4 posts tagged “ibr”
The SF Bear's International Bear Rendezvous weekend starts today, so don't be alarmed if you find a bear with his paw in your honey. He means no harm.
As in previous years, stores have begun putting out bear decorations, including the awesome and completely unnecessary "Bears Welcome" signs. However I haven't seen the big bar banners out yet, and generally there seems to be less visible activity than in previous years. I wonder if this has something to do with a) the final filming of the Milk movie, b) the rain/cold/construction putting a general damper on the neighborhood, and/or c) the sucky economy which is apparently dragging everyone down.
And visiting bears are encouraged to check out my "Bear's Guide to the Castro" produced last year. The only update is that Bullshead has closed down. We don't really have any more carnivore-themed restaurants in the area, but for a good quantity-to-price ratio, try The Sausage Factory at 517 Castro. The antipasto salad "baby" size is already too big for 2 people, so the "mama" size is a revelation at $12.25. You must like lots of cheese though, and all of the Italian meat is on the bottom (where it should be).
And as the weekend draws to a close, here are a few more signs welcoming the bears.
At Under One Roof, a den of bears and bear cubs play in the window, around a token of recognition from the bear community.
A.G. Ferrari wants to attract some big appetites, I guess:
So long bears! I'm glad you had nice weather, but don't get the wrong idea about San Francisco and the Castro. There are about 6 nice days here each year, and you just experienced three of them.
Next weekend is the Oscars, and I wonder if Castro business actually goes down that night, what with it being the "Gay Superbowl" and all. Hmm...
As I mentioned before, this long weekend is International Bear Rendezvous weekend, and the Castro is all dressed up to welcome the bears. I've been joking about this, but seriously, walking around, there are almost as many bear-themed windows and decorations as there were Christmas decorations back in December. Here's a selection:
Many of the bars have banners specifically welcoming IBR bears which include photos of porn actors. Here is the one from The Mix on 18th:
Here's the banner in front of The Midnight Sun:
The Edge's poster is particularly bear-y:
Upstairs at The Metro on Market (a repeat of The Mix's poster):
And in the window of Harvey's:
The HRC Store played nicely into stereotypes with a "Wizard of Oz" reference:
Here, In-Jean-ious selected some bear-relevant t-shirts for their regular display.
One interesting thing to note in the picture above is the "Bears welcome" sign in the lower left. Here's a close-up of one in another window:
These signs remind me of when my partner and I took an Atlantis (gay) cruise through the Caribbean. At a couple of the ports, some of the local merchants put signs in their windows which included rainbow flags or messages like "Welcome Atlantis Guests!" It was nice to feel welcomed, even if just for our money, but it also created a slightly odd feeling with the stores who didn't sport these signs. Did they intentionally not welcome us? Were they anti-gay? Or did they just not know about the signs? Or maybe they considered the signs a little kitschy and ridiculous?
Here in the Castro, many stores have these "Bears welcome" signs and many stores don't. But the idea that any store in the Castro wouldn't be welcoming to bears is a little nutty. Bear visitors are a big part of our tourist economy, but also we have quite a large bear population year-round.
Although now that I think about it, Badlands didn't put up a bear welcome sign, and they've been investigated by our Human Rights Commission .... Suspicious!
President's Day weekend sees the first of the big bear events of the year in the Bay Area, the International Bear Rendezvous, and this year's activities start Thursday evening, February 15th. The events are not centered in the Castro -- for example, the host hotel is the Holiday Inn on Van Ness -- but even a casual observer will notice an uptick in the average BMI of Castro visitors for the next week.
So to welcome the bears I thought I'd whip up a quick "Bear Guide to the Castro." I'm not a bear myself (although I've been known to admire a bear in my time) so I can't really claim to be an expert, but here are some ideas for the ursine visitor:
No bear visit to the Castro would be complete without a pilgrimage to the Starbucks on 18th, known affectionately (or contemptuously) as "Starbears." I don't know how this place became the gathering place for the bear set, but it was bear-central even back when it was Pasqua, before that chain was snarfed up by Starbucks.
I always used to call this place "the tank top club" because the uniform of choice is jeans or cargo shorts, baseball cap, and a tank top, and the southern-facing seats out front are one of the few places in the neighborhood that you can sit in the sun and not freeze your bare shoulders off. Come to think of it, a thick mat of fur is necessary to wear a tank top in San Francisco.
For a "real" bear bar you need to go South of Market, but The Edge at 18th and Collingwood is the closest you'll find in our neighborhood. Here you can see that they are already decked out with the bear flag ready for the IBR Castro pub crawl.
Joe's Barbershop on 19th (across the street from Spike's Coffees and Tea) is not strictly for bears, but they specialize in the rough and ready masculine cuts that you usually associate with the leather or bear crowds. Their clientele certainly represent those populations well, as do most (all?) of the barbers here.
If you can't quite read the awning in my picture, the motto of the store is "just a little off the top," positioned underneath the cutely flat-topped logo. It's one of the best signs in all of the Castro, IMHO.
This is another somewhat oddball choice, but I had to include P.O. Plus on Castro because there seems to be some sort of requirement for employment here that you have facial hair. In general it's a great store with super-friendly staff, much more convenient that the USPS around the corner, but in addition if you are a bear fan there is probably at least one (and maybe more) person behind the counter that you will find to your liking.
If you get tired of the effete California cuisine which takes pains to differentiate the vegetarian menu items from the vegan ones, then head over to BullsHead on 18th which specializes in buffalo meat, as well as good ol' beef. The burgers are quite tasty, and if the menus are to be believed, buffalo meat will cure pretty much anything that ails you.
And not to generalize that all bears are obsessed with food, but I felt like I couldn't close without mentioning the Joseph Schmidt store on 16th and Sanchez. This is one of the more famous boutique chocolatiers in San Francisco (which was sadly bought by Hershey's, although it continues to operate as before), and the chocolates here are works of art. Their chocolate bowls in particular are spectacular, and would make an excellent souvenir from SF. The truffles are as big as golf balls and come in a huge variety of flavors. Outstanding.
I apologize for the lack of a "real" photo. The storefront itself is pretty unassuming and easy to miss if you are driving by, so I'll try to add a proper photo later.
Well, hopefully that is enough to occupy you between the IBR events. Welcome to SF and the Castro in particular!
