Once upon a time there were gay hippies who came to San Francisco to find freedom and adventure and each other. And sex.

They weren’t glued to their phones. They didn’t shop at Room and Board. They didn’t work for start-ups. A lot of them didn’t “work” at all.

They had different values. They were artists, musicians and free spirits, arrayed in feathers and leathers and tight striped jeans. Young and unbowed by time or convention or AIDS or COVID.

A fleeting moment, captured by this rare photo, that reminds the isolated, lonely, frustrated and horny among us that it wasn’t always like this. Joy is part of our heritage. 

Vintage black and white photo, 8” x 10,” c. 1970.