Popular GLBT Exhibit Moves out of Neighborhood

By Ted Andersen

After 12 months, a five-star Yelp rating and 25,000 visitors later, the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender history exhibit in the United States has come to an end in the heart of the Castro.

The GLBT Historical Society, located at 657 Mission St., closed its satellite history exhibit at Castro and 18th streets on Oct. 18 as its lease agreement expired, thus forcing it back to the main archives near Yerba Buena Gardens. The society won an agreement with Washington Mutual last July to lease the prime commercial space for free from November 2008 until October 2009. JPMorgan Chase took over as the owner and agreed to continue the sponsorship until it ended last month.

The opening of the exhibit corresponded with the opening of the movie “Milk” and drew a number of tourists and locals alike inside.

“We’ve been good for business. A lot of tourists have come here to see us, and a lot of people who were already here were pleasantly pleased to find a cultural attraction in the Castro beyond what is already here,” GLBT Historical Society Executive Director Paul Boneberg said. “This is one of the only GLBT history exhibits in the world. There are only a dozen GLBT historical institutions and almost all of them are archives that don’t have an exhibit.”

Boneberg said that the society recently received a $100,000 grant from the city in order to help mount a new and more permanent display although a location has not been secured. He said the society had been in talks with the Walgreens across the intersection about opening space there but that nothing has yet been finalized. According to the store manager at the Walgreens on 18th and Castro streets, Sharon Woo, the Chicago-based company is still discussing this option and no answer has yet surfaced.

In the meanwhile, the society is searching for a new Castro location.

“We’d want a space that is larger than this, maybe twice as big, and we want a space that is significantly cheaper than normal retail, like half, and we’d like it for at least two years. So we have some requirements that make it a little difficult,” Boneberg said. “What we need really is a large institution to partner with, and we can pay some rent and have a relationship. That’s what we need.”

About 25,000 visitors have visited the exhibit over its yearlong stretch, with 1,200 coming in September alone, which was challenging for a 100-percent volunteer staff that works eight hours a day, seven days a week, according to Operations Manager Aimee Forster. “It definitely exceeded our expectations,” she said. “There has been tremendous commitment to this place.”

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano spoke to a packed room at a closing ceremony on Oct. 16, emphasizing the need to protect spaces like this. “This is our history. Nobody is going to write it for us. Nobody is going to keep it for us.”

The exhibit, which will continue at the main archives for two more months, focused on the people, places, politics and pleasures of the GLBT community, stretching through decades and neighborhoods such as North Beach, the Valencia Corridor and the Castro. Besides assassinated supervisor Harvey Milk, the most notable name featured was that of José Julio Sarria, a San Francisco-native activist and drag queen who performed at the historic Black Cat and founded an international league of charitable non-profits.

Other notables included a matchbox from Twin Peaks, the first gay bar with large windows where patrons could be in plain view of street passers-by, a 1970s dartboard with former Miss America and conservative pundit Anita Bryant’s face, along with historic photographs and embedded video clips.
Gerard Koskovich, a community-based historian and member of the over 10-person curatorial committee, said the next exhibit, which will be different from the one at Castro and 18th streets, will enable the team to use the first display as a guiding tool.

“Normally you would estimate for an exhibit of this size about a year of work, and we did it in four months, including the build-out, the curating, the text writing, the design, the construction, the whole shebang. So with a year, with a longer period of time, with more experience under our belt I think the next exhibit should be even more fantastic,” he said. “The great challenge is the historical society has one of the most extensive, one of the largest collections of LGBT archival materials in the world. It’s a huge archive. And even as one of the longtime, experienced volunteer, I know perhaps a third of what we have in our collection.”

John Vermeer, a former Castro resident, wandered into the museum during its last days and was pleasantly surprised.

“It’s more appropriate to my life than the De Young Museum,” he said. “It’s a focal point; it’s a place for all of us to come to look back on the Castro. Otherwise there’s nothing but places to spend your money, just shops. This has community spirit, too.”

Copyright 2009 Castro Courier