The Eagle, Alas
“So our little band of queer biker freaks pounced on changing the SF Eagle into something weirder. It was sacrilege, people said. We opened the charity beer busts up to not just our local leather clubs but to causes and clubs from across the city and even the state. We dared to re-name that world famous bar the Eagle Tavern. There was shock, outrage. People were moving to Palm Springs, they said, because of what we had “done to the Eagle!” But we kept on going. We uncovered the windows, put in a wooden floor, replaced the roof, built a new bar, re-designed and re-built the stage, planted new trees, hand-carved and hand-welded new signs, and loads of industrial artwork. We hung bike parts and rock and sex posters everywhere. Everything we did was called dire desecration (and bad decoration). But it worked. Musician Doug Hilsinger brought in local and world-famous rock bands who found the idea of playing in an S&M biker bar thrilling and fitting. Fourteen years later, the Eagle Tavern was called a sacred icon of the queer and underground community.
Over those 14 years the rent soared higher and higher and higher. As we replaced the plumbing several times over. As we had the sewers dug up and replaced. As we twice replaced the patio fence (once in a howling windstorm). As the furnaces died, they were repaired and replaced by us. While the rats chewed through the paper-thin walls, we kept on patching and painting. As we kept on rocking. Because we believed in our community and in sexual freedom in the potential genius of music.”
Homo: Solution—- Greedy landlords should be given a show trial (boy, could we put on a show trial) and then fed to those hungry rats in the Eagle walls. Afterward we dance on their grave at a renewed beer blast. Everybody’s happy!
But sadly and seriously, San Francisco has to be abandoned to the perversions of the bourgeoisie.
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