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26 August 2010 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER
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OBITUARIES
Tavern Guild co-founder Robert Golovich dies by Cynthia Laird uneral services were held Saturday, August 21 at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco for Tavern Guild co-founder Robert “Bob” Golovich, who died at St. Francis Hospital on August 16. He was 79. Mr. Golovich’s family said he died following a short illness. A private interment was held in Jackson, California. Mr. Golovich, who was born March 5, 1931 and was a native of California’s Gold Country, moved to the Vallejo area with his parents and siblings after spending his teen years at their family home in Sutter Creek, California. Mr. Golovich then moved to San Francisco in the 1960s as a young man and was very successful in business, owning and operating several vending machine companies in northern California. Mr. Golovich, who was openly gay, also had partnerships in several local gay businesses, including the
F
David Ryan April 20, 1938- August 8, 2010
David Roger Ryan was born in Buffalo, New York, and raised in Belmont, NY where he attended Alfred State College. Serving in the US Air Force, he was stationed in Florida and Alaska, where he assisted with special services helping with the Bob Hope Christmas show, meeting Bob Hope, Steve McQueen, Jayne Mansfield, Francis Langford and others. In his early years, Dave worked at various retail positions in New Jersey and New York where he met and maintained lifelong friendships. After
Prop 8 ▼
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other. Virtually all of the sourcing for these reports goes back to a column in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 7 where columnists Phil Matier and Andy Ross said it’s an “open secret” that Walker is gay. If he is gay, does that increase the validity of his extensive findings – i.e., he knows what he’s talking about – or could it mean he was biased in the case from the get-go? Does it matter if he’s gay? Should it matter? Would a straight judge be better positioned to restrict marriage to straight people? We likely haven’t heard the last of the Walker/gay meme.
New Leaf ▼
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“Our community needs to have agencies that are there for us, made up for us, and by us, especially with the long history dealing with substance abuse issues ... access to mental health services has to be a top priority,” added openly gay Health Commissioner Steven Tierney. New Leaf made LGBT individuals’ mental health and substance abuse issues a top priority for 35 years. In the process it changed the landscape of mental health, substance abuse, and senior services. Founded as Operation Concern in 1974, as a men’s mental health services agency, when homosexuality was still considered a mental illness, it established precedence for being a cutting edge organization. In 1976, 18th Street Services was formed to provide substance abuse services. In 1995 the two agencies merged into New Leaf. Perhaps the agency’s most endur-
Royal Palace bar on Jones Street that he bought in 1975, and was managed for him by Jose Sarria, the famed LGBT activist better known as Empress I of San Francisco who now is retired and lives in Palm Springs. In San Francisco’s nascent gay scene, Mr. Golovich was among the first to get involved in LGBT causes, helping to found the once-powerful Tavern Guild, an association of gay and lesbian restaurants, bars, and nightclubs in the Bay Area. Friends said that if there was one single thing that Mr. Golovich will most be remembered for it was his incredible generosity. A man of financial means, Mr. Golovich was always there with the checkbook when anything was needed, particularly those causes dear to the LGBT community. A longtime Democrat, Mr. Golovich took a keen interest in politics, quietly donating to political figures like Bill Clinton and the campaigns of Senator Dianne Feinstein, the late state Senator Milton Marks, former state Senator Carole Migden,
Robert “Bob” Golovich
former San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, and many, many others. Wayne Friday, the former political editor at the Bay Area Reporter and a friend of Mr. Golovich’s since 1970, recalled introducing Mr.
leaving the service he moved to Hollywood, California, where he realized his enjoyment of working with people as a waiter and bartender. He later moved to San Francisco where he also worked various jobs, including Enrico Banducci’s on Broadway. In 1982 he moved to Santa Cruz to work in a retirement hotel, until it was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake. Moving back to the Bay Area in 1990, Dave opened a small collectibles shop in Benicia, but later took a position at the former Americana Suites hotel in San Francisco as an assistant manager. When the hotel converted to residential housing for people with AIDS, under the Shanti Project and then Catholic Charities, he maintained positions as senior residential counselor. In 1996 he moved to live and work at the Granada re-
tirement community on Sutter Street. Named as employee of the month numerous times, he was much loved and appreciated and will be missed by the residents and staff. Dave was a familiar and popular face on Polk Street also working at several bars. He truly enjoyed his several trips to Thailand with friends. His true passion was thrift shops and garage sales. Besides his generosity of sharing his story telling, he truly enjoyed gifting his treasures and finds. Each man’s life touches so many other lives and David touched so many. In honor and remembrance, please make a thrift shop donation, whether it’s a tie, a book, a Christmas ornament or a box of treasures. For further information please contact jimsnively@gmail.com
U.S. Supreme Court The masterminds of the Prop 8 federal case, famed lawyers Theodore Olson and David Boies, always have indicated they wanted to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Others have suggested that should the U.S. Supreme Court rule in a particular way in the case, samesex marriage would become legal in all 50 states. But what if no one is found to have standing to appeal the Prop 8 case to the 9th Circuit? The case would end there, Walker’s ruling would take effect, Prop 8 would be stricken from the state constitution, and one more U.S. state would have same-sex marriage: California. Is that an acceptable ending to
this super-high-profile case with superstar attorneys who had grander designs? Most California gay leaders say, “Yes, we’ll take it.” Some, however, would certainly see it as a limp ending to a provocative case that was opposed, then grudgingly embraced, by the national gay legal establishment – a case that raised gay hopes high that we could end this whole same-sex-marriage thing in one fell swoop. On the other hand, the case stopping before it starts at the 9th Circuit would be a “safe” resolution of the matter. With each appeal, there’s always the chance we could lose it all, California included. The first court filing in the appeal is due September 17.▼
ing legacy is the clinical intern training program. Thousands of therapists received New Leaf ’s culturally sensitive training before moving onto other practices of their own.
Garcia and Lynch said they hope that some of New Leaf ’s employees will be hired by the agencies taking over the organization’s landmark programs.▼
Resources >> Gaylesta (the GLBT Psychotherapist Association of SF Bay Area) Therapist Referral Line: (888) 869-4993 Office Phone: (510) 433-9939 www.gaylesta.org Lyon-Martin Health Services Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Phone: (415) 565-7667 www.lyon-martin.org San Francisco AIDS Foundation Speed Project Phone: (415) 788-5433 E-mail: tellit@tspsf.com
San Francisco Department of Public Health Behavioral Health Access Center 1380 Howard Street Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Friday 24-hour hotline: 1-888-246-3333 For assessment and authorization for access to a service provider. San Francisco Department of Public Health Children’s Health and Youth Programming www.sfdph.org/dph/default.asp UCSF AIDS Health Project Phone: (415) 476-3902 www.ucsf-ahp.org
Golovich to the late Harvey Milk at a political fundraiser hosted by the late B.A.R. publisher Bob Ross during Milk’s second campaign for supervisor in 1975; Mr. Golovich and Milk immediately became friends and he was then a lifelong donor to Milk’s campaigns. “He was, without a doubt, the most generous man I have ever met in our community; he never said ‘no’ to anyone or any cause connected to the gay community,” Friday said. Robbie Robinson, a longtime owner of the Viking Shop and who was Mr. Golovich’s personal barber for many years, also spoke of his generosity, saying, “few will ever know of how many good things and great causes that Mr. Golovich gave of himself and his money.” For a time in the 1970s Mr. Golovich owned and published the now-defunct San Francisco Sentinel. Mr. Golovich also produced several full-scale productions of wellknown Broadway musicals during the 1970s under Robert Michael Productions. These included Jerry Herman’s Hello Dolly and Mame featuring all-male casts and starring such well-known drag personalities as “Michelle” in the Carol Channing role and “Faye” in the Angela Lansbury role. The shows were performed at what was then known as the Japan Centre Theatres, now the Kabuki Sundance Cinema, and ran for sev-
eral nights. Hello Dolly and Mame were so professionally produced with such elaborate costumes and sets that both shows drew reviews from San Francisco’s two dailies as well as the Los Angeles Times, whose critic praised the productions. Robert Michael Productions was the originator and producer of the highly successful Closet Ball that ran in San Francisco for a dozen years and featured men appearing in incredible drag. Judging was done by well-known personalities, which often included the late B.A.R. leather columnist Marcus Hernandez (a.k.a. Mister Marcus), retired B.A.R. columnist Dick Walters (a.k.a. Sweet Lips), and others. The proceeds, like those of his other productions, went to LGBT causes. Mr. Golovich was very proud of his Serbian heritage, often celebrating the holidays of that country as well as being a very proud American. He often hosted his well-known Thanksgiving dinners for dozens of friends (and their friends) at highend San Francisco restaurants and hotels. Friday noted that Mr. Golovich, a highly opinionated and sometimes controversial man, was truly one of those larger-than-life figures that few people get to know and befriend. He leaves behind several nephews and nieces, and many, many longtime friends, particularly his companions Robert Stern and Brian