San Francisco's Oldest Lesbian Bar: Wild Side West

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 6 March 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

San Francisco's oldest lesbian bar, The Wild Side West, is in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. It's been open since 1962 and has a long history of offering sanctuary to a community that hasn't always felt welcome elsewhere. As lesbian bars around the Bay Area have been closing, the Wild Side West has survived in part because of dedicated regulars, like Timotha Doane, who has been going there for over fifty years. She just celebrated her 80th birthday at the bar! Read the transcript for this episode. Additional Reading: San Francisco's Oldest Lesbian Bar Has Been A Safe Space For More Than 60 Years 5 Historic Lesbian Bars We Wish Still Existed Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Ana de Almeida Amaral. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Holly Kernan and the whole KQED family.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Maybe you've seen this iconic picture from San Francisco history, two women walking proudly
0:09.7	in San Francisco's gay freedom parade in 1979.
0:14.8	They're holding up a huge banner that says, a day without lesbians is like a day without sunshine.
0:22.6	The Bay Area has long been known as an epicenter for queer life, and queer women have been
0:28.4	building community in San Francisco for almost 100 years.
0:32.4	Even way back in the 1930s, San Francisco already had places like Mona's 440 Club. It was known as the first
0:39.7	lesbian nightclub in San Francisco, and it was the destination for gender-fluid lesbians.
0:46.0	At Mona's Drag King performances were front and center, and the club was advertised as a place
0:51.7	where girls can be boys. Since then, San Francisco has seen a lot of lesbian establishments come and go.
1:00.0	But there is one spot that has survived the longest, the Wild Side West.
1:06.0	This week on Bay Curious, we're heading to the Bernal Heights Bar that has been serving lesbians since 1962.
1:13.6	We meet a longtime patron who has seen the culture of the city and the lesbian community transform over the decades.
1:21.2	I'm Olivia Allen Price. Stay with us.
1:26.6	Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.
1:30.9	Still family owned, operated, and argued over.
1:34.4	Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.
1:40.7	Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today how much do you know about the san francisco
1:47.6	bay area if you want to find out grab some friends and join us for bay curious trivia night
1:53.0	that's right all the questions have a local twist our trivia nights have been selling out for years
1:59.9	but it's been a hot minute since we had one.
2:03.3	So come out and join the fun on Tuesday, April 1st at KQED's headquarters in San Francisco's
2:09.1	Mission District. Get tickets at KQED.org slash live. We do expect them to go fast, so grab yours
	...

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