"I found it amazing it has been around 40 years," said Foley, the parent of a lesbian teenage daughter. "This has implications for communities across the globe to recognize the inherent diversity of humans, of all of us," said Pearlman, whose tenure on the panel is expected to end when Mayor London Breed names a new person to serve in his seat.Ĭommissioner Chris Foley noted how a close gay friend of his from when he lived in Indiana often came to San Francisco for vacations and frequented the Eagle bar until his passing from AIDS.
He deemed landmarking a building use like the Eagle bar "somewhat revolutionary" because of the role it has played in the leather and LGBTQ communities the last four decades. I came to San Francisco as a gay man to live my life as I wanted to," recalled Pearlman. "Landmarking this building makes me happy to be a San Franciscan. The 1,400 square foot patio is believed to be one of the largest such outdoor spaces in city, according to the planning report. Gay commissioner Jonathan Pearlman also recalled attending Sunday beer bust fundraisers at the bar on behalf of AIDS agencies he was associated with after moving to San Francisco in 1989. "One of the clear messages I kept reading was how a lot of people moved here to San Francisco because they wanted to live as they wanted to, and the Eagle was one of the first places they felt at home," said Black of the numerous letters in support of landmarking the bar sent in by members of the public.
Commissioner Kate Black noted she attended fundraisers at the Eagle in the 1980s and early 1990s when she served on the board of an AIDS nonprofit. The Historic Preservation Commission unanimously voted 7-0 Wednesday in support of landmarking the bar. The planning department called the venue "a cornerstone for San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) Leather and LGBTQ communities." The 55-page report goes into detail about the property, from its world-famous outdoor patio to its "porcelain trough" urinal, and traces how for nearly 40 years it has been host to "extensive fundraising efforts" that raised millions of dollars for AIDS-related and other charities. In a report released ahead of the May 19 meeting of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, the planners noted the gay-owned venue is one of the longest operating LGBTQ bars in the city. San Francisco Planning Department staff had deemed the local Eagle that first opened in 1981 at 396-398 12th Street worthy of being designated a city landmark, as the Bay Area Reporter first reported last week. Atlanta officials christened their Eagle bar, which opened in 1987, a city landmark in December. It will also be the second leather Eagle bar in the country to be deemed a city landmark. It is set to become the eighth property in the city with ties to LGBTQ history to be designated a city landmark and the first related to leather history. A San Francisco historic advisory panel is recommending that city officials landmark the South of Market Eagle bar for its importance to the leather and LGBTQ communities.