Exploring City Hall

San Francisco, CA - kc - Sunday, June 26th, 2005 : goo

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On my second day in San Franciso, my friend C. took me to City Hall, which is a grand, ornate, domed bulding. It's Pride Weekend, and the rainbow flag blows festively over the front steps.

C. used to live in New York, where City Hall is surrounded by gates and barricades. What she loves about San Francisco's City Hall is that it is so open and accessible to the public. She thinks this is particularly remarkable given that public officials were actually murdered in this building in 1978. (A reproduction of the newspaper of that time is on display in the basement.)

We did walk through metal detectors as we entered the building. The guard said we could go wherever we liked, but to try to be respectful of the ceremony that was taking place. As it turned out, the mayor was swearing in a new city administator. The mayor, Gavin Newsom, is standing by the flag.

Here he is again, just after the ceremony (he's the tall, blurry fellow).

Newsom is the mayor who allowed gay marriages in San Francisco last year. C. says it was an amazing time, with weddings taking place in every nook and cranny of City Hall. And I think the other day we actually did glimpse a nuptial moment--see the heterosexual couple at the far end of the corridor.

Afterward, we went downstairs to look at a small exhibit of photographs of SF gay life over time, and in the days of the wedding extravaganza. This is a photo of a photo of dykes on bikes--of which there are huge numbers, joyously revving their engines, in San Francisco.

And this is a photo of a photo of a recently marrried couple in 2004.

On the way out, we passed a bike room! C. says some of the members of the Board of Supervisors--she calls them "the Supes"--ride their bikes to work, then sit through civic meetings with their pants legs still rolled up.

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