Castro Camera was a camera store in the

Castro District The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood throug ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, operated by

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...

from 1972 until his assassination in 1978. During the 1970s the store became the center of the neighborhood's growing

gay community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...

, as well as campaign headquarters for Milk's various campaigns for elected office.

History

Milk, an avid amateur photographer, was disappointed over a developer ruining a roll of film. With his then-partner, Scott Smith, Milk opened the store in 1972, using the last $1,000 of their savings. The store soon became a focus of the growing influx of young gay people, who were coming from across the US to the Castro, where their sexual orientation was accepted. Beyond selling cameras and film, Milk turned the store into a social center, and a refuge for new arrivals. He also made it an official

polling station A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building

for San Francisco elections. Because he was so well known for his civic involvement promoting gay businesses and gay consumers, Milk soon became known unofficially as the "Mayor of Castro Street".

Daniel Nicoletta Daniel Nicoletta (born December 23, 1954) is an Italian-American photographer, photojournalist and gay rights activist. Biography Daniel Nicoletta was born in New York City and raised in Utica, New York. In his late teens he left New York to at ...

, the photographer best known for chronicling Milk and his times, first met Milk as a patron of the store, then later worked there as a store assistant and campaign worker. Another customer,

Anne Kronenberg Anne Kronenberg is an American political administrator and LGBT rights activist. She is best known for being Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his historic San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign in 1977 and his aide as he held that office ...

, who later became Milk's campaign manager, also met Milk at the store, and described her first impression of him as a "raving maniac". Other members of Milk's inner circle such as

Cleve Jones Cleve Jones (born October 11, 1954) is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2020. In 1983, at the onset ...

and his speechwriter

Frank Robinson Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935 – February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from to . The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of bot ...

met, befriended, and worked with Milk at the store.

Post-closure

The location at 575 Castro Street, a

Human Rights Campaign Store The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

as of 2011, was recreated as a set for ''Milk'', the

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

of Milk's life. The sparse set, carefully built to original detail including an old red couch and barber's chair, drew the attention of many local residents who remembered the original. The modern-day shop owner and film crew also described seeing a ghost at the store, whom they assumed to be Milk. Harvey Milk plaque

A metal plaque set into the sidewalk in front of the store memorializes Milk, and the location has been used as the stepping-off point for an annual memorial march on the date of his death. Artifacts from Castro Camera, including Milk's barber chair, a collection of antique cameras that was displayed at the store and the front panel of the awning bearing the name of the shop, are preserved in the holdings of the

GLBT Historical Society The GLBT Historical Society (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society) (formerly Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California; San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Historical Society) maintains an extensive collection ...

, a museum, archives and research center in San Francisco. The society displayed the camera collection in an exhibition it devoted to Milk in 2003, "Saint Harvey: The Life and Afterlife of a Modern Gay Martyr." In addition, the art director for ''Milk'' consulted the collection when creating props for the Castro Camera set.Koskovich, Gérard (2009-03-02)
"A quoi sert un centre d'archives? Le film de Gus Van Sant donne une réponse,"
Yagg.com; consulted 2011-07-15.

References

External links

{{coord, 37.759786, N, 122.43468, W, type:landmark_region:US-CA_source:jawiki, display=title Buildings and structures in San Francisco Castro District, San Francisco LGBT history in San Francisco LGBT places in the United States Harvey Milk Retail buildings in California Photographic retailers San Francisco Designated Landmarks 1972 establishments in California Photography companies of the United States 1970s in LGBT history