Ashley Hamelin<\/p>\n
February 28, 2017<\/p>\n
Site Topic Proposal: Esta Noche<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Esta Noche, located at 3079 16th<\/sup> and Mission street, was the first Latino gay bar in San Francisco. \u00a0Esta Noche was founded in 1979 by Anthony Lopez and Manuel Ouijano, two openly gay active members of GALA (The Gay Latino alliance). The duo saw the need for a safe gay Latino space and so they sold their house to buy the bar. They were able to create a reputable safe space for gay Latino men to go and not have to worry about facing the discrimination that many gay men of color had encountered in the white gay bars in the Castro. At Esta Noche, Gay Latino men were no longer harassed, called racial slurs, and forced to show several forms of identification just to enter. They now had a safe space.<\/p>\n Esta Noche was well known for its variety of vibrant entertainment. But it was not just the lively drag shows or comedy bodega nights that made Esta Noche an important part of the community. It was also a space where LGBTQ people could gather, organize, and host fundraisers for health clinics, people with AIDS, and other lower income groups. It was a place that took great pride in caring for its Latino community, and celebrated the culture of the people in the surrounding Latino neighborhoods. \u00a0\u00a0In 2006, Esta Noche was nominated as one of the organizations to be considered for the San Francisco Pride Marshals, an honor presented to individuals or organizations within the LGBTQ community who have attempted to create change and usually are local heroes who have fought for LGBTQ rights over the years.<\/p>\n In 2014, Esta Noche fell victim to gentrification in the area, when a spike in property taxes threatened the bars future. Despite efforts of the Queens of San Francisco Drag Queens, spearheaded by Heklina and Anna Conda, holding fundraisers and creating a crowd-funding website, the money needed to stay open could not be raised in time, and the bar was sold. Esta Noche has been renovated and turned into a club that a reporter for the SF Weekly called \u201canother swanky cocktail bar geared toward 20-somethings with disposable income,\u201d much different venue than the drag bar that catered to Gay Latinos.<\/p>\n The closing of Esta Noche is a loss for the entire gay Latino community. Sadly, this is just another victim of the gentrification that is happening in the Mission District. The closing of Esta Noche is a perfect example of how gentrification effects the LGBTQ community and its history. \u00a0The vanishing of queer spaces in the mission district is troublesome, as it will arguably lead to a younger LGBTQ generation that is not in touch with its history. Recognizing Queer spaces is important to commemorate queer history as well as prevent collective memory loss. Spaces like Esta Noche need to be remembered and celebrated for their contribution to the gay and Latino Community.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ashley Hamelin February 28, 2017 Site Topic Proposal: Esta Noche Esta Noche, located at 3079 16th and Mission street, was the first Latino gay bar in San Francisco. \u00a0Esta Noche was founded in 1979 by Anthony Lopez and Manuel Ouijano, two openly gay active members of GALA (The Gay Latino alliance). The duo saw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2030,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-queer-america\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}