IMAGES FROM THE CINCH

The last Gay bar on Polk Street

Dave has worked as a bartender on Polk Street for 30 years

Ready for business.
The Cinch is sometimes slow in the afternoon.
Just partying.
The girls.
Stepping back from the crowd.
A 49’ers fan watching the game on a Sunday afternoon.
Two more disappointed with the quarterback.
A sideboard at the Cinch.
Victory!
Mya flirts with the camera.
Jordan is a junior bartender who works weekend afternoons.
Three friends who volunteered to be photographed.
Three friends having fun near a pool table
Fabuloso plays Santa.
One of the many dogs at the Cinch.
Recovering after he was attacked the morning following Election Day.He doesn’t know why, only that his assailant shouted “Now you all will get what’s coming to you!” He’s from Texas and looks a bit like a redneck, so I asked if he was wearing a red hat when he got hit in the head with a phone. He said “No, but I thought of that!”
Nick aims at the corner pocket.
Saturday night at the Cinch’s pool hall.
Near closing time.

Reportedly the second-oldest gay bar in San Francisco (established in 1974), Cinch dates back to the days when Polk Street was the epicenter of the LGBTQ community. The building’s old-timey exterior is equally vintage, a remnant from the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.

There were some challenges with this project — quite a few of the bar’s patrons definitely did NOT want to be photographed. On the whole though, the Cinch’s customers and employees were friendly and welcoming.

I wanted to do a project reflecting Polk Street’s special history, so limiting the project to the Cinch was probably a better idea than shooting Polk Street as a whole as I first wanted to do.

If I were to do this project over again (or continue it in the future), I would focus a bit more on all the paraphernalia at the Cinch, of which there is a lot, including a Star Wars themed back room. Still, the people remain the most interesting thing about the Cinch. In that vein, I would also have interviewed some of the subjects more thoroughly in order to create more interesting stories about them. I also debated whether to use any of the material on the Cinch I discovered at the Gay and Lesbian Museum.

Special thanks to fellow student and professional photographer David Schmitz for his help on this project!