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Title: Black Cat Café Mascot
Dates: circa 1950-1955
Collection Number: 2022-110
Creator/Collector:
Black Cat Café
Extent: 5 linear feet (1 artifact)
Repository:
GLBT Historical Society
San Francisco, California 94103
Abstract: This collection includes the original papier mache mascot for the Black Cat Café, which was a historic queer bar on Montgomery
Street in San Francisco, California. The roughly 6 foot long cat sat above the bar of the cafe until its eventual closure
in 1964, after which it was inherited by Bill Plath and his partner, Dick Rousseau. Bill Plath was a founding member of the
Society for Individual Rights, as well as a manager of several gay bars in San Francisco. The cat was then inherited by Plath’s
adopted son, Michael Finn.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item]. Black Cat Café Mascot. Collection Number: 2022-110. GLBT Historical Society
Gift of Melissa Henry, Trustee of the Micheal Finn Estate, 2022.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection includes the original papier mache mascot for the Black Cat Café, which was a historic queer bar on Montgomery
Street in San Francisco, California. The roughly 6 foot long cat sat above the bar of the cafe until its eventual closure
in 1964, after which it was inherited by Bill Plath and his partner, Dick Rousseau. Bill Plath was a founding member of the
Society for Individual Rights, as well as a manager of several gay bars in San Francisco. The cat was then inherited by Plath’s
adopted son, Michael Finn.
LGBTQ
Nightlife
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)