SEPTEMBER, 12 12:30 PST

Jazmin Loranne Chapman 

When a new lesbian venue opened on Valencia Street in 2023, V. Vasquez got straight behind the bar. They’ve been living on the iconic street for almost two decades, and is a mainstay of one of the few queer venues left on the strip. 

The lesbian experience can, at times, be one of isolation; therefore, having third spaces where women could build community was crucial. In the 1970s, Valencia Street supported the lesbian community economically, particularly during a period when women were increasingly establishing their own businesses and advancing women’s rights. This economic independence was significant because it gave women greater autonomy, including the ability to leave marriages to men and enter male-dominated fields with less financial dependence.

One important figure who helped create women- and lesbian-owned third spaces was Gloria Pell, who was also known simply as Pell. Pell worked at Old Wives’ Tales, a feminist and lesbian-owned bookstore that also served as a community space where literature from independent presses was distributed. Additionally, she opened WomanCrafts West, a boutique that featured work by hundreds of female artisans. She helped create a foundation that allowed other lesbians to flourish. In addition, Pell supported women’s financial independence by organizing local businesses and helping provide access to funding.

These third spaces also allowed counterculture to develop. They created environments where lesbians could gain visibility, build community, and openly discuss women’s liberation. In this way, Valencia Street was not only an economic center for women and lesbians but also an important space for social connection, political discussion, and empowerment.

Part of the rise and fall of businesses in the Mission District during the mid-1990s was tied to gentrification and rising rents, which can be attributed to tech companies moving into the Bay Area. Women’s spaces such as Old Wives’ Tales struggled to remain open as the neighborhood became more expensive. Today, Valencia Street shows a clear contrast between its history as a bustling center of lesbian-owned businesses and community and its current landscape of “For Lease” and “For Rent” signs, boarded-up storefronts, and vacant businesses. Many lesbian businesses and community members have since moved to Oakland in search of more affordable spaces.Mother, a lesbian-owned bar by Malia Spanyol, continues to provide an accessible space for the lesbian community. V. Vasquez, the bartender, has seen the street change over time.

Vasquez explained, “I think that the cost of living has just gotten a lot higher. And a lot of folks, I want to say in the LGBTQ community, it’s already hard to find corporate jobs just because of the discrimination.” This highlights how rising costs can disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ communities and make it harder for lesbian-owned businesses and their patrons to remain in the neighborhood. From 2007 to 2026, rent for a one-bedroom apartment has increased by approximately 150% to 180%. In 2007, a one-bedroom apartment that cost between $1,400 and $1,700 now costs approximately $3,900 to $4,200. Source: City and County of San Francisco, DataSF, “Housing Production – 2005-present.” These rising housing costs place additional financial pressure on LGBTQ+ residents, creatives, and small-business owners, contributing to the displacement of the community from the neighborhood.

V. Vasquez added: “A lot of the creatives, they’re all in Oakland now. There are a lot of events, once a month, that are held together, that are not just drinking or around that party aspect.”

For some members of the community, Oakland has become an alternative to San Francisco’s increasingly expensive landscape. Vasquez described the difference between the two cities: “Oakland is a different vibe. It’s like, you’re really caring for each other. Where I feel the culture that’s been created now here in San Francisco is very dog-eat-dog.”

 In contrast, Oakland is full of vibrant murals, graffiti, lesbian bars, art galleries, and third spaces that support and expand the community. I spoke with Joyce Gordon, who runs her own foundation and has owned her gallery in Oakland for 24 years. Gordon offers another perspective on how changes in the Bay Area have affected communities of color, small businesses, and the spaces where communities gather. She stated, “The young people that I come into, the creatives, the parties, they’re really connected and supportive of each other.”

After more than two decades in business, Gordon has watched Oakland change around her. She sees many queer-owned businesses thriving, while many Black-owned businesses disappear. She feels each closure as a loss of community because local businesses give people places to gather and reasons to return to a neighborhood. 

“We have to support each other,” Gordon said, emphasizing the importance of supporting local businesses and maintaining connections within the community. She also pointed to a broader problem facing downtown Oakland: “There’s no stores. You can’t buy a pair of socks downtown.” For Gordon, the loss of businesses is not simply an economic issue; it changes the everyday experience of a neighborhood.

Gordon also connected community stability to property ownership. When she advised another business owner to purchase property before opening another store. “It doesn’t matter where it is, it doesn’t matter the size, but you got to buy the property,” she said. Gordon brings up an important point: owning a business may not be enough when rising rents can force businesses to close or relocate. Property ownership can provide marginalized people with greater economic security and control over the physical spaces where they live, work, and build community. Gordon did not have much to say about San Francisco, on the other side of the Bay, as she is so rooted in Oakland’s distinct culture. 

But her perspective adds another dimension to the history of Valencia Street. As businesses and residents are pushed out of San Francisco, Oakland can become a place where communities rebuild, but Gordon’s experience also raises an important question: how long can that affordability last?

“It doesn’t matter where it is, it doesn’t matter the size, but you got to buy the property,” Joyce Gordon said. Gordon brings up an important point: owning a business may not be enough to maintain economic independence when rents continue to rise. The deeper source of wealth and stability can be property ownership. Property can give marginalized communities greater control over the physical spaces where they live, work, and build community. Without that control, businesses and community spaces remain vulnerable to rising rents and displacement.

The history of Valencia Street consequently demonstrates both the power and fragility of lesbian economic independence. Women-owned and lesbian-owned businesses created spaces where marginalized people could work, socialize, organize, and build financial autonomy. But those achievements were dependent on affordable space. As rents increased and gentrification transformed the Mission District, the economic conditions that allowed these communities to flourish began to disappear. The struggle visible on Valencia Street today is therefore connected directly to the movement’s earlier history: the fight is no longer only for the right to create lesbian spaces, but for the economic ability to keep those spaces in the neighborhoods where they were built.