Tool Box Bar, 1963
TOOL BOX BAR, 1963
The third poster, entitled TOOL BOX BAR, 1963, is colored in yellow to correspond to the third color down on the rainbow flag. It illustrates the story of the first leather bar in SF’s South of Market (SOMA) district and the beginnings of leather culture in the city.
The poster title should have been TOOL BOX BAR, 1962, since that was the year the bar actually opened. I had read that the date was 1963, but was corrected by Gayle Rubin, who is the greatest historian of the early leather scene. I changed the date in the body of the poster, but unfortunately, I forgot to do so in the title.
The inclusion of the Tool Box in the set of posters, along with the illustrations of the Black Cat bar in the José Sarria poster, allowed me to pay homage to the LGBTQ bar scene in San Francisco. As I hinted at in the DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS, 1955, poster, there was a division between the more assimilationist homophile movement and the less political but more diverse bar scenes. Ultimately, I believe we needed both to move forward an agenda of queer freedom, even though the relationship between the two was tense at times.
The early SF leather scene was predominantly (though certainly not exclusively) populated by cisgender, white, gay men. The leather and kink communities have become increasingly diverse over the years. In the book that I hope will come out of this project, I want to add material about the contributions of leather women, trans folks, and people of color, as well as how they created their own spaces.
To dive more deeply into the early history of the leather scene, check out Rubin’s seminal essay “The Miracle Mile: South of Market and Gay Male Leather Culture, 1962-1997” from Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture.
In this poster, I created a fictional first-time visitor to the bar to bring the reader into the space and discover things as that character encounters them. I had excellent help in doing this from Mike Caffee, who ran the Tool Box when the famous photograph of it was published in Time Life Magazine in 1964. He was also responsible for the iconic “leather David” statue and other art pieces from the time. Mike regaled me with memories of his friend Chuck Arnett, who painted the Tool Box’s legendary mural; I was able to create Arnett as a character in the comic because of Caffee’s help and inspiration.
I also talked with Seth Eisen, the brains behind Eye Zen Presents, a theatrical company focusing on queer history. He had written about the Tool Box for his Out of Site: SOMA performance and was gracious enough to take a look at my work and introduce me to Caffee. I’ve also been inspired by the work of Nick Wafel, who created homages to the SF leather bars of old, including the Tool Box, in his Mr. Drummer 1979 parties.
Finally, I was aided in all of this by Race Bannon and Graylin Thorton, both of whom have documented and participated in leather culture in San Francisco for decades, and Robert Goldfarb, the president of the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District in SF’s SOMA neighborhood. Ringold Alley’s Leather Memoir, a street installation honoring the leather history of the area, is also an important resource.
