This collection of 70 flyers comes from one of the earliest leather bars in the US, the SF Eagle Club, as well as from the surrounding bars and clubs catering...
This collection of 70 flyers comes from one of the earliest leather bars in the US, the SF Eagle Club, as well as from the surrounding bars and clubs catering to the queer community of San Francisco. Established in 1981 in the historically gay South of Market (SoMA) neighborhood, the SF Eagle bar was a hub for the LGBTQ during the 80s. Nearly two decades after Stonewall and a decade out from Harvey Milk’s assassination, these flyers were created mostly in the late 1980s and show evidence of an established gay community. The flyers advertise upcoming events, usually on holidays, that regularly centered around affordable food, offering “home cooked meals” every Monday. The bar held weekly “beer busts” to fundraise for local nonprofits and charities including the Rainbow Deaf Society, the SF Food Bank, and most poignantly, the AIDS Emergency Foundation. One notable beer bust in November 1988 was dedicated to the upcoming California election, endorsing the then-new Nancy Pelosi for congresswoman.
The flyer designs follow the hyper-masculine aesthetics of the leather subculture that were popular in the gay community of the time – a rejection of the stereotypical effeminate image of a gay man. Bars with “eagle” in their name allude to the original Eagle’s Nest leather bar in New York city that opened in 1970, with 30 bars still in operation all around the world. The flyers entice the viewer with images and drawings of shirtless, muscular men in cowboy, military, or law enforcement costumes and bondage; usually to promote a costume or pageant contest. Simple and bold typography with patriotic embellishments (such as stars, eagles, and the American flag) were used to invoke a sense of Americana. While the majority of the flyers are for the SF Eagle Bar, a little less than half of the flyers are from other neighboring LGBT enterprises such as the New Bell Saloon, Nob Hill Theater, and the Covered Wagon Saloon.
Catering to the leather community, the SF Eagle Bar was the unofficial headquarters for the California Eagles Motorcycle Club which formed in 1984. A considerable portion of the flyers for the SF Eagle Bar are in tandem with the biker club. Featured in this collection are two applications for all-inclusive getaways to Saratoga Springs and Finnon Lake run by the Motorcycle Club. Historically, these biking clubs are the oldest homosexual organizations in the US and bolstered the leather community in most major cities since the 1950s.
The bar continues to be a valued business as it became the first leather bar to gain landmark status in 2019; two years after San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley was created to honor leather culture in 2017. Operating at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the bar served as a shelter – the ashes of those lost to the disease spread on the premises. These illustrated flyers provide a glimpse at the more joyful moments in the face of stigma and uncertainty.