Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: Fairoaks Project collection
Dates: circa 1978
Collection Number: 2018-84
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 1 oversized folder
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: The Fairoaks Project collection includes 10 photographic prints, restored and enlarged by project curator Gary Freeman, from
the Fairoaks Polaroids by Frank Melleno (1942-2010). Print titles include: 10, Aida, Brazilian, de Sade, DJ, Hanuman, Locker
Room, Pool, Shower, and Stairwell. Melleno was the night manager of the Fairoaks Hotel in San Francisco in 1978 and documented
the life at the hotel / bathhouse. Melleno was a trained photographer of the Vietnam War era and used these skills in capturing
the images.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright retained by donor, Gary Freeman.
[Identification of item]. Fairoaks Project collection. Collection Number: 2018-84. GLBT Historical Society
Gift of Gary R. Freeman, November 2018.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Fairoaks Project collection includes 10 photographic prints, restored and enlarged by project curator Gary Freeman, from
the Fairoaks Polaroids by Frank Melleno (1942-2010). Print titles include: 10, Aida, Brazilian, de Sade, DJ, Hanuman, Locker
Room, Pool, Shower, and Stairwell. Melleno was the night manager of the Fairoaks Hotel (also known as Fairoaks Baths) in San
Francisco in 1978 and documented the life at the hotel / bathhouse. Melleno was a trained photographer of the Vietnam War
era and used these skills in capturing the images. From the introduction, written by Mark Thompson, to the Fairoaks Project
book edited by Gary Freeman: “The Fairoaks Project is a bold and unapologetic celebration of gay male sexual culture featuring
Polaroids taken at The Fairoaks Hotel in San Francisco by Frank Melleno in the spring and summer of 1978...the Fairoaks Hotel
which was located at the corner of Oak and Steiner in the Hayes Valley district. The hotel was a converted Victorian apartment
building owned and operated from 1977 to 1979 by a group of men who had formerly lived together in a commune...Most significantly,
the Fairoaks was racially inclusive, and was promoted as a party location...most of these Polaroids, kept in a cardboard box
for nearly 30 years have survived. These photographs were casual snapshots of the men at the bathhouse taken with subject's
permission and displayed in the lobby on a bulletin board for viewing the next week.”
GSSO Linked Terms: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_008194; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_003124; http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GSSO_000374
Photography
Bathhouses
Gay men