Tin Angel (San Francisco)

It was owned and managed by self-taught painter Peggy Tolk–Watkins, who worked in partnership with bordello owner and former Sausalito mayor, Sally Stanford.{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Nan Alamilla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xZ4lDQAAQBAJ |title=Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 |date=2003-05-23 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20415-7 |pages=82–83, 132–133 |language=en |access-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055558/https://books.google.com/books?id=xZ4lDQAAQBAJ |archive-date=2023-04-16 |url-status=live}} Tolk–Watkins had previously opened a similar venue also named Tin Angel at 588 Bridgeway Boulevard in Sausalito, California from 1948 to July 1951.{{Cite web |date=December 31, 1960 |title=Self-Taught Painter Shows at De Young |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-independent-journal-self-taught-pa/122944761/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Daily Independent Journal |language=en-US |via=Newspapers.com |issn=0891-5164 |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055614/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-independent-journal-self-taught-pa/122944761/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=July 6, 1951 |title=Tin Angel Sold; Glad Hand To Take Its Place |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-independent-journal-tin-angel-sold/122945683/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Daily Independent Journal |language=en-US |via=Newspapers.com |issn=0891-5164 |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055546/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-independent-journal-tin-angel-sold/122945683/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Stephen R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2n1yDwAAQBAJ |title=The Rebel Café: Sex, Race, and Politics in Cold War America's Nightclub Underground |date=2018-11-01 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-2633-4 |pages=53 |language=en |access-date=2023-04-16 |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055559/https://books.google.com/books?id=2n1yDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Flanagan |first=Michael |date=July 23, 2017 |title=Saucy Sausalito |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?218567 |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Bay Area Reporter |language=en-us |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055631/https://www.ebar.com/story.php?218567 |url-status=live }} Tolk–Watkins was referred to as "queen of the dykes",{{Cite web |date=2021-02-19 |title=A Brief Literary History of Gay and Lesbian Bars |url=https://lithub.com/a-brief-literary-history-of-gay-and-lesbian-bars/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206013301/https://lithub.com/a-brief-literary-history-of-gay-and-lesbian-bars/ |url-status=live }} and Tin Angel was considered a lesbian nightclub.{{Cite journal |last=Isenberg |first=Alison |date=2010 |title="Culture-A-Go-Go": The Ghirardelli Square Sculpture Controversy and the Liberation of Civic Design in the 1960s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790363 |journal=Journal of Social History |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=379–412 |issn=0022-4529 |access-date=2023-04-16 |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055615/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25790363 |url-status=live }}

Folk singer Odetta got her start performing at the Tin Angel in San Francisco.{{Cite web |date=October 14, 1956 |title=Should Folk Singers Be Entertainers First? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-should-folk-s/122945371/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=The San Francisco Examiner |language=en-US |via=Newspapers.com |issn=2574-593X |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055552/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-should-folk-s/122945371/ |url-status=live }} A short while later Odetta joined the duo of Odetta and Larry and they performed at the Tin Angel for about 8 months. The Odetta and Larry duo released a self-titled album on Fantasy Records, recorded in 1953 and 1954 at the Tin Angel.{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Ronald D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2pzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |title=Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s |last2=Donaldson |first2=Rachel Clare |date=2014-09-15 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-09642-6 |pages=56 |language=en |access-date=2023-04-16 |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055551/https://books.google.com/books?id=s2pzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 |url-status=live }} Other performers at Tin Angel included Bob Scobey, Turk Murphy, Kid Ory, Muggsy Spanier, George Lewis, Bob Mielke, Claire Austin, and Lizzie Miles with Wally Rose.{{Cite web |date=2018-08-09 |title=Tin Angel - On the Levee |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/tin-angel-on-the-levee |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection - Spotlight at Stanford |publisher=Stanford University |language=en |archive-date=2021-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128235108/https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/tin-angel-on-the-levee |url-status=live }}

The album cover for Turk Murphy's When The Saints Go Marching In (1954) features an image of the interior of the club.

In total, a collection of San Francisco LGBT venues opened and flourished in the early 1950s, including the Tin Angel, Paper Doll Club, The Beige Room, Tommy's Place/12 Adler Place, Miss Smith’s Tea Room, Dolan's, and Gordon's. In 1954, Tolk–Watkins opened another venue in San Francisco named, The Fallen Angel at 1144 Pine Street, the building was formerly the Sally Stanford bordello.{{cite web |last1=Boyd |first1=Dick |date=2010 |title=Before the Castro: North Beach, a Gay Mecca |url=https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Before_the_Castro:_North_Beach,_a_Gay_Mecca |access-date=April 15, 2023 |website=FoundSF |archive-date=October 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018190310/https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Before_the_Castro:_North_Beach,_a_Gay_Mecca |url-status=live }} In June 1958, Tolk–Watkins sold the Tin Angel club to Kid Ory, and it was renamed On-The-Levee.{{Cite web |date=July 8, 1973 |title=Days of Peggy and Helen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-days-of-peggy/122948865/ |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=The San Francisco Examiner |language=en-US |via=Newspapers.com |archive-date=2023-04-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416055548/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-days-of-peggy/122948865/ |url-status=live }} The bar closed in July 1961, and was demolished in 1962 because of the creation of the Embarcadero Freeway.

It was featured in the Kim Anno art exhibition "Lost and Found: A Museum of Lesbian Memory, Part 1" (2000) shown at "The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Historical Society of Northern California," and at the San Francisco Public Library.{{Cite web |last=Ford |first=Dave |date=2000-11-10 |title=Berkeley Artist Helps Create 'Museum of Lesbian Memory' / 2-site exhibition uses art, artifacts to illuminate past |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Berkeley-Artist-Helps-Create-Museum-of-Lesbian-2729137.php |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en-US |issn=1932-8672}}

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Category:1953 establishments in California

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Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1962

Category:Defunct lesbian bars in San Francisco

Category:Folk music venues in the United States

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in San Francisco

Category:Jazz clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area