The Caldron (often misspelled Cauldron), at 853 Natoma Street in San Francisco, 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 ...

St. area, was a gay

sex club Sex clubs, also known as swinger clubs or lifestyle clubs, are formal or informal groups that organize sex-related activities, or establishments where patrons can engage in sex acts with other patrons. A sex club or swinger club differs from a brot ...

which opened in 1980 and closed in 1984. It was called "the epitome of the uninhibited, abandoned, 'sleazy' sex club."

Description

Located in a converted warehouse, the site was unabashedly a place where men went to have sex. Patrons were required to be naked except for footwear; a clothes check was provided. Like other similar venues, it had no alcohol license; patrons brought their own alcohol, usually beer, and this was stored in a cooler and patrons given chits that they could turn in for a can of the brand of beer they had brought. It was described as "exemplary" as one of the first venues to promote

safe sex Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer se ...

as the

AIDS crisis The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), found its way to the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexu ...

hit. The owners were Hal Slate and Stephen Gilman. The club had two bathtubs for those who wanted to be

urinated Urination, also known as micturition, is the release of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, voiding, uresis, ...

on. The lights were not dimmed. There were tables and benches for having sex on, and slings. The Caldron featured thematic nights: Tuesdays were for

water sports Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...

, Thursday for

fisting Fisting, handballing, fist-fucking, brachiovaginal, or brachioproctic insertion is a sexual activity that involves inserting a hand into the vagina or rectum. Once insertion is complete, the fingers are either clenched into a fist or kept straig ...

; it also set aside nights for

masturbation Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...

. A poster announcing its First Anniversary Orgy has been preserved. The name Caldron, according to owner Gilman, was the

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...

's commentary on itself. Slate and Gilman were members of the

San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) is the world's first openly gay chorus, one of the world's largest male choruses and the group most often credited with creating the LGBT choral movement. The chorus was founded by gay music pioneer Jo ...

, which after Monday chorus rehearsals sometimes repaired to the Caldron for a private party. Opera music was the background. The San Francisco Jacks, a

club, met at the Caldron.

References

{{Coord, 37.7744852, -122.4171509, display=title 1980 establishments in California 1984 disestablishments in California Entertainment companies established in 1980 Entertainment companies disestablished in 1984 Gay bathhouses in California Gay male BDSM History of San Francisco Sexuality in San Francisco South of Market, San Francisco