Before the Castro became the gay mecca for the entire United States, Polk Gulch, centered around Polk Street, was the hub for the LGBT community.

Sure, gay bars quietly existed in other parts of the city—in the Tenderloin and North Beach—but Polk Gulch was the first neighborhood where gay-owned daytime establishments, such as restaurants and clothing stores, opened and catered directly to the LGBT community.

Take a twirl through Polk Gulch during the 1960s and '70s, its heyday as the epicenter of San Francisco's LGBT world.

The Gangway

(via munchies.vice.com)

Located at 841 Larking St. in the 'hood we now call the Tendernob, The Gangway has the distinction of being the oldest operating gay bar in San Francisco, having opened in 1910. The dive bar beloved by Vice came out as a gay bar in 1961.