Long before boutique gyms and rainbow branding, City Athletic Club was part of San Francisco’s quietly coded queer infrastructure—a place where fitness, cruising, and community overlapped without needing to say so out loud. In an era when gay visibility was still negotiated carefully, spaces like CAC offered more than workouts: they offered access, proximity, and recognition within the rhythms of everyday life.
Urban athletic clubs played a particular role in mid-to-late 20th century gay culture. They were respectable on the surface—lockers, weights, steam rooms—but beneath that veneer they functioned as social hubs, meeting points, and sites of connection. For many men, they were among the few places where desire and identity could exist semi-publicly, even if coded.
