Castro Camera - Harvey Milk's Storefront

Castro Camera - Harvey Milk's Storefront

Photo: Billiamwhatcott, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on San Francisco, District by District, a free self-guided tour.

The storefront at 575 Castro Street was Castro Camera, the shop Harvey Milk opened in the early 1970s after moving to San Francisco from New York. Milk lived upstairs, and the store soon became more than a business: it was a meeting place, a message board for new arrivals and the headquarters for his campaigns. After several losses, he won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 1977.

Milk built coalitions with labor unions, seniors and small business owners as well as gay voters, and in office he sponsored a city law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. He served less than a year before his assassination.

Look for the plaque set into the sidewalk in front. Each year on November 27, a candlelight march starting near here remembers Milk and Moscone.

More on Wikipedia: Castro Camera · Harvey Milk

Stops on this tour

  1. Ferry Building and the Embarcadero - Where the City Met the World
  2. Financial District and Jackson Square - Gold Rush on the Old Shoreline
  3. Chinatown - The Neighborhood That Refused to Move
  4. North Beach and Telegraph Hill - Little Italy and the Beats
  5. Fisherman's Wharf - Italian Boats and Old Ships
  6. Nob Hill and Russian Hill - Cable Cars, Mansions and the Great Fire
  7. The Presidio - Two Centuries Guarding the Golden Gate
  8. Japantown and the Fillmore - Two Communities, One Neighborhood
  9. Haight-Ashbury - From Victorian Suburb to Summer of Love
  10. Golden Gate Park - Sand Dunes Turned Into a Park
  11. The Castro - A Neighborhood That Became a Movement
  12. The Mission - Where San Francisco Began
  13. Civic Center - Domes, Charters and Protest
  14. South of Market - From Rincon Hill to the Tech Boom