''BEAR Magazine'' is a periodical specifically geared toward
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
and
bisexual men who are — or who admire — "
bears
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
", i.e., stocky or heavyset men with facial and/or body hair. It was initially published in San Francisco, California, in 1987 by
Richard Bulger and his partner
Chris Nelson and marketed to the bear community within the larger
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
community.
History
Beginnings
In San Francisco, in 1987, Richard Bulger began a self-copied magazine called ''BEAR'', dedicated to the appreciation of hairy, bearded, masculine gay men. Bulger had been running a modeling agency called Creative Options Agents (COA) with his photographer partner Chris Nelson. Thus, with his connection to gritty, edgy gay biker culture and proximity to the Lone Star Saloon and with the growing success of "zine" desktop underground publication taking hold in San Francisco, Richard saw a unique opportunity. It's often thought that ''BEAR Magazine'' was begun by a man named Bart Thomas, who died of AIDS before the magazine's first publication. However, "Bart Thomas" was a pseudonym Richard Bulger chose for himself ("bart" being the German word for "beard") in the earliest days of the project. A friend of Bulger named David Grant was reported to have suggested the name "Daddy Bear" for this new magazine just before his death from complications from AIDS.
The first copy of ''BEAR Magazine'' consisted of 45 xeroxed copies, promoted in ''The Big Ad'' and ''Handjob Quarterly'' (two established 'zines currently enjoying success at the time).
Originally created as an alternative to the abundance of shaven men represented in gay mainstream media, ''BEAR'' grew over the course of years into an internationally distributed glossy magazine, which featured
erotic photographs of masculine, mature men and erotic stories. There was also a classified
personals
A personal advertisement, sometimes called a contact ad, is a form of classified advertising in which a person seeks to find another person for friendship, romance, marriage, or sexual activity. In British English, it is commonly known as an adve ...
section which, before the emergence of the internet, was one of the few ways for men to find compatible romantic and sexual partners, and to
network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics ...
with like-minded men.
The first formal company office was established above a 1908 former firehouse at the corner of 16th and Albion Streets in San Francisco, where their various publications, clothing and lifestyle products were also displayed and sold. Then in 1994 Brush Creek Media moved its office and Bear Store to 367 9th Street in the
South of Market
South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, situated just south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill.
SoMa is home to many of the city's museums ...
district, which is the center of San Francisco's gay
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hog ...
district and around the corner from
Rick Redewill's
Lone Star Saloon.
The close proximity of Brush Creek Media to the Lone Star Saloon resulted in a synergistic relationship. With the Bear Store and nearby bars, shops and hotels catering to the bear-identified, the Lone Star Saloon eventually became the quintessential bear bar, further igniting the bear movement. This formed a circuit for locals, tourists and visitors to events like
International Bear Rendezvous and
Folsom Street Fair
Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September, that caps San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes simply referred to as "Folsom", takes place on Folsom Street bet ...
among others. Later that year in 1994, Beardog Hoffman purchased Brush Creek Media Inc. and began expanding the company into several special-interest gay magazines and video series.
Temporary Setback
In 2002 Brush Creek Media closed its doors when the
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
seized its
inventory. ''BEAR Magazine'' was one of the casualties and publication ceased after issue #64.
A New Chapter
In 2006, the BEAR trademark was
judicial
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
ly assigned and registered to Butch Media Ltd of Las Vegas,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
, a
creditor of Brush Creek Media. Similarly, in 2007 the court assigned ''BEAR Magazine'' and all the Brush Creek Media
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
s to Butch Media Ltd.
[U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Serial No. and ] Bear Omnimedia LLC, the parent company of Butch Media Ltd, revived ''BEAR Magazine'' in 2008 starting with issue #65. Under the new direction of Steven Wolfe (Publisher/Editor-in-Chief) and photographer Teddy Mark, the format was again updated in 2010 for an evolved bear movement and LGBT community, and now covers broader aspects of masculinity. ''BEAR Magazine'' continues in print as well as digital formats.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Bear Magazine's Official Site
LGBT-related magazines published in the United States
Men's magazines published in the United States
Quarterly magazines published in the United States
Bear (gay culture)
Gay men's magazines
Magazines established in 1987
Magazines published in Nevada
Magazines published in San Francisco
Mass media in Las Vegas