San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Longtime retailer gets boot in Castro
Community store operated in Milk’s old headquarters
After 16 years in the Castro district and a decade in the former home of Harvey Milk, the Human Rights Campaign will close its clothing and apparel shop in midApril, citing lease issues with the landlord.
HRC said it wanted to stay in its current San Francisco location, but that its landlord declined to renew a lease that is set to expire this year.
“This store is more than just a place to sell merchandise, it’s where people came to learn the arc and history of the LGBTQ community,” said Don Kiser, the director of consumer marketing at HRC. “We’re lucky to have been in the center of the community for so long, and we’re sad to go.”
For the past 10 years, the store has
been at 575 Castro St., the former home, camera shop and campaign office of Milk, the late civil rights activist who became the first openly gay San Francisco supervisor in the 1970s. Now, there’s uncertainty about what could happen next.
Supporters of the storefront’s history are hoping to get it classified as a national park site, which would protect it from possible redevelopment. But the city’s Planning Department and the National Park Service said no paperwork has been filed to either agency to begin the process of turning the commercial space into a local monument.
No permits have been submitted by the landlord to redevelop the site, either, according to the Planning Department.
The entity that owns the property, 563575 Castro LLC, bought it for $1.4 million in 2014. The building is managed by James Nunemacher, founder of Vanguard Properties, a real estate company. He did not return calls for comment.
According to the Bay Area Reporter, Nunemacher said he heard from proponents of registering the property as a national historic site, but said he was “not at liberty” to divulge the details and declined to share his plans for the property.
Cleve Jones, a longtime LGBTQ rights activist who interned for Milk at City Hall in the 1970s, said he didn’t want to see his former boss’ headquarters turn into “another shop or restaurant.”
“Something wonderful needs to happen at the location,” Jones said. “I want to see something that honors the history of that building.”
HRC sells equalitybranded clothing, hats, watches and other items in the retail space. Proceeds from some of those sales were donated to the Harvey Milk Foundation and the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, according to the HRC store’s website. After the San Francisco shop closes, the HRC store will have just one brickandmortar location in the U.S., in Provincetown, Mass. Most sales are through its online store.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the Castro district, said it was hard to see yet another business catering to the queer community close.
“There’s something about physical spaces and actual inperson engagement,” he said. “Shops have opened and closed because of the pandemic, but it’s concerning to see businesses shutter for good. HRC was a little bit of a tourist destination and it leaves a void in the area.”