San Francisco

[trannie T]

I will be spending a few days in San Francisco at the end of the month. On Tuesday I'm going to TrannyShack. I'm going to wander through the Castro. Where else should I go in drag?

[Jocee]

Martuni's on Market is fun. It's a martini place with piano bar in the back. Mixed crowd, but very accepting.

Enjoy!

[RikkiOfLA]

I'm going to make a point about vocabulary, your word choice of "drag." I'm not doing it to criticize you for the word you chose, but to make a point about San Francisco. I've been to The City many times, en femme and not, and gone to just about every part of town.

There is a San Francisco "look." If you get the look, you can go anywhere in town en femme. Market Street, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, even church! I've done it without comment. (And in my humble opinion, those four areas might be the hardest places in The City to crossdress, because they are full of tourists who have heard about San Francisco by reputation, and can't wait to see "one of them.") So, thanks to the ubiquitous tourists, if you can't get the look right, you're probably wiser to only go en femme to Trannyshack and "friendly" places of that ilk.

"Drag" connotes an exaggerated parody of womanhood and transgenderedness. Drag queens do shows in bars, exaggerating everything about GGs and us, to amuse tourists, to tittilate horny drunks, and to get a laugh by letting even the clueless in on the joke. It's what they do, and they have every right to do it, as much as we do. And some of them are uncanny good at it.

The San Francisco "look" is the opposite of drag--sophisticated, understated, and feminist. You can wear a skirt to dinner at Alioto's, to a service at Grace Cathedral, or to drinks and dancing at The Top of the Mark. But even at those places, in a skirt, you'll probably be in the minority. Plan to wear pants in dark colors in the daytime every day, unless the weather is hot and it's Saturday--on those few days, dress for Los Angeles in a short flowery skirt and you'll be fine. Avoid heels over 1 1/2 inches unless you're going dancing--with all those hills, The City is definitely a flats kind of town. And tone the makeup down--set your makeup for a natural look and you'll do just fine.

So to put it very simply, you can crossdress anywhere and any time in San Francisco--but avoid drag!

Hope this helps.

Rikki

[Rachel Morley]

So to put it very simply, you can crossdress anywhere and any time in San Francisco--but avoid drag!

Not quite. Are you going next weekend?....it's the SF GLBT Pride weekend. There will be Drag Queens everywhere! San Francisco is an awesome city. I've been there many times dressed in various ways and I've always felt safe and accepted. So as to where should you go?....pretty much anywhere really. Although I personally found the Castro district a bit of a disappointment.

[Marlena Dahlstrom]

I have to second what Angel has said. I'm a local and there are lots of looks in SF. Go to the Financial District on a weekday or Davies Hall before a performance and you'll see a number of women in skirts and dresses. And what's "appropriate" varies by neighborhood. I've had dinner with a drag queen, but in Hayes Valley that's not quite the sight it would be compared to doing so in Potero Hill.

That said, going out in hooker-wear or in full Priscilla-Queen-of-the-Desert drag will result in more attention just like anywhere else -- even during the Pride Parade or the Folsom Street Fair. But the locals have seen far stranger, and to the tourists you're just local color. However, Rikki is correct that wearing a skirt will typically cause you to standout, mainly because GWs mostly wear pants due to the cool and often windy weather.

And I'd actually say, the tourist destinations are a lot easier to blend in -- the tourists are so busy gawking that they're not paying a lot of attention to what's going on around them (which is why the pickpockets love these areas).

Anyway, as far as stuff to do...

If you're there on a second or fourth Saturday, the Faux Girls drag show at Marlena's is worth checking out. More of a cabaret-style show (and naughty, not nasty). (FYI, Trannyshack starts very late -- midnight on a weeknight, if it's on time, which it usually isn't.) The rest of the time, Marlena's is a nice, friendly neighborhood bar where you can show up crossdressed and no one will bat an eye. The Blue Muse restaurant around the corner is lacking in atmosphere, but has great food and is one of the best values in the now-gentrified Hayes Valley -- and they're totally t-friendly.

As mentioned Martuni's is a nice upscale, mixed (gay/straight) bar with karaoke and Octavio's across the street, which often has jazz, is a nice restaurant.

Adam to Eve, a transformation service, also organizes Friday outings to Diva's nightclub, which is a bit on the sleazy side with lots of nominally off-duty tranny hookers and hordes of admirers. OTOH, if you go with Eve, usually there's a number of CDs who take over a corner of the dance floor.

And TGSF usually has social events twice a month.

Other than that, most areas of SF are fine to go en femme. (The Tenderloin, and parts of Market Street and the Mission are dicey after dark, but that's true regardless of how you're dressed -- and just remember to use the same safety consciousness that a GW would use.) I've been shopping, been to various tourists locales, to movies, to restaurants and to all the museums, taken cabs and stayed at various hotels en femme without a problem. (Although for the record, I do dress "realistically" and sometimes that does mean I wear pants.)

BTW, if you like Impressionism, the Legion of Honor art museum has a big Monet exhibit that just opened this weekend.

Incidentally, it's not worth trying to drive in the parts of the city that tourists usually visit. Parking is notoriously impossible (and hotel parking fees can be expensive), so walk, take public transportation or a cab. That said, it is handy to have a car to reach outlying parts of the city, like Twin Peaks and the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as to do a day trip up to Marin, so you might consider renting one for a day.

[Niya W]

Asia SF
201 9th St. at Howard St.

http://www.asiasf.com/


Divas
1081 Post St
San Francisco, Ca
http://www.divassf.com/

The Endup
401 6th Street
San Francisco
CA 94103
http://www.theendup.com/


Marlena's
488 Hayes St
San Francisco, CA 94102




Martuni's
4 Valencia St
San Francisco, CA 94103

Octavia Lounge
1772 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94102

[Rikkicn]

(The Tenderloin, and parts of Market Street and the Mission are dicey after dark,

Well harumph! I actualy live in the mission district and love it here. I'm rebuilding my life here. I go to restuarants, shops, drug stores, grocery stores and events. I wear everything, jeans, skirts, dresses. I dress lots of different ways, Funky, sexy and mundane.
My hair is long and I don't wear make up but I'm always dressed in fun
colors and wear lots of jewelry and dangling ear rings.
I have never had one problem! Not one!

Every city has areas that are unsafe and there are areas of the The Mission where I would not go at night. However, The Mission, as a whole, is a vibrant, multi-cultural, multi-class community that epitomizes diversity. Everyone is welcome and respected here. In a Friday or Saturday evening walk down Valencia Street, in the Mission, you see wonderful little shops and co-op galleries. We have some of the best food in the city at all prices.
Students, artists, those living in alternative ways, gender queer, gender variatant, straight, young, goth and yes, New dot.comer's, even poor and homeless too.
I can walk down the street and on any givin day and see two or there trans people. Living in the Mission has made it possible for me to transition with some ease and comfort. It is place where I continue to feel comfortable exploring and getting confortable in how I dress and present my self. I'm finding this is a very important part of transitioning.
If your not convinced then I invite you to come to San Francisco for a day or two I'll put a flower in your hair and share my urban oasis with you.

Love,
Rikki