Queer America - Castro to Christopher Street

Queer America

C a s t ro to C h r i s to p h e r S t r e e t 19 8 2 – 19 8 4

By Nicholas Blair

1

Mile Rock Beach, SF. 2871

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Fire Island, NY 2713.36

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Market Street near Castro, SF, 2583.27

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After a Rally, Civic Center, SF, 2606.1

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West Village, New York, 2992.15

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West Village, NY 2986

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Castro Street, SF. 2626.22

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Castro Neighborhood, SF, 2611

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Castro Street, SF. 2626.20

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Castro Street, SF. 2624.24

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Castro Street, SF. 2626.27

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Castro Street, SF. 2626.22

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Market Street near Castro, SF 2658.

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Folsom Street Fair, SF. 2978.32

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Castro Street, SF. 2628.59

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Castro Street and Market, SF, 2636.28

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Folsom Street, San Francisco 2914.2

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Folsom Street, SF 2956.4

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20

Folsom Street, SF, 2914.26

17th and Castro Street, SF, 2636.3

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San Francisco Pride Day

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2627.9

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 260.35

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2444.8

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Pride Parade, SF 2456.05

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2608.8 28

Castro Street, SF 2861.16 29

Pride Parade, San Francisco 2437.21

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Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Pride Parade, San Francisco 2601.25

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2600

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Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Pride Parade, San Francisco 2594.04

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2437.1

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2456.12

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Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Pride Parade, San Francisco 2456.15

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2444.31 37

Pride Parade, San Francisco 2437.42

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2601.16

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2602.2

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2602.22

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Castro Street Fair, San Francisco 2631

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Castro Street Fair, San Francisco 2630.8

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Pride Parade, SF 2437.29 44

Pride Parade, SF 2601.10

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Marijuana Legalization Rally, SF 2300.15 46

Street Fair, SF 2446.18

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Pride Parade, San Francisco 2627.3

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Castro Street, SF 2841

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Halloween, San Francisco 2813.22

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Street Fair, San Francisco 2630.10

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Street Fair , San Francisco 2829

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Castro Street, San Francisco 1841.20

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Civic Center Fair, San Francisco 2599.27

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Folsom Street Fair, San Francisco 2957.2

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Castro Street, San Francisco 2822.38

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Folsom Street Fair, San Francisco 2990.4

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Castro Street, San Francisco 2658

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Folsom Street Fair, SF 2938

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Castro and Market Street, SF 2856.3

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Castro Street, SF 2626.3

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Castro Street Fair, SF 2631.30

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Castro Neighborhood, SF 2593

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Street Fair, SF 2628.36 66

Castro and Market Street, SF 2348 67

Softball Game, SF 2589.28

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Folsom Street Fair, SF 2974.33

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Castro Street Fair, San Francisco 2620.32 70

Street Fair, San Francisco 2422.25 71

Crossing Castro Street, SF 2457.1

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Castro Street, San Francisco 2670.15

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Castro Street, SF 2575.1

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West Village, NY 2497.4

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Castro Street, SF 2629.17

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Crossing Castro Street, SF 2567.29

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Castro Street, SF 2626

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Gathering for Pride Parade, West Villiage, NY 2987.4

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Mayor Koch with a veteran of Stonewall, Pride Parade, New York 2987.2

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Pride, NY 2993.6

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Pride Parade, New York 2993.12

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Pride Parade, New York 2993,15

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Pride Parade, New York 2987.37

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Pride Parade, New York 2926.43

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Pride Parade, New York 2926.43

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Pride Parade NY 2987.8

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Pride Parade, New York 2926.12

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Protesters, Pride Parade, NY 2926.34

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Counter Protest, New York, 2926

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Pride, NY 2993,21 92

After Pride Parade, Christopher Street, New York 2992.17

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Christopher Street, New York 2987.39 94

Christopher Street, New York 2992.36

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Christopher Street, New York 2992.36

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Christopher Street, NY 2992.35

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Christopher Street Pier, NY

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Fire Island, NY, 2696.3

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Christopher Street and Twelth Avenue, NY 2417.31

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2773

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Christopher Street Pier, NYC, 2924.27

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2773.15A

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Provincetown, Mass 2754.29

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2714.23

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2415.18

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Twelth Avenue and Christopher Street, NY 2418.2

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Christopher Street

Pier, NY 2421.8

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By the Christopher Street Pier, 2442.20

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Folsom Street, SF 2990.13

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Twelth Avenue near Christopher Street, NY 2438.39

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Christopher Street, NY 2428.24

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Christopher Street, NY 2418.08

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Twelth Avenue near Christopher Street, NY 2773.43

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Twelth Avenue near Christopher Street, New York 2421.07

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Twelth Avenue Parj, NY 2773.43

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2429.18

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2447.22

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Castro and Market Street, SF 2558.29

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Christopher Street Neighborhood, NY 2992.1

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Halloween, NY 1207

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Halloween, NY 5071

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Halloween, NY 2763.32

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Halloween, SF 2454.19

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Halloween, SF 2454.7

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Halloween, NY 2807.14

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Halloween, NY 2807.25

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Halloween, NY 2805.25

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Halloween, SF 2810.1

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Halloween, SF 2813.32A 132

Halloween, SF 2814.10 133

Halloween, NY 3889

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Halloween, NY 3815.16

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Halloween, SF 2454.20

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Halloween, NYC 2805.3

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Halloween, NY 2807.31 138

Halloween, NY 3863.20

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Castro Street, 2575.23

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Christopher Street, NY 2992.6

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Castro Street Area, SF 3577.25

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Castro Fair, SF 2669.3

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Provincetown, MA

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Provincetown, MA 2783.10

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Provincetown, MA 2764.9

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Provincetown, MA 2783.11

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Provincetown, MA 2754.12

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Provincetown, MA 2754.26

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2924.14

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Softball Game, SF 2584.39

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In The Castro, SF 2626.3

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Twelth Avenue and Christopher Street, NY 2718.16

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After Pride, NY 2996.3

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Civic Center Fair, San Francisco 2599.9

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Mile Rock Beach, SF. 2871.40A

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 234.5

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2714.7

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Christopher Street Pier, NY 2449.12

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Castro and 18th Street, San Francisco 2577.14

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Castro Street, SF 2664.30

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Castro and 18th Street, San Francisco 2577.14

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Aids Rally, SF 2592.22

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Aids Rally, SF 2574.17

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Aids Rally, SF 2574.11

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Aids Rally, SF 2574.15

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Aids Rally, SF 2574.2

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About the Photographs

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In 1974 I dropped out of high school in New York City and hit the road. Fifteen months later, after hitchhiking as far as Buenos Aires, I landed in San Francisco where I joined my brother Doniphan, in a small arts commune, called the Modern Lovers.

I was carrying Ad Reinhardt’s Leica rangefinder camera, lent to me by his daughter, Anna, who I knew in high school, when I had taken a few classes with the photographer Melissa Shook.

Pretty soon I was cruising around photographing with a friend of my brother name Larry Bair, who owned a car, and who invited me to sit in on classes with Hank Wessel at the San Francisco Art Institute.

We photographed throughout the San Francisco Bay area, and even as far south as Santa Cruz and Los Angeles. I learned the technique of pre focusing the camera and smoothly photographing a subject to remain unobtrusive and keep the action as candid as possible. No focusing or fiddling with a zoom lens.

As a teenager my father Vachel had shown me the Henri Cartier-Bresson book “The Decisive Moment,” which made a deep impression, and now studying with Hank and Larry I was perfecting a method that required softly focusing my eyes to evenly observe my surroundings, and then photographing with a 35mm lens because that had a very similar field of view as the human eye, and hence most accurately represented what I had been looking at. Photographing became about observing: people, light and the environment. Then in the darkroom I discovered how the three dimensional world changed when converted into a two dimensional black and white image, and how the print allowed close scrutiny of a frozen moment, sometimes also suggest a back story, like a still from a film.

In San Francisco the gay scene was unfolding around me. My first Halloween parade was on Polk Street, and a definite eye opener. I had never witnessed anything similar in New York. It wasn’t, however, until I returned from a yearlong photography trip to India and Europe that I began spending more time photographing in the gay

neighborhoods. I had decided to put together a portfolio of some romantically themed photographs, mostly of couples taken in Paris. It soon became obvious that there were no pictures of gay couples, a glaring omission, especially in a place like San Francisco.

At first I was simply interested in photographing for that portfolio, but the more time I spent in gay neighborhoods the more interesting they became. Of course there was the obvious Mardi Gras type of atmosphere, perhaps an expression of a new found freedom, but there were quiet moments, and the interesting mingling of new and established cultures. Mirror dressing was big. It was unpredictable and full of surprises.

There were often groups of people hanging out and watching life go on about them, similar to the way I was, just without a camera. Eventually I realized part of what they were observing was me. It was a scene that I became a part of.

In 1982 I made contact with the national gay magazine the Advocate and the French magazine Gay Hebdo Pai, both of whom published portfolios of my work. Additionally editors at the local Bay Area Reporter published a weekly photograph of mine for 9 months in 1983.

New York was my hometown, and I was often there visiting family, so it was only natural that I also started photographing there. The Christopher Street pier was fantastic, especially in the late afternoon light, looking out over the Hudson River, with a derelict freighter by its side. I also visited Fire Island, and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Photographing had become an observational meditation for me, a kind of Zen practice where if done correctly I would quiet my mind and simply observe. The Gay neighborhoods were just one area of many where I spent time.

Sadly this was also when the aids epidemic hit, taking with it scores of people including my good friend and mentor Larry Bair.

In 1985 I left San Francisco when I landed a job photographing and traveling with a film team covering the famine in Ethiopia. This led to more travel assignments and soon I moved permanently to New York City. I hope these images express, with a clear vision, a time and place full of ethos and importance.

Nicholas Blair 2019 181