Folsom Street is a street in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

which begins perpendicular to Alemany Boulevard in San Francisco's

Bernal Heights Bernal Heights ( ) is a residential neighborhood in southeastern San Francisco, California. The prominent Bernal Heights hill overlooks the San Francisco skyline and features a microwave transmission tower. The nearby Sutro Tower can be seen fro ...

district and ends perpendicular to the Embarcadero on the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

. For its southern half, Folsom Street runs north–south, but it turns northeasterly at 13th street. It runs through San Francisco's Bernal Heights district, Mission District, SoMa District, Yerba Buena District, and South Beach district. When the

Stud Stud may refer to: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay bar in San Francisco * ...

, along with Febe's, opened up on Folsom Street in 1966, other gay

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

bars and establishments catering to this subculture followed, creating a foundation for the growing gay leather community. Since 1984, the street has been home to the

Folsom Street Fair Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual Kink (sexuality), kink, leather subculture, and Paraphilia, alternative sexuality street fair, held in September that concludes San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes refe ...

, an annual

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often Eroticism, erotic practices or Sexual roleplay, roleplaying involving Bondage (BDSM), bondage, Discipline (BDSM), discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given ...

and leather subculture street fair held in September in the

South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, so named due to its location south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of ...

portion of Folsom Street, which, from approximately 1975–84, was the center of San Francisco's gay and lesbian

community. In 2008 and 2012, Folsom Street Events received the Large Nonprofit Organization of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. However, in 2012 it tied with Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend. Then in 2015, Folsom Street Events received the Nonprofit Organization of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards. The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley consists of four works of art along Ringold Alley honoring

leather culture Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that parti ...

; it opened in 2017. One of the works of art is metal bootprints along the curb which honor 28 people (including Alan Selby, founder of the store Mr. S Leather and known as the "Mayor of Folsom Street") who were an important part of the leather communities of San Francisco.

References

Streets in San Francisco South of Market, San Francisco LGBTQ culture in San Francisco Sexuality in San Francisco {{California-road-stub