The Mayor of Castro Street

Harvey Milk and Scott Smith opened their camera store at 575 Castro Street in 1973. It quickly developed into the neighborhood's "city hall" - the place where people always seemed to gather to discuss the latest news, problems, and concerns. Its from windows turned into a community bulletin board, covered with announcements of upcoming civil rights demonstrations, protest, meetings, and events. Harvey became the "Mayor of Castro Street."

It was from his apartment above the shop that Harvey first ran for public office in 1974; he continued to live there even after he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He won his seat by earning the support gays, lesbians, teamsters, firefighters, construction unions, and everyday working people. He successfully led the campaign to defeat a state-wide ballot initiative of ban GLBT people from teaching in California. Just three-weeks after that victory, he and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated at City Hall. The camera shop closed shortly after Harvey's death in 1978.
Harvey Milk was more than simply a successful politician; he was the first openly gay man in the nation elected to a major public office. Harvey personified a new reality that many people now had to recognize: that a GLBT person living an honest and open life could succeed.

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Harvey Milk
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