San Francisco's Castro, a Photo History by Strange de Jim

"San Francisco's Castro is a loving black-and-white photo collection charting the 150-year history of the neighborhood ... Strange skillfully weaves commentary and history with whimsy and wit."
From Dave Ford's witty 3-page San Francisco Chronicle review and interview 1/23/04 Click to read entire story with five photos on sfgate.com.

"Strange is the wittiest, most over-the-top character this side of Quentin Crisp. But his new book, Images of America: San Francisco's Castro, is a very serious, vital and informative pictorial history of America's gay Mecca, from 1870 until the present. ... It's a treasure chest. ... It's a breathtaking achievement."
From David Nahmod's Bay Area Reporter review and interview 1/1/04:
Click to read entire story with photos.

"San Francisco's Castro has been flying off the shelves."
Jeff Thorpe, Manager, A Different Light Bookstore, Castro Street

Exercises for opening your heart, lighting up your chakras or energy centers, and believing your dreams into reality.
Click for free text of Visioning as promised in Billions of Virgins in Ecstasy.

The Strange Experience has photos of a hundred friends happy to tell the public I gave them a blindfolded mystery massage. Only 5,000 copies were printed in 1980, and then the plates were destroyed.

What's the secret of True Love, and does it really conquer all?Billions of Virgins in Ecstasy: The Memoirs of Strange de Jim, Ash-Kar Press, 2207.

Strange
Recommendations
Here are books, CDs and DVDs I've found good and/or funny and/or spiritually helpful
Click for spiritual recommendations.

Click for good and/or funny recommendations.

Princess Diana hugged AIDS patients when no one else would touch them. For the incredible story of how she set her cap for Prince Charles and landed him, and then turned the Palace upside down, click here.

Here's a self-portrait of Peter Berlin in the early 1970s. Click to see photos of him at the premiere of That Man: Peter Berlin, 2/17/06, at the Castro Theatre.

iii Gay Heroes: Harvey Milk vs. Jose Sarria May 2006

iii Castro Books, Videos and Links

iii The Photographers of San Francisco's Castro

iii San Francisco Chronicle Strange Interview
(Click on photos to enlarge and see captions.)

iii John Kyrk's Virtual Tour of the Castro

iii Herb Caen's Strangest Items

iii One Strange Autobiography

iii Interview in Bay Area Reporter

iii Visioning: Believing Your Dreams Into Reality

iii A Trip to the de Young Museum, 12/6/05

iii A Walk Down Haight Street, 12/6/05

Climb Brokeback Mountain With Me, Dec. 2005

Visit the Museum of Modern Art 1/3/06

iii A Visit to the Hyatt Embarcadero, the Ferry Building and the Crocker Galleria, 1/11/06

A Vist to the Asian Art Museum, 8/1/06

iii A Visit to the Palace of the Legion of Honor, 2/6/07

You'll see the 1902 Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, the 1906 earthquake, the 1917 dedication of the Twin Peaks Tunnel, the 1922 opening of the Castro Theatre and the 1936 first version of Cliff’s Variety.

You'll see Castro Street Fairs, Gay Pride Parades, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Café Flore, Sylvester, Lily Tomlin, Divine and Ginger Rogers, then the AIDS epidemic and the NAMES Project’s AIDS Quilt.

You'll see Harvey Milk Plaza, Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, etc. Harvey Milk was a closeted gay Republican working on Wall St. Then he met Tom O’Horgan, director of Hair, became a hippie and moved to San Francisco, opening Castro Camera with his lover Scott Smith in 1973.

You'll watch Harvey Milk run for public office four times, until he becomes the first openly gay man to hold a major elected public office in the United States.

You'll meet Allan Baird, the Teamster official in charge of the Coors boycott, who became Harvey Milk’s close friend and ally, leading to Harvey’s becoming the first openly gay candidate to be endorsed by the Teamsters, firefighters and constructions workers unions.

On the cover (above) you see Harvey Milk marching from Castro Camera to City Hall to be sworn in as San Francisco Supervisor.

You'll see the spontaneous 40,000-person candlelight march from the Castro to City Hall when Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White. You'll see Harvey’s ashes and four of his lovers, the “Milk widows,” sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge to scatter his ashes at sea.

You'll see the riots and burning police cars a year later when Dan White was found guilty only of manslaughter.

You'll see how Most Holy Redeemer Church became, at 80% gay, the gayest Catholic church in the world, outside the Vatican.

And so much more ...

San Francisco Examiner, Bruce Bellingham, 11/25/03: Now that we’re in the Castro his curious self, Strange de Jim, dropped by The Examiner yesterday with a copy of his fascinating new book, San Francisco’s Castro, which is part of the well-known “Images of America” series, published by Arcadia. It’s a 128-page photo history with commentary about the neighborhood from the 1880s to the present. The website is: http://members.aol.com/strangecastro/. No “www.” It has to be noted that the book comes just before the anniversary of an event that changed San Francisco history. Harvey Milk, who is featured prominently in Strange’s book, and George Moscone were killed 25 years ago this Thanksgiving Day.