Filtering the map by decades, it is easy to see parts of San Francisco's LGBT history through the proliferation of gay bars over the years. Before the 1950's, homosexuality was practically unheard of in the city's public realm, so it stands to reason that only a handful of gay bars are historically accounted for during these years.

 

During the 1950's-60's, however, San Francisco's homosexual community began its emergence, and a number of gay bars opened up throughout the city, even in the face of frequent police harassment. Looking at the map, the landscape of gay bars seemed to grow in confidence between these two decades as the former saw many bars opening up relatively near each other in the Market/Taylor Street area while the latter saw a much greater spread of new bars across many neighborhoods.

 

During the 1970's, LGBT culture came into its own with increasing visibility and grand displays of pride, and accordingly, San Francisco saw its greatest number of new gay bars emerge throughout the city. The rise of the Castro as a queer neighborhood can be seen in the cluster of new bars opened in the '70's; a new concentration emerged also in the Market/Taylor/Post street area that began to grow there two decades earlier.

 

Contrary to this trend of growth, the 1980's-90's saw a dramatic decrease in the number of new gay bars opened. This can be attributed to the infamous AIDS crisis, which reverted increasingly accepting perceptions of homosexuality to the abusively condemning views from previous decades.

 

Today, the city is again a vibrant and inclusive, and this shows in the over sixty gay bars currently listed throughout the city. As shown on the map, the Castro remains a hub of LGBT activity with a number of gay bars here and in the SOMA district as well.