1970s S.F. through a teenager’s eyes
“Diary of a Teenage Girl” author Phoebe Gloeckner offers her memories of being a teenager in 1970s San Francisco: 1. Polk Street
In 1976, Polk Street was the center of my world. It was a different place then, as gay as Castro Street but far seedier. At night, bands of cast-off or runaway kids (mostly boys) would stroll a seven-, eight-block strip of Polk, from about Clay down to O’Farrell or Ellis. We all knew each other and formed groups of little “families.” There were plenty of drugs, sex, tears and some violence. Favorite places and hangouts: Bob’s Donuts, Bob’s Grill, Miz Brown’s, Nito Burrito, Sukker’s Likkers, Woolworth’s. 2. My house/neighborhood (Laurel Heights)
I lived in a railroad flat in Laurel Heights. We were not in the economic stratum of our neighbors, but my (single) mother was always magically good at somehow finding great apartments in places others might have automatically dismissed as prohibitively expensive. It was a wonderful place to live. Sometimes, for the novelty of it, I slept in a large closet which had a tiny window, with a little view of the Golden Gate Bridge. 3. Market Street — the Strand Theatre, See’s Candies
The Strand Theatre on Market Street had midnight screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” The crowd was mostly gay men and boys playing dress-up. I could have counted the number of girls on my two hands. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of “Rocky Horror,” but I went 36 times. I knew so many people there, it was a place where we were generally happy and sociable (and high).
Then, of course, there was See’s Candies. I still go there. Free samples. We’d gather coins in the gutters to buy one piece of chocolate. 4. Fern bars and the rock nightclub Old Waldorf
Fern bars were everywhere in San Francisco in the ’70s. Somehow, I was never carded, probably because I usually entered with adults. The bars were furnished with dark, ornate, velvet-upholstered couches and chairs. Oriental carpets on the floor. Asparagus ferns hanging everywhere, darkening the windows. The Old Waldorf, Henry Africa and the Royal Oak were fantastically popular pick-up spots, and packed with youngish, semi-affluent heterosexual singles. 5. High school (Lick-Wilmerding, the Urban School)
I attended several high schools in San Francisco, and was either expelled or “not invited back” to at least two of them, Lick-Wilmerding and the Urban School. Urban was in Pacific Heights then, and had a cloyingly hippie vibe that depressed me. Other kids reveled in it, but I reviled the pillows on the floor and the laid-back teachers, who seemed to only have first names. Lick-Wilmerding had been a technical school for boys, but had adopted a prepschool curriculum and started accepting girls by the time I got there. Regretfully, I flunked most of my classes, including art. I do have fond memories of smoking pot and taking Quaaludes under the nearby freeway overpass.