Iconic SF Gay Bar The Stud Finds a New Home – And You Won’t Believe Its Past

The iconic San Francisco gay bar The Stud has found a new home on the city’s famed Folsom Street, and the new location has some crazy history only found in San Francisco. The owners have planned a formal announcement of the move in front of its new location at 1123-1125 Folsom Street at 10 a.m. today. There is also a GiveButter page where fans can help support the bar while it works to open its new location. The news was announced in an exclusive story by the SF Chronicle.

“WE FOUND A NEW HOME!!!” the famed San Francisco gay bar announced on social media on Monday. “And now we need to raise a lot of money to make this dream a reality!”

The owners of The Stud declared their love for its colorful and important history within the City and LGBTQ+ community, and the new location is sure to add a uniquely San Francisco aspect to its latest chapter.

According to The Stud’s website (studsf.com), the new location was the site of a collectively-owned vegetarian restaurant in the 1970s, but the collective turned out to be a front for none other than the infamous Symbionese Liberation Front responsible for an assassination attempt on then-President Gerald Ford, a Los Angeles shootout aired live on television, and kidnapping newspaper trust fund baby Patty Hearst and brainwashing her into a gun-toting, bank-robbing revolutionary terrorist.

“When the now famous Julie’s Supper Club took over the space in the 80’s, they found cult graffiti on the walls of the upstairs office and a weird space in the basement that everyone has told us is one of the places where Patty Hearst was held (we love you Patty...you’re an ally, girl),” the website reveals.

The Stud is trying to crowdraise $500,000 to stay afloat and help defray moving expenses. Patrons and fans of The Stud can contribute via a GiveButter page (givebutter.com/Stud2024).