Unspeakable Vice: Queer North Beach Before The Castro

Unspeakable Vice: Queer North Beach Before The Castro

Join us for an exploration of San Francisco's original ‘gayborhood’: North Beach. A century before Stonewall, the rainbow flag, or Harvey Milk, queer-friendly entertainment venues were all over the Barbary Coast and provided some of the earliest prototypes of LGBTQ spaces and often showcasing revolutionary gender non-conformity.

See how people of color and women—often underrepresented in queer narratives—created a foundation for 1970s activists in the Castro and gave the "unspeakable vice" of the Victorians a voice.

Manny's never turns away someone due to lack of funds. If you need a complimentary ticket, please email the title of the event and the word "grapefruit" to angelina@welcometomannys.com.

Want to support community members? By purchasing a "Pay It Forward" ticket you will allow us to provide free tickets to those who may not be able to afford entry otherwise and ensure we can create a diverse socio-economic audience that represents San Francisco.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Shawn Sprockett is the creator and host of Unspeakable Vice, a walking tour he developed after studying his neighborhood's queer history. This historical tour of San Francisco's lost queer nightlife scene examines the origins of queer identity and wonders how it might evolve next.

Shawn is also an adjunct professor at the California College of Arts in the graduate Interaction Design program, where he teaches visual design in the Fall and his own class, Futureproof, on creative thinking and speculative design, in the Spring. His work has spanned a wide breadth of industries over the last sixteen years, from Condé Nast to Google, Apple, and Airbnb. He has trained under legendary designers, like Milton Glaser and Stefan Sagmeister. He's also been a part of big business transformations like IBM's implementation of design-thinking at scale and Facebook's forays into the metaverse.

One interesting fact about Shawn: He has nearly a dozen design-centric tattoos that symbolize each city he’s lived in.