The Catacombs was a gay and lesbian S/M

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 hogs, ...

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 ...

club 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 ...

area of San Francisco, which operated from 1975 to 1981, and reopened at another location from 1982 to 1984. It was the most famous

club in the world.

Gayle Rubin Gayle S. Rubin (born January 1, 1949 in South Carolina) is an American cultural anthropologist best known as an activist and theorist of sex and gender politics. She has written on a range of subjects including feminism, sadomasochism, prostitut ...

, "The Catacombs: A Triumph of the Butthole", in ''Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice'', Alyson Press, 1992, , pp. 119-141; reprinted in ''Deviations: A Gayle Rubin Reader'', Duke University Press, 2011, , , retrieved September 30, 2014. The founder and owner was Steve McEachern. The location was semi-secret and admission was by referral only. It was originally a gay men's club, and

Cynthia Slater Cynthia Slater (1945–1989) was the cofounder of the second BDSM organization founded in the United States (after The Eulenspiegel Society), a San Francisco, California based BDSM education and support group known as the Society of Janus, which ...

persuaded the management to open up to lesbians.Call, Lewis. 2013. BDSM in American science fiction and fantasy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p.5 Among the patrons was

Patrick Califia Patrick Califia (born 1954; formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice) is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transition ...

, known then as Pat Califia. The Catacombs has been exhaustively described by sexual anthropologist

, who calls it "exemplary" in its attempts to deal with the AIDS crisis which would eventually lead to its closure. Patrick Moore devotes a chapter to it in his ''Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality''. Sex educator

Carol Queen Carol Queen (born 1957) is an American author, editor, sociologist, and sexologist active in the sex-positive feminism movement. Queen is a two time Grand Marshal of San Francisco LGBTQ Pride. Queen has written on human sexuality in books such as ...

called it "''the'' place to be seen and to play at during the 1980s." The

San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley consists of four works of art along the Ringold Street alley, at 8th Street, in San Francisco's SOMA district honoring leather culture; it opened in 2017. Artworks Collectively titled ''Lea ...

consists of four works of art along Ringold Alley honoring leather culture; it opened in 2017. One of the works of art is metal bootprints along the curb which honor 28 people, including Catacombs founder and owner Steve McEachern, who were an important part of the leather communities of San Francisco.

References

Gay bathhouses in California LGBT BDSM LGBT in California Leather subculture Sexuality in San Francisco South of Market, San Francisco {{LGBT-stub