Street Minister, River Sims
An oral history of the Polk Street neighborhood in San Francisco, as told by those who have called it home. Read the full description.
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- Polk Street Stories
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Public Historian Joey Plaster spent over a year gathering more than 70 interviews from people experiencing Polk Street's transition from a working class queer neighborhood to an upscale entertainment district. This hour contains stories from the alleys and bars, churches, shelters and clubs. It is an oral history of a place invented by those who had no other home.
As Joey says in his introduction:
"I came to San Francisco in part to figure out what it means to be queer – I came to what my uncle called the land of fruit and nuts. If the famous gay Castro neighborhood was scrubbed clean and glossy, I was always more attracted to its black sheep sister, the queer world of Polk Street. It was a whole world to itself, just about ten blocks of low rent hotels, bars and liquor stores, all sandwiched in between the gritty Tenderloin, City Hall, and the upscale Nob Hill. But by the time I got there, that scene was receding, and luxury condos and posh clubs were taking its place. People said gentrification was displacing the down and out folks who had long made Polk Street their home. Young queer activist groups held protests. Drag queens led take back the Polk marches. The press chimed in – some called it a death, some a renaissance.
"The Polk Street scene predates the modern gay rights movement. In some ways, it was a visible manifestation of the stereotypes the movement has worked to scrub clean over the past forty years: queer people as mentally ill, criminal, licentious, and doomed to lonely lives. Instead of repudiating this history, I wanted to embrace and learn from it.
"I came to San Francisco in part to figure out what it means to be queer – I came to what my uncle called the land of fruit and nuts. If the famous gay Castro neighborhood was scrubbed clean and glossy, I was always more attracted to its black sheep sister, the queer world of Polk Street. It was a whole world to itself, just about ten blocks of low rent hotels, bars and liquor stores, all sandwiched in between the gritty Tenderloin, City Hall, and the upscale Nob Hill. But by the time I got there, that scene was receding, and luxury condos and posh clubs were taking its place. People said gentrification was displacing the down and out folks who had long made Polk Street their home. Young queer activist groups held protests. Drag queens led take back the Polk marches. The press chimed in – some called it a death, some a renaissance.
"For me, it felt like an enormous loss. Like I was losing part of the history I’d come to San Francisco to claim, to become part of. I knew the Polk Street scene predated the Castro and the Stonewall riots, that it reached back to the origins of the early gay movement. But I found that its marginal history wasn’t written down and hadn’t been recorded. I feared it too would disappear with the neighborhood. In a way, I started to think about Polk Street as this parent I never knew, now elderly and dying. And it became an obsession to save its history – its collective wisdom and secrets -- before they were gone completely.
"Some of the stories were painful to hear. They’re from people who are often out of sight and forgotten. In this hour, you won’t hear a full history of the neighborhood, you’ll hear stories from the extremes, about the rewards and perils of the freedom Polk Street offered."
This Transom Radio Special is produced by Joey Plaster with Jay Allison and Transom.org at Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
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Piece Description
Public Historian Joey Plaster spent over a year gathering more than 70 interviews from people experiencing Polk Street's transition from a working class queer neighborhood to an upscale entertainment district. This hour contains stories from the alleys and bars, churches, shelters and clubs. It is an oral history of a place invented by those who had no other home.
As Joey says in his introduction:
"I came to San Francisco in part to figure out what it means to be queer – I came to what my uncle called the land of fruit and nuts. If the famous gay Castro neighborhood was scrubbed clean and glossy, I was always more attracted to its black sheep sister, the queer world of Polk Street. It was a whole world to itself, just about ten blocks of low rent hotels, bars and liquor stores, all sandwiched in between the gritty Tenderloin, City Hall, and the upscale Nob Hill. But by the time I got there, that scene was receding, and luxury condos and posh clubs were taking its place. People said gentrification was displacing the down and out folks who had long made Polk Street their home. Young queer activist groups held protests. Drag queens led take back the Polk marches. The press chimed in – some called it a death, some a renaissance.
"The Polk Street scene predates the modern gay rights movement. In some ways, it was a visible manifestation of the stereotypes the movement has worked to scrub clean over the past forty years: queer people as mentally ill, criminal, licentious, and doomed to lonely lives. Instead of repudiating this history, I wanted to embrace and learn from it.
"I came to San Francisco in part to figure out what it means to be queer – I came to what my uncle called the land of fruit and nuts. If the famous gay Castro neighborhood was scrubbed clean and glossy, I was always more attracted to its black sheep sister, the queer world of Polk Street. It was a whole world to itself, just about ten blocks of low rent hotels, bars and liquor stores, all sandwiched in between the gritty Tenderloin, City Hall, and the upscale Nob Hill. But by the time I got there, that scene was receding, and luxury condos and posh clubs were taking its place. People said gentrification was displacing the down and out folks who had long made Polk Street their home. Young queer activist groups held protests. Drag queens led take back the Polk marches. The press chimed in – some called it a death, some a renaissance.
"For me, it felt like an enormous loss. Like I was losing part of the history I’d come to San Francisco to claim, to become part of. I knew the Polk Street scene predated the Castro and the Stonewall riots, that it reached back to the origins of the early gay movement. But I found that its marginal history wasn’t written down and hadn’t been recorded. I feared it too would disappear with the neighborhood. In a way, I started to think about Polk Street as this parent I never knew, now elderly and dying. And it became an obsession to save its history – its collective wisdom and secrets -- before they were gone completely.
"Some of the stories were painful to hear. They’re from people who are often out of sight and forgotten. In this hour, you won’t hear a full history of the neighborhood, you’ll hear stories from the extremes, about the rewards and perils of the freedom Polk Street offered."
This Transom Radio Special is produced by Joey Plaster with Jay Allison and Transom.org at Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Timing and Cues
Timings are as they occur with a 5-minute news hole after the billboard.
Billboard: 00:00 - 00:59
In cue: [MUSIC] "This was the core of the party .."
Out cue: "... right after this."
INSERT NEWS HOLE: 1:00 - 5:59
Segment 1: 6:00 - 20:59
In cue: [MUSIC] "I'm Jay Allison - at our public radio website Transom.org....."
Out cue: "...we'll be back in a minute with more stories about the changes on Polk Street "
Break 1: 21:00- 21:59
Segment 2: 22:00 - 42:22
In cue: [MUSIC] "From Transom.org, this is Polk Street Stories..."
Out cue: "....presented by public radio website Transom.org "
Break 2: 42:24 - 43:22
Segment 3: 43:23 - 59:00
In cue: [MUSIC]"Some very pretty boys and some very pretty girls..."
Out cue: "...thanks for listening" [MUSIC ENDS]
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Floratone | Floratone | Floratone. | The Blue Note Label | 2007 | 00:00 |
| The Passenger | Floraton | Floratone. | The Blue Note Label | 2007 | 00:00 |
| Frontiers | Floratone | Floratone. | The Blue Note Label | 2007 | 00:00 |
| Struggle | Bill Frisell | History, Mystery. | Nonesuch Records | 2008 | 00:00 |
Additional Credits
Produced with help from Jay Allison and Atlantic Public Media/Transom.org. Support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Ford Foundation.
Thanks to WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR Station.
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