Before the Castro District in San Francisco California achieved fame as a gay playground, Polk Gulch, the area of Polk Street between California Street and Geary was known for its gay bars, raucous Halloween parades. elegant Shops, restaurants and sadly the young male prostitutes and drug addicts. The neighborhood was also home to a large number of elderly, minorities, and a small colony of former North Beach bohemians. This book is a photographic record of Polk Gulch as it was in 1980.