Cinch

The Cinch Saloon is the second oldest surviving gay bar in the city.   It started out as The Early Bird, a bar and restaurant.  At some point the restaurant split off and the bar was renamed The Cinch Saloon. The bar got that name because it  has the last remaining western facade from the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.  A large portion of Polk Street was transformed into a western town for the duration of the fair, and merchants were encouraged to dress the part.  (Folks were dressing up on Polk Street long before the gay influx!) This fair is also the reason this stretch of Polk Street became known as Polk Gulch.

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