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LGBT Community Center
Rating Details »
Categories: Local Flavor, Public Services & Government
Neighborhood: Hayes Valley1800 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 865-5555
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 12:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sat. 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
15 reviews for LGBT Community Center
In case you didn't know, I'm a fag. I spend my 24/7's checking out guys and using my witty attitude to boost me up that social ladder that has no top in sight. In saying that, I completely embraced the idea of this place opening, I had heard about it back in 2000....about 2 years before it opened its doors to the general public in March of 2002. The grand opening was fantastic and I really had a great time. I think it was truly the first time I felt comfortable with the fact that I was...er, am, an out and proud Black male living in a city where there are so few of me.
But as time progressed forward, I came to realize that I have mixed reviews about this place. I think that it lacks the ability to actually draw in the LGBT crowd. Have you ever walked past this place in the afternoon? It is completely barren with the exception of the guy working the front counter and the the customers in the 3 Dollar Bill Cafe who are only there to sip on so-so coffee and use the wireless connection to check out their hits on http://gay.com, manhunt, adam4adam and what have you. I may be wrong in thinking this, but I thought that this place wanted to reach out to a younger generation like those in their teens who could really benefit from a place like this. Instead, we get 4 floors of barren space.
But I suppose it isn't all bad.
Over the years this place has done some good in terms of service. They have programs and offer resources (like they should) to anyone in need. It seemed like it was touch and go 5 years ago, but this place has really started to assert itself over the years. I hope that it will progress further and do something that will get people to pass through its doors and keep them there....not make them want to walk out within a 7 minute time frame.
What happened to this place??? Who are they out to help, and provide community??? I think this center has to be put to better use, I haven't been here in years, and I wish they had more to offer. I've also heard that you have to be careful here, because you can get robbed. This place is such a waste of money, it's sad.
Best place to get robbed in the city.
Seriously, though. Watch your stuff.
They do have good resources for queers, though. And free internet with cheap printing!
Other than the rooftop deck, which is rarely used, there is nothing about this place that works. It feels like a morgue when you walk in and is perpetually empty. It isn't open on Sundays and apparently can't even support a coffee shop.
They have had financial problems since before they opened because the community never really wanted or needed this center. A few people decided we just had to have one because San Jose has one. Where are those people now?
They blew it by not including a housing element, permanent offices for vital organizations, and a museum for the gay historical society. And the location was just plain stupid.
Sad that this failure continues to consume community resources. If it still isn't working after all this time, they should put the building and the operating expenses to better use.
This place is just as cold and unfriendly as the "community" it purports to represent. It's in a bad location that is difficult to get to for people with mobility issues and has been totally mismanaged since its conception. Anything east of Church street isn't "The Castro". This whole project has been folly to glorify the egos of self appointed "A-Gays". If you want to see a real community center go to New York and see how all segments of a truly diverse and vibrant LGBT community is properly represented.
They had the chance to get the credit union on the corner of Castro and Market and turned it down because it was "too expensive" then they kicked out the Libertarians and spent so much money "saving" the historical building on the corner that it would have been much more economical and beneficial to the real LGBT community that has always been centered in the Castro to just take over the credit union. Because of their blunder we're left with The Pottery Barn and a divisive grassroots movement to set up an alternative LGBT Community Center in the Castro.
I would come here to use the bathroom and get free internet. I know Bob who work here. It got art inside and room for the community to use. I think they post jobs they are suppose to help the community. It's roomy inside. It good for the gays to get help here. I not gay just people know.
This place is a dead zone. They have the space to offer so many services but fail to do so. I hear part of the reason it's so hard to use the space is the insurance requirement. I can't verify this to be a fact. Something is a miss for sure. I assumed there would be services such as AA/addiction meetings, etc. and there are none listed. It's almost like walking into a business office building that hasn't opened yet or, failed to rent available space. If you are looking for gay services it's best to look them up online and go directly to their locations such as Magnet for GLBT health. The center is NOT money well spent.
Most people are fooled. Not you. You know all this bitchiness covers a heart which weeps and bruises and wants to believe. People easily broken erect walls and play Scheherazade; and I am easily broken. I'm the melancholic whose invitation to the party of life was lost.
We met here. I never told you, but when I left the workshop I switched my iPod to shuffle. "Kiss of Life" by Sade was randomly selected. I walked home, laughing and crying. You know how quickly tears come to my eyes over the most banal things. Hearing this song -- a song I cherished precisely for its sentimental and saccharine overtures -- was too overwhelming.
I am listening to it right now, only this time by choice.
I never thanked you for the three years. We almost made it to four. Sometimes we take comfort in things nearly accomplished.
Four stars for giving birth to a relationship of (nearly) four years.
----
Alright bitches, who wants to buy me a fucking DRINK?
Great work.. kinda awkward welcoming. Never have felt warm here. Events? Where are they?
Nice and spiffy new building! There's a cafe on the first floor also that has hosted a variety of socials. The owner is friendly, the front desk worker of the center are also friendly. Say hello to Steven!
Also, the food at the cafe seems to be fresh, good quality and reasonably priced. There's free wi-fi too. So really, this new center has everything in the right places.
When it opened in 2002, the Charles M. Holmes Campus of the LGBT Center - the facility's official name - was the culmination of nearly a decade of planning, neighborhood concerns about the corner Victorian (which was incorporated into the final design), and construction. It was intended to be a hangout for the community for whom it was intended - part meeting place, part event space, part support-group destination . . . a multipurpose everything center. Unfortunately, on the few occasions I've been here, it's been more a barren wasteland - antiseptic, uninviting, and empty. The reception staff is friendly, but totally inept, possibly due to a lack of training. When I went in with an offer to donate used but working office equipment and a collection of gay literature, it took two young men fifteen minutes to find someone capable of accepting or rejecting the gift, and even that individual seemed somewhat unsure of how to react. In all the time I stood there waiting for a response (which eventually was a yes, thank you), not one person entered or left the building, leading me to believe that the great deal of time, effort, and money spent creating this space sadly may have been in vain.
One of the best and crown jewls that links the GLBT community together. Good resocues, events, but watch your property at all times, people together just be respectufl of everyone
The center came to being in 2002, and it was about time. Since then, the center has been the most hollow place on Earth. I walk in, and the place seems cold and uninviting. To be honest, it doesn't feel like a community center. It feels like a hospital. The fact that it isn't in the Castro also hurts it. Still, you take what you can get. At least we do have a community center. But after three years in existence, it needs a total makeover and makeunder.
great resources, helpful staff
great building, great events
plenty of bathrooms
computer lab free for first hour
considering it closes on holidays when many gays are lonely, alone, sad ... doesn't seem to be more than locked doors.
