Elephant Walk Window, circa 1974

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Scope and content:: This is a window from the Elephant Walk. The Elephant Walk was a restaurant and bar that operated in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood from 1974 to 1995. According to Fred Rogers, who owned the restaurant from 1974 to 1985, the restaurant’s elephant logo was designed by an employee in 1974 and subsequently etched onto its glass windows. As a gay establishment, the Elephant Walk was notable in its time for having large, glass windows that opened onto the street. On May 21, 1979, during the White Night Riots, San Francisco Police Department officers ransacked the restaurant and smashed several windows. A few windows survived that night, remaining installed at the Elephant Walk and a successor restaurant at that location, Harvey’s, until 2023.
Acquisition information:: Gift of Misha Langley, May 2023.

Collection Guide Author:: Finding aid created by GLBT Historical Society staff.
Date Prepared:: circa 1974
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using Record Express for OAC5 on July 14, 2025, 2:55 p.m.

Access and use

Restrictions:: Collection is open for research.
Terms of access:: All requests for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material must be submitted in writing to the GLBT Historical Society Archivist. Permission for reproductions and/or permission to publish or quote from material is given on behalf of the GLBT Historical Society as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Location of this collection:: GLBT Historical Society

989 Market Street, Lower Level

San Francisco, CA 94103, US