Clementina's Baybrick, was a

lesbian bar A lesbian bar (sometimes called a "women's bar") is a drinking establishment that caters exclusively or predominantly to lesbian women. While often conflated, the lesbian bar has a history distinct from that of the gay bar. Significance Lesb ...

dance club Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

, and

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

in operation from September 1982 to October 1987 in the

SoMA Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

neighborhood at 1190 Folsom Street in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, 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 List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It went by many name variations, including Clementina's Baybrick Inn, Clementina's Bay Brick Inn, The Baybrick, The Bay Brick, and The Brick. Since 1993, the former Clementina's Baybrick space is known as the Cat Club.

History

The building is located in part of the historic

Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District The Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District is a cultural district in San Francisco's South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood commemorating the history and culture of the leather subculture active in the area for approximately half a century. The San Fran ...

; and was the former location of The Waiting Arms / Earthquake Ethel's (1974), The Hungry Hole (1976–1977), and Brown's Pub (1980–1983). Clementina's was a bar and dance club, and it was inside the basement of the Baybrick Inn building, a hotel. Clementina's was named after the alley it was near. Lauren Hewitt was the owner and manager, she also was a co-organizer of the Gay/Lesbian Freedom Band Festival, and helped plan the 1984

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 ...

. Clementina's Baybrick hosted a variety of entertainment events including comedy open mic nights, cabaret nights, a variety of musical performances, dance parties, tea dances, and

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

-centered strip shows. On October 23, 1983, the Asian Women's Group (AWG) sponsored a dance event, "A Sunday Bash" which was attended by some 125 women.

Les Nickelettes Les Nickelettes were a feminist satirical performance art troupe from San Francisco, California. History Les Nickelettes were created by a group of women experimental theatre artists from San Francisco State University in 1972. Started as a lark, ...

, a feminist satirical performance art troupe had a six-week run (around 1983) during the Clementina's Baybrick Wednesday night cabaret series. The hostel/inn portion closed in 1984. The bar and dance club closed on October 4, 1987.

References

External links

Bay Brick Inn records
from 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 ...

, via the

Online Archive of California The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...

{{Authority control 1982 establishments in California 1987 disestablishments in California Defunct lesbian bars in San Francisco LGBT history in San Francisco South of Market, San Francisco Drinking establishments in the San Francisco Bay Area 1980s in San Francisco Defunct LGBT drinking establishments in San Francisco 1980s in LGBT history

History

See also

References

External links