If you are familiar with “the good old days” of South of Market San Francisco, you may have fond memories of places like The Caldron, Boot Camp, and Blow Buddies. Each of these places welcomed piss play: the Boot Camp had a room with a trough where “Chuck with the Rimless Glasses” was regularly to be found; the Caldron had well-publicized piss parties and multiple tubs, and of course Blow Buddies’ “Wet Wednesdays” were a regular monthly event right up until the venue closed in March of 2020.
But one venue has a special place in my urine-soaked memories: a leather-and-uniform bar called The Trench, located at Natoma and 8th Street from 1978 to 1983. It was really the place where I first encountered piss play as a recreational aspect of gay sex. Their “Mellow Yellow” parties each Monday evening were a favorite for me, and it’s where I first earned my yellow bandana.
Those memories, that history, is in danger of being washed away by Redevelopment. In the necessary efforts to build more housing, it’s very hard for such small, niche-market businesses to survive. Efforts to open a bathhouse in San Francisco have been very slow-going, and you know it will be an uphill effort for any adult sex venue to get all the permits it needs while including a “wet play” space in their blueprints.
The LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District is a nonprofit organization dedicated to both sides of this: helping queer and kinky businesses to open and survive, and helping preserve the history and joy of the places we have lost.
One very recent part of that organization’s work is the Leather Legacy Landmarks project, placing bronze plaques on the streets of SOMA honoring the bars, bathhouses, art galleries, and other essential venues of the Miracle Mile.
The Yellow and Black Group is supporting that project. [Full disclosure: I myself am a volunteer Board member of the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District.] I invite your contribution to this effort.
The Yellow and Black Group Team has set itself a goal of raising $4,000. If we raise that amount, a plaque will be installed at the former site of The Trench more or less immediately. Otherwise, we may have to wait a year or more for it. Also, if we hit that goal, the plaque will recognize the Yellow and Black Group as the plaque sponsor.
So, you can help increase the visibility of watersports, preserve the history of kink in San Francisco, and support the LEATHER & LGBTQ Cultural District in its work of keeping SOMA kinky and queer. Just by donating any amount you like. And it’s tax-deductible!
Make your donation here. Be sure to write in “The Trench” on the bottom line, where it asks for the Plaque Name.
Thank you.