In the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, Folsom Street sat at the heart of San Francisco’s emerging leather and kink scene, and one of its most influential landmarks was the Folsom Street hotel, a gay-operated hotel that catered openly to queer men—a rare act of visibility at a time when most lodging had to pretend otherwise. Part guesthouse, part social hub, and part erotic sanctuary, it offered travelers, locals, and newcomers a place where same-sex desire didn’t have to be hidden behind euphemisms, fake registrations, or “two beds, please.”
Located in what would become the SoMa leather district, the hotel helped fuel a growing network of bars, clubs, bathhouses, and workshops that centered queer masculinity, BDSM culture, and body-positive sexuality. It became a staging ground for community organizing, erotic expression, and the early spirit that would later inspire the Folsom Street Fair, one of the largest LGBTQ and leather events in the world.
