Walk down Castro Street between Market Street and 19th Street and you're likely to bump into bare-chested men in leather chaps, gray-haired bifocaled women holding hands, gay dads comparing Snuglis, and tourists speaking in French, Italian, and the soft consonants of the deep South. The Castro is a neighborhood, an icon, and a tourist attraction. And that's precisely how its residents - from the man who strolls the street dressed in pink angel wings, to the straight couple taking their four-year-old to see "Yellow Submarine" at the Castro movie theatre - like it. Up until the 1960's, The Castro was called Eureka Valley and was mostly a neighborhood of working-class Irish immigrants. By the mid-1970s, it had become the "Gay Mecca," and was responsible for electing San Francisco's first openly gay politician - Harvey Milk. Milk, who was known as The Mayor of Castro Street, ran his campaign from his camera store at 575 Castro (now Skin Zone, a shop which stocks pretty much everything that bubbles, moisturizes, and exfoliates). Today, there's a painting of Milk, who was assassinated by Dan White in 1978, on the building above his old camera shop where he can keep an eye on the neighborhood.
The best way to see The Castro is to walk it; stopping into A Different Light Bookstore (489 Castro St) which stocks "queer books for smart people"; buying a needlepoint pillow that says "Queen" or a Wizard of Oz mousepad at Under One Roof (549 Castro), which donates its profits to various AIDS agencies; and visiting Does Your Father Know (548 Castro) to browse among the unclad Davids and shelves of well-endowed Billy dolls. Every October, Castro Street closes to traffic and holds a street fair where the people-watching rivals whatever is being displayed in the booths. Tuesday through Saturday, Trevor Hailey, a Castro local and retired nurse, leads a walking tour called Cruisin' the Castro. The tour runs from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and costs $40, which includes lunch. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 415-550-8110. For more information, visit Trevor's websit at www.webcastro.com/castrotour.
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