Harvey Milk Plaza sits at the intersection of Market, Castro, and Seventeenth Streets, marked by a massive rainbow flag flying high above the Castro Muni station entrance. Before this site bore his name, Harvey Milk and other activists…
Castro History Walk
Trace the neighborhood's evolution from the native Yelamu people to local LGBTQ milestones on this sidewalk plaque walking tour.
Listen to this tour in the Mira app →Walk it in street view
1. Harvey Milk Plaza
2. Pink Triangle Memorial
Fifteen granite pylons arranged in a triangular shape rise from this site, marking the first permanent memorial in the United States dedicated to LGBTQ people persecuted during the Holocaust. You can identify the space by these angled…
3. Twin Peaks Tavern
Twin Peaks Tavern is marked by its expansive, full-length plate glass windows that open the interior to the intersection of Castro and Market Streets. Housed in a building first constructed in eighteen eighty-three with a nineteen…
4. Jane Warner Plaza
Jane Warner Plaza sits at the busy convergence of Castro, Market, and Seventeenth Streets. It is a paved pedestrian space defined by colorful movable café chairs, planters filled with palms and succulents, and the constant, rhythmic…
5. The Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is easily recognized by its towering, ornate blade sign that rises high above the sidewalk, glowing with neon lights that have defined this corner for nearly a century. Built in nineteen twenty-two, this movie palace was…
6. Rainbow Honor Walk
The Rainbow Honor Walk is a series of bronze plaques set directly into the sidewalks of the Castro district. Each square, three-foot by three-foot marker features a portrait, a short biography, and an etching of a signature to honor a…
7. GLBT Historical Society Museum
The GLBT Historical Society Museum occupies a compact storefront at four thousand one hundred twenty-seven Eighteenth Street. This sixteen hundred square foot space, which opened in January two thousand eleven, functions as the first…
8. Castro Camera
Castro Camera at five seventy-five Castro Street began in nineteen seventy-two when Harvey Milk and his partner, Scott Smith, invested their final one thousand dollars to open a shop. While the business sold cameras and film, it functioned…
9. Rainbow Honor Walk
The sidewalks here are embedded with bronze plaques, each honoring a deceased LGBTQ individual who made a significant contribution in their field. These squares feature a rendering of the honoree, a short biography, and an etching of their…