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Welcome!
For decades the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco has featured some of the best shopping, dining and entertainment options in the city, especially for LGBT tourists and locals alike. In addition to our best weather of the year, October is a great time to visit the Castro for sightseeing, people watching, community events and retail therapy. Below is an insider's guide from a 20-year resident of the Castro who knows the best deals and parties of the season. Welcome to the Castro!
Bars
Cafe du Nord
Harvey's
Metro (in its new location, formerly Expansion)
Lucky 13
Pilsner Inn
Transfer
Men's Room
Restaurants
After any night of partying, you'll find three great choices for pizza in the Castro. Marcello's Pizza (420 Castro) is queer owned and a perennial donor to charity causes. They are my personal favorite but good eats can also be found at Escape From New York Pizza (508 Castro) and Nizario’s Pizza (4077 18th) which is open until 3am. Sparky’s Diner (242 Church) is open 24 hours with a wide array of breakfast and dinner items at the ready. The eclectic crowd matches the worker bees and everyone looks festive in neon lights. Other personal favorites in the hood that will be open on Oct. 31 include Ararat Mediterranean Tapas & Bar (4072 18th) and Ma Tante Sumi (4243 18th) serving up exquisite Asian/French fusion food. The fairly new Woodhouse Fish Company (2073 Market/Church) serves up authentic East Coast-style seafood with a HOT staff! $1 Oysters on Tuesdays and Crab specials on Wednesdays are super deals. Many other terrific restaurants will be open on Halloween night; send us your hours to be listed!
Historical
Rainbow Pride Flag at Harvey Milk Plaza (Market/Castro) - great photo op, and historical pics and info on Harvey Milk at lower level of MUNI transportation station.
Pink Triangle Park (Market/Castro/17th) - beautiful memorial in tribute to queers persecuted during the Holocaust.
Supervisor Harvey Milk's former Camera store –now a retail store named Given (575 Castro) with wonderful design items, check out a new mural and plaque dedicated to this LGBT civil rights pioneer who ran his campaign from this site.
Castro Theatre – built in 1922 for $300,000, this Timothy Pfluger designed movie house features a Mighty Wurlitzer organ that rises from the floor to play classics prior to each show. Inside and out, this is an architectural and cultural must see.
Retail
For the absolute best shopping check out Under One Roof (549 Castro) where over $11 million of merchandise has been sold with 100% of profits to Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations. Tasteful house wares, gourmet items, campy novelties abound; insider tip is the sale items in the side alley! Cliff’s Variety (479 Castro) has been serving the Castro for 65 years with hardware and unique items. They pioneered the children’s Halloween parade decades ago and annually have the BEST Halloween window displays in the City! Check out their huge assortment of costumes, fabrics, and Halloween decorations. We’re hoping the following stores keep normal hours on Halloween as they offer unique items found rarely in the suburbs: Does Your Mother Know (4141 18th), Chaps (4057 18th), Smoke Plus (4059 18th), Rock Hard (518 Castro), In-jean-ious (432 Castro), Best in Show (545 Castro). No matter the hours kept, check out Magnet (4122 18th) for gay men’s health needs from safe sex info to local resources to keep your dip stick and assets in good working order … and please play SAFE while visiting! The Human Rights Campaign Store and Action Center (600 Castro) is worth a stop with activist shirts, stickers and more. More than 25 shops cater to hair, nails, tanning, exercise, yoga and beauty in the Castro featuring some of the most talented hair burners in town. Primp and pamper and support our local merchants (it’s expensive to live here, Mary!)
For the absolute best shopping check out Under One Roof (549 Castro) where over $11 million of merchandise has been sold with 100% of profits to Bay Area HIV/AIDS organizations. Tasteful house wares, gourmet items, campy novelties abound; insider tip is the sale items in the side alley! Cliff’s Variety (479 Castro) has been serving the Castro for 65 years with hardware and unique items. They pioneered the children’s Halloween parade decades ago and annually have the BEST Halloween window displays in the City! Check out their huge assortment of costumes, fabrics, and Halloween decorations. We’re hoping the following stores keep normal hours on Halloween as they offer unique items found rarely in the suburbs: Does Your Mother Know (4141 18th), Chaps (4057 18th), Smoke Plus (4059 18th), Rock Hard (518 Castro), In-jean-ious (432 Castro), Best in Show (545 Castro). No matter the hours kept, check out Magnet (4122 18th) for gay men’s health needs from safe sex info to local resources to keep your dip stick and assets in good working order … and please play SAFE while visiting! The Human Rights Campaign Store and Action Center (600 Castro) is worth a stop with activist shirts, stickers and more. More than 25 shops cater to hair, nails, tanning, exercise, yoga and beauty in the Castro featuring some of the most talented hair burners in town. Primp and pamper and support our local merchants (it’s expensive to live here, Mary!)
NOTE:
Citizens for Halloween does not condone the city’s strategy to ask Castro businesses to close on Oct. 31 and feels this will create more problems than it solves. For decades, Castro merchants have exercised their right to alter hours on this holiday and for many employees and businesses, it is one of their highest income days of the year. Their customers and employees should not be punished for the City’s lack of managing this public event properly or creating a viable alternative. Likewise, we recognize the positive economic impact for small and large businesses in the Bay Area surrounding San Francisco’s tradition of a unique Halloween celebration. It seems antithetical to use City tax dollars to encourage people to NOT come and spend their dollars in San Francisco.
We ask Mayor Gavin Newsom to examine the best practices for municipal management of large, outdoor events such as New York City’s 33-year-old Halloween Village Parade which generates an estimated 60 million dollars in revenue or West Hollywood's proactive management of their Halloween festivities which draw an estimated 500,000 revelers to the heart of their commercial/residential mixed-use gay neighborhood.
Undergirding the world’s appreciation of Halloween in the Castro is the creativity and civil rights history of San Francisco’s LGBT community. Decades of oppression and prejudice kept myriad LGBT and questioning people from feeling free to express themselves but for this one night of the year. We have come a long way but for many, this outlet still serves that purpose. The City’s intention to “cancel Halloween” and its failed plan for a waterfront celebration had no consideration for this history.
That said, we are encouraging people to COME OUT, PLAY SAFE, WEAR COSTUMES, SPEND LOCALLY, and RESPECT OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.