Customer Reviews

Fodor's Gay Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area, 1st Edition

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"Fodor's Gay Guide to the USA," written by Andrew Collins, was superb, comprehensive, and sensitively written, so when the company decided to break out some of the individual chapters into separate city guides with additional material, there was a lot of reason to be hopeful. But consider: at p. 50 of "Fodor's Gay Guide to San Francisco," Collins says that that many of SF's gay bars cater "mostly to old drunks." He then describes trying to meet someone at one of these bars: "You give him a quick tap on the shoulder, just to see if anybody is in there. And crash! He falls off his bar stool." Later Collins says that there's a bar stool in SF with your name on it, and "all you have to do is try not to fall off it."

It's incredible to encounter such blatant ageism. Having just spent time in SF, I can report that one of the city's most refreshing aspects is the diversity of both age and body type in its gay population, a diversity which I've never encountered in any other American city. It's possible to feel comfortable in the Castro and other neighborhoods without being a 22-year-old man with a gym body. Collins may not perceive that as being a strength.

Someone should sit Collins down, show him "The Times of Harvey Milk," and make him read "The Mayor of Castro Street." Then he may learn that those "old drunks" in some cases gave up their lives so that he'd have a bubble of tolerance to play in.

I found this book usefull for my stay in SF.

Overall Collins' travel guides are good for quick lookups of gay/gay friendly spots. And he gives HIS OWN OPINION on these places - whether describing them as "seedy", or "uneven", or "mostly old drunks", these are his opinions and his takes on the places he's reviewed. The reader from DC needs to get off the gay PC bandwagon and realize, as an author, Collins books are not objective, and he plainly states so in the introduction. Don't like his take on a place? Then hop on the barstool with your name on it, pal.