The Alley Cat was the kind of hot-whispered gay cruising bar tucked into a narrow back alley in San Francisco (dates lost to time, but most active during the mid-1970s through early 1990s). With red-light neon signs barely visible from the street, a thumping bass from hidden dance rooms, and the clinking of drink orders passed quietly in dark corners, Alley Cat was both refuge and risk. For many queer people of the era it offered something precious: somewhere to be seen, somewhere to be free, somewhere out of the glare of everyday life.
