This year’s Folsom Street Fair came and went and for many kinksters, appears to have taken our joie-de-vivre with it. We’re back at our day jobs doing daytime shit while Instagram circulates the memories. I hope you experienced Folsom 2026 with good friends, partners, lovers, “pets,” etc. It was fun while it lasted.
But now you may be feeling the effects of event drop. It’s not a far cry from the hell you felt after taking a bunch of ecstasy that “one time.” For the uninitiated, event drop is the depressive return to normal in the days following a much-anticipated departure from it. It begins as early as at the end of the event itself, an acute awareness of the present becoming past.
If that sounds familiar, especially if this was your first Folsom, I wrote this for you. Seven spaces in San Francisco that keep Folsom alive all year round.
Community is key
You might feel that retreating into your shell for a few days is in order. It’s normal and you should indulge yourself, but not for too long. Your community is still there for you, even if you don’t think so. Maybe it’s time to relearn the art of going out solo. Friendship rarely knocks at the door. Drag your sorry ass to a gay bar and be the vibe you want to meet on the floor.
The Castro
When it’s time to go be gay, the Castro isn’t my first choice. The Castro has been San Francisco’s premiere gayborhood since the 1960s, but the scene is wildly different now. The tight Wranglers, handlebar moustaches, and State Trooper shades gave way to wealthy twink-daddy couples and Gaga’s little monsters. Even so, reliable pockets of that original Castro aesthetic still exist.
440: Daddies. That was my first impression of 440 Castro as well as every time since. Its charm lies in the intimate square footage and genuine friendly service at the bar. Whether you show up in a harness vac'd and flagging, or work apparel flacked and dragging, you’re welcome here. The weekly Underwear Nights (every Monday) are always good fun.
Whoever captioned this Creative Commons photo called the dancer’s underwear a thong. I offer a correction: The dancer is not wearing a thong but rather some very flattering briefs.
Accepts debit/credit? Yes.
Smoker setup: Curbside smoking for cigar daddies and the like.
Friendly to piss queens? Yes (trough on site).
440 Castro Street, open daily, 12AM – 2AM.
Cover: Free–$10
Twin Peaks: Wait, that old bar on the corner of 17th and Castro? The very same. You stand across from it whenever you exit the Muni metro station. Its yawning windows exude a warm burnished glow, especially on those foggy, wind-whipped nights. It might seem out of place in this list and I get it, but hear me out. Twin Peaks is a regular spot for older men, and that includes survivors of the AIDS epidemic. People who watched their friends and partners die in a neighborhood-turned -tourist-attraction. This is where they go to forget and remember.
I adore Twin Peaks and how its iconic neon sign pierces red through the fog. Creative commons.
But it’s hardly a somber atmosphere inside. Music gets loud and conversations overlap. The old men in those chairs are veterans of a war against homosexuality that still rages on. They’re also totally unfazed by Folsom Street Fair and the interests of those who attend. No new kinks under the sun, as it were. These men have seen everything and aren’t afraid to discuss anything. While you won’t find anyone in gear, an elderly gentleman may happily offer a brief history of fisting.
Accepts debit/credit? No—bring cash (ATM on site)
Smoker setup: Curbside
Friendly to piss queens? No
401 Castro Street. Open daily.
Thursday–Sunday: 11AM–2AM
Monday–Wednesday: 12PM–2AM
Cover: Free
South of Market
Of course you’ll find that Folsom feeling in the same neighborhood that hosts the street fair. The scene South of Market is where the handlebar mustache crowd moved to once they outgrew the Castro. Soma is where queer kink and fetish culture resides. The city’s famously subversive drag scene also calls the neighborhood home, with Oasis standing as the community’s crown jewel.
SF Eagle: The Eagle can be a great place to make lifelong friends. Karaoke nights, queer leather happy hour, drag shows, kink-specific training and demonstrations, filthy dance parties, standup comedy: they got it. This bar pours from three different stations on their busiest nights so you’re rarely in line for long. The Eagle boasts one of the largest heated patio spaces in the city, so you may frolic about wearing next-to-nothing.
The beer selection on tap at SF Eagle is usually respectable if a tad pricey. Creative commons.
Friday and Saturday nights are your best bet for meeting the trade of your dreams.
Accepts debit/credit? Yes (ATM on site anyway)
Smoker setup: Smoking allowed on the patio (for now!)
Friendly to piss queens? Absolutely. With two separate troughs? How could it not?
398 12th Street
Monday: 12PM–2AM
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday, Thursday: 6PM–12AM
Friday, Saturday: 2PM–2AM
Sunday: 1PM–12AM
Cover: $5-25
Lone Star: I’ve heard Lone Star called the Eagle’s little brother and I agree. My first visit, I started thinking I’d been there before. The bar, the pool table, the floor paved with pennies, it looked so familiar! But then my partner solved the mystery: “This is where Treasure Island Media shot that scene where Andy fucks that one guy so hard, he pisses himself.” Andy is a friend and adult film actor. I could instantly place him at the pool table, hard at work. The bar has a lot of history and if you ask the right bartender, you’ll hear some stories.
Accepts debit/credit? No—Cash Only (ATM on site)
Smoker setup: Patio
Friendly to piss queens? Yes (trough on site)
1354 Harrison Street
Monday–Saturday: 4PM–2AM
Sunday: 2PM–2AM
Cover: $5-20
Hole In The Wall: With its musty, garage-like ambience, Hole In The Wall definitely lives up to its name. This bar would make a perfect set for a Hells Angels-themed adult film production. Biker memorabilia, neon signs, and phallic symbols dangle from the ceiling in a perverse echo of Shenanigans. Regular customers whom I can only describe as “crusty” (crustomers?) just call it “Hole.” It is more affordable than the Eagle and, in my opinion, where true gay bikers drink. While kink is not the focus, Hole unexpectedly lends a warm, almost intimate environment where sex simmers beneath the surface.
Accepts debit/credit? No—Cash Only (ATM on site)
Smoker setup: Steel mesh enclosure facing the street.
Friendly to piss queens? Not exactly. You might be able to post up in one of their bathrooms, but they’ll probably tell you to get out.
1369 Folsom Street
Monday–Friday: 2PM–2AM
Saturday, Sunday: 12PM–2AM
Cover: Free-$10
The Stud: The legendary bar’s third incarnation stands at 1173 Folsom Street after closing their 9th and Harrison location in May 2020. The Stud embodies South of Market’s more playful side, with a long history of hosting drag and experimental theater. The new location is more spacious and offers more bathrooms, two ingredients for a successful bar. I like the Stud because it’s got a more queer vibe than spaces that feel primarily inclined to gay men. Powerhouse (below) has a similar feel with maybe half the intensity.
That said, the Stud gets really fucking gay sometimes, at least once a week.
This is how the Stud’s previous location at 9th & Harrison Streets appeared before it closed in May 2020. Its new location at Folsom Street and Langton Alley opened in April 2024. Creative commons.
Accepts debit/credit? No (ATM on site)
Smoker setup: Curbside
Friendly to piss queens? Yes
1123 Folsom Street
Sunday, Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 5PM–12AM
Wednesday: 9PM–2AM
Thursday: 5PM–12AM
Friday, Saturday: 5PM–2AM
Cover: Free-$20
Powerhouse: This bar is not for the faint of heart. At the corner of Dore Alley and Folsom Street, it is South of Market’s sexual epicenter. Powerhouse is a bowl of sweat, grit, smoke, booze, and (often) tasteful house music. Queers of every flavor make their way to it. What I love about Poho is the diversity and unabashedness of its crowds. Gays, lesbians, transfolk, drag queens, twinks, daddies, otters, bears, Black, Latin, Asian, older, younger—our people. It is my favorite gay bar in San Francisco. Here you will find stanky armpit contests, underwear competitions, nearly naked gogo dancers, and so much more. And of course, there’s the infamous back room.
This screengrab from Google Maps shows what I consider the bar’s philosophy.
Described online as “a great show-and-tell zone where all the magic happens,” the back room is like the core of the Earth. On a busy night it is hot, dense, chaotic, smoky, solid and swirling all at once. Enter the core and you will emerge a changed person, singed by cigarettes and reeking of their fumes. My clothes always stink of nicotine leaving Powerhouse. But it’s a fair sacrifice (not like when someone stole my favorite jacket there) for a bar whose “Folsom-style remains festive year-round.”
Accepts debit/credit? Yes (ATM on site anyway)
Smoker setup: Back area and Dore Alley parklet.
Friendly to piss queens? Absolutely. Equipped with two troughs. Get it from the tap in the back if you prefer.
1347 Folsom Street
Monday: 4PM–12AM
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday–Sunday: 2PM–2AM
Cover: Free-$20
