=\"158\"\u003eFor nearly half a century, \u003cstrong data-start=\"81\" data-end=\"100\"\u003eA Tinker’s Damn\u003c\/strong\u003e was one of the great queer institutions of the South Bay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"160\" data-end=\"471\"\u003eThe bar at \u003cstrong data-start=\"171\" data-end=\"211\"\u003e46 N. Saratoga Avenue in Santa Clara\u003c\/strong\u003e took the Tinker’s Damn name in \u003cstrong data-start=\"243\" data-end=\"251\"\u003e1964\u003c\/strong\u003e. It initially attracted a gay following before officially becoming a gay bar about a decade later—and eventually earned a reputation as the \u003cstrong data-start=\"392\" data-end=\"432\"\u003eoldest gay bar in Santa Clara County\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"473\" data-end=\"769\"\u003eIts history also includes a small but important piece of local gay liberation. In the 1970s, owner \u003cstrong data-start=\"572\" data-end=\"598\"\u003eIzel “Starkey” Starkey\u003c\/strong\u003e fought for the right to allow \u003cstrong data-start=\"629\" data-end=\"665\"\u003etwo men to openly dance together\u003c\/strong\u003e at the bar, finally winning that battle by the end of the decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"771\" data-end=\"1237\"\u003eAnd dancing became a very big part of Tinker’s Damn. Over the years there were DJs, packed dance floors, drag shows, pool, pinball, Sunday barbecues, strong drinks, and the kind of mixed crowd that could include longtime regulars at the bar and younger guys arriving later to dance. It was unapologetically neighborhood-y while still giving queer people in \u003cstrong data-start=\"1128\" data-end=\"1173\"\u003eSanta Clara and the surrounding South Bay\u003c\/strong\u003e somewhere to actually go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1239\" data-end=\"1511\"\u003eThat matters because San Francisco usually gets most of the attention when people talk about Bay Area gay history. Places like A Tinker’s Damn remind us that queer communities were building their own bars, friendships, relationships, and traditions well beyond the Castro.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1838\" data-end=\"1990\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-start=\"1513\" data-end=\"1836\"\u003eThe bar finally closed in \u003cstrong data-start=\"1539\" data-end=\"1547\"\u003e2014\u003c\/strong\u003e, ending roughly fifty years under the Tinker’s Damn name. At its farewell, former customers remembered first gay-bar visits, coming out, meeting partners, and friendships that had begun there—the stuff that actually makes a neighborhood bar historic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Printify","offers":[{"title":"Black \/ S","offer_id":48252534554782,"sku":"19401109518083068659","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Dark Grey \/ S","offer_id":48252534587550,"sku":"87644690830292782533","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Dark Grey Heather \/ S","offer_id":48252534620318,"sku":"11081301984885086969","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Heather Navy \/ S","offer_id":48252534653086,"sku":"84167125875710831562","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Navy \/ S","offer_id":48252534685854,"sku":"23494659562633982042","price":29.75,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black Heather \/ 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