Dan's fingers dug deeply in the brown padded dash of the Cutlass as the speedometer inched up on sixty five miles an hour. It wasn't the speed the car was going, but the road they were on which had triggered his response. Market Street starts at the top of Twin Peaks and quickly winds downhill exactly two miles to Castro Street. The lanes are narrow with six sharp curves built around the steep hills that make up Twin Peaks. To compound the problem was parked cars protrude into the right-hand lane given any more opportunity for disaster. The road was barely navigable at thirty five miles an hour, let alone the death defining sixty five Rachelle was going, and Dan knew they were both going to die. It was two in the morning on a deadly quiet Sunday, and there was not a soul on the street as Rachelle flew down the darkened road. The engine of the 72 Cutlass let loose as if on an unsuspecting race track. Brightly colored apartments whizzed pass the duo in a blur of terror and gut wrenching near misses.
"Fuck Rachelle! Slow the fuck down!" screamed Dan at the top of his lungs. But Rachelle didn't listen and kept her foot glued to gas pedal. He wanted a ride, and she was going to give him one. Rachelle never looked down at her speed, never looked at Dan, and if truth be told, didn't give a damn if they died on this joy ride.
This is a moving and powerful study of human sexuality, gender identity and a passion for living. Unlike Virginia Woolf's Orlando, 56 Sanchez is a raw, unadulterated view of sex, drugs and back alley violence that so many people encountered living in San Francisco during the 1980s. It is not always a pleasant journey. Not all roads lead to Disneyland or a warm sandy beach. Rachelle stumbles often, and at the worse possible times. Yet through it all, we get to know a person worthy of the title "Explorer"
This is a story you can sink your teeth into. It will amuse and amaze you to read what it was like living in the world's largest gay Mecca at the height of its glory days.
We follow Richard over a fifteen year period as he explores his sexuality and gender identity while living in San Francisco's Castro district during the 1980s. At that time, The Castro was a candy store of human sexuality and while living there, Richard comes to understand that he must try living as a woman in order to express the person he truly is. Not long after he starts living as a woman, he joins San Francisco Patrol Special Police working as a woman police officer. It is through this typically male job, that Richard, now Rachelle must explore the woman she thinks she is. Through all of her changes she finds discrimination and prejudice at every corner, and with every relationship. Yet, year after year she perseveres until she, her family and friends and ultimately the world around her, are able to come to terms with her choice of lifestyle.
This is as much a story about San Francisco, as it is Rachelle Phillips. The City plays as important part in her life as any human lover does. Through Rachelle, we learn the seldom told story of San Francisco's murderous history and its dirty little secrets. You can’t tell Rachelle's story without first telling San Francisco's. Journeys can take many forms. They do not necessarily have to involve planes, ships or camels. Richard Phillips journey to find himself begins with the breakup of his marriage and being seduced by his male therapist. Like most people on a journey, Richard does his best to see the sights and taste all the local cuisine, yet he is willing to explore back alleys and takes unintentionally risks to find what he is looking for...himself.
