1 post tagged “pride”

OK, I'm back from my travels and any fear that my blog would become obsolete was assuaged by all of the new signs, new construction, and general all-around flux going on in the neighborhood.  The big wheels of Castro commerce keep on turnin' and the proud Marys keep on buyin'.

And speaking of Pride, our Pride season has come and gone, and much like the prom photos which finally got mailed back to you a month and a half later, here is my Pride album of stores dolled up in their Gunny Sax prairie dresses, big, chunky, plastic, triangle earrings, and elbow-length, finger-less gloves.  (Oops, can you tell what decade I went to the prom in?)  Feel like a proud mom sending your child off for a night of chaperoned groping, wondering how they all just grew up so quickly...

Speaking of grown ups, Twin Peaks injected a little collagen into its rapidly thinning lips by stuffing its front windows with pink balloons for Pink Saturday.  Puffy!

Also on Pink Saturday, the street party feuled up on booze, booze, booze, sold directly to the crowds out of store windows.  This is the sort of thing which has brought Halloween down like a chain-saw to the knees, so I hope that the intense booze-hawking doesn't ruin Pink Saturday as well.  I'm all for the businesses making a profit where they can, but again, Halloween is a sobering example (literally).

In these pics we see The Bar doing some discreet price gouging (smooth!), A. G. Ferrari trying to class it up by selling beer *and wine* (antioxidants!), and La Tortilla keeping it real with a 25% discount for good ol' American beer (patriotic!).

This picture is for commenter Troy who chastised me for not having better beefcake photos in my Sidewalk Sale post.  Here, All-American Boy draws a crowd with go-go dancers.  I'm not really sure that this is the welcome that the Dyke March organizers were hoping for at the end of their parade route, but the crowd sure didn't seem to mind.

 Flags are the traditional decoration, and here Moby Dick and the HRC Store were acting extra flaggy all month.

Cliff's can always be counted on for a great window (or 5) and this one does not disappoint with the parade reinvigorated and reimagined with childlike joy and absent that bitchy jadedness that ails a lot of us.  (But what's with Elmo?  Everyone knows Bert and Ernie are the gay ones!  Oops, there goes that jaded bitchiness I was talking about.) 

Best in Show's window looks a lot like the final scene of "Les Miserables" -- if the revolutionaries were gay ... and dogs ... wearing feathered wings. 

 In-Jean-ious Lounge communicated the rainbow message through the international language of thongs.

Under One Roof made their rainbow with umbrellas.  (Umbrellas ... rainbows ... get it?)

And following on the theme of "alternative rainbows," De La Sole featured a subtle rainbow of (fake) field flowers.  I'm partial to displays like this that include the rainbow motif without being too obvious about it.

The Edge got a little whirly-twirly to celebrate.  At least this display took advantage of our blustering early-summer weather.

While I believe that the influx of visitors rapaciously hoovering up rainbow tchatchkes like Kate Moss in a stall at Hyde is generally good for our local economy, I also worry about the businesses needing to close up because of the Pink Saturday crowds.  Here are a couple of signs announcing these Saturday closings.  Cliff's also closes on Pride Sunday, but I suppose that is more out of reverance for the gay high holy day.

For the month of June the city lined the neighborhood streets with rainbow flags from almost every pole along Market Street.  The photo above shows the billowing "special event" flag competing for space against the regular banner which festoons many of these poles year-round.  While the exuberant abundance of rainbows-on-rainbows was welcome and festive, an unfortunate side-effect of this juxtaposition was that the sunbleached (and in some cases quite tattered) regular banners looked pretty dismal in comparison to the flashy visitor flags.  After hearing a few locals grumble about Pride and the annoying out-of-town crowds, it was hard not to see a reflection of ourselves in this telling scene.

I hope you all had a great Pride!  Don't wait until next year to bring out your festive spirit and your rainbow thong!