How about Ryans?
I grew up at 19th & Douglass. When we moved there it was a working class Irish Catholic neighborhood. Left about 30 years ago.

I just love to visit as often as possible

And I worked at that wine store for a while. I'm contracted for work in Scarymento for now, but I'll be going into the city next week, much of the Castro has changed around except for a few things, but I believe the wine store is still there.

When the Pope came to S.F. Betsy picked the wines to serve. Every Friday night she would have wine tasting. She poured generously. My then S.O., now my wife of about 30 years, would come up from Aptos for the weekend and we would start the weekend at the wine tasting, getting half in the bag before stumbling down to Ryan's for dinner.

Betsy had a real nose for great wine cheap. She introduced us to Trefethan when it was $3.00 a bottle. Now it's hard to find for less than $60.00. Germain Robin when it was about $12.00. Now closer to $100.00. Some unforgettable moments of our history were spent in that shop. Please let me know if it's still there and if you would, some contact info. I would love to call and let them know the memories that were created there. We are too often not aware of the influence we have on others as we pass through life. I'd like to let them know.

That's a Cungeness crab, giant chynks of soft shelled, lightly breaded goodness.

And don't forget HRC.org is running the One America campaign, focussing on Al, MS, and GA

I live in southwest Virginia, about half an hour from Jerry Falwell's "university." Both culturally and geographically I'm about as far from The Castro as it's possible to get. Visited, loved it...but never had a chance to live there.

Long ago a friend told me that San Francisco is where good gay people go when they die. I'm really really trying to be good.

There are some nice (and way cheaper!) west coast alternatives, esp. Seattle... that actually now has a bigger gay population than S.F. and a lot going for it... If you put up with bay area fog and rain... Seattle's no biggie.

Some girl tried to pick me up at the DNA Lounge, lol. None of the guys did, double lol. I must be the only gay man who travels to San Francisco and gets hit on by the opposite sex, and not the same. This was the early 90's when there was zero treatment for AIDS and lots of locals were sick, and the spectre of AIDS hung over the whole mood - at least for me.

Anyway, lots of nice memories in my short time there (shopping at Nordstrom's, Badlands, Baghdad Cafe, walking over the Golden Gate Bridge) but maybe my favorite is (weirdly) one foggy and chilly morning leaving my Union Square hotel and passing some kind of waffle/coffe place across from I. Magnin - I stopped in, and the waitresses were these middle-aged Danish ladies in dirndl things, barking out in sing-song tones with accents ("Hello!" "Can I help you?" - not sure how to type a sound, but it was kind of how Eva Gabor would sound).

I always think to myself, I'd like to move out there but it's so expensive - then on the other hand, I think to myself, it's expensive, but you're a gay man; if you need help, how hard would it be to find help from other gay people in acclimating myself to life there? So anyway...