In the heart of the Castro District, few bars lasted as long — or meant as much to the neighborhood — as Trax.
Opening in 1973, just a few years after the Castro began emerging as the center of gay life in San Francisco, Trax quickly became a dependable neighborhood institution. It wasn’t a flashy disco palace or a leather club with a dress code. It was something more essential: a place where the community gathered.
For more than 50 years, Trax remained a steady presence as the Castro transformed around it. It saw the early years of gay liberation, the rise of the neighborhood as a global LGBTQ destination, the devastating years of the AIDS crisis, and the waves of change that followed.
