Beloved Castro District Queer Community Center Turns 40

The Castro Country Club will celebrate its 40th birthday in Golden Gate Park. (National Aids Memorial, Richard Burlton)

Fans of San Francisco’s legacy businesses, be they on the roster or not, have reason to rejoice this spring. The Castro Country Club, a sober living and resource center on 18th Street, turns 40 this May. On Sunday, May 7, the nonprofit will throw its own birthday bash at the National Aids Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. From noon to 3 p.m. fans can drop by a free picnic with speakers and music courtesy of DJ Charlotte the Baronness.

It’s thanks to restaurateur Steve Harris that the gay and queer community in San Francisco could head somewhere other than a bar to commune with the community. In April 1983 Harris opened the center amidst the rampaging HIV and AIDS crisis. Now, the center boasts a robust cafe, its own sobriety-centered drag show Mascara, and a stunning outdoor patio just next door to Italian restaurant Poesia.

The pandemic took a toll on free-to-use community centers like the Castro Country Club. The Gratitude Center, another such resource to San Francisco’s boozeless on 7th Avenue, is back to in-person meetings — and looking for volunteers and donors, to boot. But few recognize just how strong the sober living community is in San Francisco, a city that spends more money on alcohol than any other city in the country. There’s the much-loved Dry Dock in Cow Hollow and the Peacock Lounge on Haight Street, the latter of which is actually a bar itself that flips into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting each Wednesday night. There’s also Boison, the nonalcoholic bottle shop in Hayes Valley, and all the fancy restaurants turning toward alcohol-free service, too.

The Castro is seeing its own renaissance these days, despite the efforts of Les Natali clogging up the merriment with Grinch-like landlord tactics. The going-strong Strut on Castro Street will host a Mental Health Comedy Hour in May, and Chadwick’s on Market Street proves new bakeries can enter the scene with boutique cinnamon buns. Flora Cafe, also on Market Street, is bringing new ownership to the area this year. And Lobby Bar is one of the most delectable places to get a nonalcoholic hot toddy or cocktail including the titanic “Carly Rae Jepsen.” Plus, any place getting one-star Yelp reviews for “discriminating against straight people” is worth a visit.