San Francisco's Trax Bar, steeped in LGBTQ+ history since its inception in the 1950s, is closing and evolving into a new bar named Mary's on Haight. The bar served diverse clientele, fostering a welcoming atmosphere regardless of sexual orientation. Former owner Mark Wilson cites a desire to move on rather than rising rents as the reason for the change. The new owners, a pair of married couples familiar with San Francisco's bar scene, plan to honor Trax's legacy while making it their own.
The bar operated under the name the Question Mark beginning in the 1950s, and its identity as a queer bar began in the 1970s.
You'd have Haight Street workers having a quick drink on their lunch break, tourists from all over the world, old queens who've been going there for 40 years.
It didn't matter if you were gay or straight, as long as you didn't have an attitude, former owner Mark Wilson said.
The bar is now to be called Mary's on Haight, a reference to one of the owners' mothers, plus a nod to a slang term referring to gay men.
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