Harvey Milk’s San Francisco

Before our trip to San Francisco, we watched Milk, “a 2008 American biographical film on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.” Of course I was familiar with San Francisco as a centerpoint of the gay rights movement, and I’d even learned about Harvey Milk before, when reading about the Twinkie defense. But there’s nothing like a well-crafted biopic to entertain and educate.

Harvey Milk set up a camera shop on Castro Street in the early 70’s, and the filmmakers recreated the interior exactly. 575 Castro Street still exists, now as a men’s clothing shop known as “Citizen” — though the interior wall features a mural of Milk with one of his famous quotes.

The film was also valuable in that it provided excellent context for a lot of the assorted city buildings. For example, we frequently went past the opera house while riding the bus; were it not for the film, I wouldn’t have realized the building across from that was the City Hall, where Milk was assassinated.