Filming of “Milk” Brings Back Fond Memories
To Long-time Castro Residents
Many expect area to receive flux of visitors due to film

By Kyla Calvert

The Castro Theatre’s fresh coat of paint is one of the few remaining bits of physical evidence of Castro Street’s “retroification” for the filming of “Milk” that took place from late January through mid-February.

During filming, residents and visitors saw long-gone storefronts reincarnated from the neighborhood’s heyday in the late 1970s and period cars parked along the curb. The movie will tell the story of Harvey Milk – “the Mayor of Castro Street” – the vocal gay rights activist and the first openly gay elected official in the United States.

From local business owners concerned about decreased store traffic to residents and visitors just trying to find a parking space, some people found the weeks of filming disruptive to the community’s daily rhythms. Now that the street has largely been restored to its 2008 look and feel, what is left for most Castro residents is excitement about the attention the filming drew to the area and anticipation about the film’s debut.

“In our case, the filming was mostly just fun,” said Mark Katzenberg and Steve Sowards, who have lived in their Castro home for 14 years. “The only inconvenience was tighter parking.”

“It was fun to walk along Castro, see the old storefronts and say – ‘oh – I remember that place,’” said Sowards, who has lived in the City for 30 years. “I saw them filming a scene re-enacting the police beating up hippies in front of Toad Hall. It brought back a lot of memories of that era.”

Up and down Castro Street, visitors and residents can be overheard talking about the movie, sightings of the film’s stars and the improvements and changes to the street made for the filming.

“All of our customers have been talking about the filming,” said Giovanni Galati, who has been a manager at The Sausage Factory for seven years.

“Everyone is thrilled that they are making the movie and many of our customers and employees went down to the Civic Center to volunteer to be in the scenes of the march that followed Milk’s assassination.

“The filming did impact our business a bit but things are returning to normal now,” said Galati. “Overall, I think the filming is a positive thing for the neighborhood – it’ll be exciting to see the Castro on the big screen.”

Aside from generating excitement among residents, the business community expects the film to drawn attention and additional visitors to the Castro.

“During the filming, all of the neighborhood businesses were impacted in some way,” said Steve Adams, president of Merchants of Upper Market & Castro, the area’s merchant association. “I would say the short-term impacts were about 50-50 positive and negative.

“Depending on where the businesses were located, some lost a little business and some gained,” said Adams. “In the long-term though, the film is going to bring international recognition to our community, which absolutely is going to attract more tourists and benefit the local businesses.”

Whether the people strolling along Castro Street taking pictures during a recent weekend afternoon are any indication of the influx that awaits the area, interest in the neighborhood’s history and Supervisor Milk appears to be increasing.

“I usually have 400 to 500 visitors to my Web site daily,” said Donald Eckert, a former Castro resident who maintains Uncle Donald’s Castro Street Web site (thecastro.net,). Eckert knew Supervisor Milk from his store, Castro Camera, and provided photos for his political campaign.

“Since January the visits have increased to 600 to 700 visits a day,” Eckert said. “I’m pleased that a major Milk film is finally being made because I think it will educate the public.

“I was part of the new community forming in the Castro at that time,” remembered Eckert. “It was the beginning of a new life for most of us. We were developing a unique new community where we were the majority, where we could be freer than ever before. I don’t think many of us expected to change the world. We just wanted to be free of the closet.”

Many remember Milk as a symbol of not only the gay rights movement, but of everyone’s right to be their true selves. Some long-time members for the Castro community are hopeful that “Milk” will introduce Milk’s message to people who might not know about him, or the history of the community he helped to build.

“This film is one of the most exciting opportunities for this neighborhood in years,” said Michael England, a member of the Castro community and employee at Orphan Andy’s restaurant for 35 years. “It’s a chance to re-examine the history of our community.”

“I just hope that the movie is done well and that it helps fill young people with the history of Harvey Milk and the Castro,” said Katzenberg.

“It would be great to see it spread the message of the Castro, which is that you have the ability to be yourself, to really find yourself.”

Copyright 2007-2008 Castro Courier