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 Les ...

dance club Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

, 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 sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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 F ...

; 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 Kink (sexuality), kink, leather subculture, and Paraphilia, alternative sexuality street fair, held in September that concludes San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes refe ...

. 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 homosexual woman or girl. 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 nouns with female homosexu ...

-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, 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. The GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco holds the archive of records for Clementina's Baybrick.

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 In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

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

History

See also

References

External links