Though the bar closed in 1993, the legacy of its spirit is embodied in its slogan: “A friendly place, with a funky bass, for every race. The SF Eagle looks forward to welcoming returning patrons and guests at the grand re-opening on June 15th, 2021, after more than a year on a pandemic-induced hiatus. Located at 1884 Market Street, the bar was a space of celebration and resistance - hosting fundraisers for activist groups, honoring black holidays and heroes, and participating in the historic Market Street vigils for those lost to AIDS. South of Market LGBTQ+ leather bar recognized as a local landmark for its 40+ year role as a hub for the local leather, BDSM and kink communities of San Francisco. In 1990, Rodney Barnette opened the New Eagle Creek Saloon to serve a multiracial gay community marginalized by the racist profiling practices of San Francisco’s queer bar scene at that time. This work is honorific but also generative with intimacy rather than reverence, my restaging of the New Eagle Creek Saloon offers space for connection and new energies, to dance and dream, to call the names of those lost and to see one another as we are in the glow of our own small moments of freedom. An iconic gathering spot for over 35 years, this gay bar is primarily known as a leather and bear place.
Glowing somewhere between a monument and an altar, the glittering bar structure is not only a place but is at once an invocation and an invitation. The New Eagle Creek Saloon is an installation that reimagines my father’s bar - the first black-owned gay bar in San Francisco.
