San Francisco’s after-dark scene includes piano bars, leather-bar patios, and a kissing booth, with many famous visitors coming from the LGBTQ+ community and allies. In spring 2026, Sam Smith and Kim Petras finished a 20-night residency at the reopened Castro Theatre and walked to Lookout for an impromptu afterparty, with Petras staying in stage dress. The Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears appeared at Q Bar during Valentine’s week 2013 at an event featuring a broken-hearts kissing booth, and Q Bar later reopened after a 2019 fire. Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg are also linked to Hotel Utah Saloon before the Oscars.
"In spring 2026, Smith wrapped a 20-night residency at the newly reopened Castro Theatre; the city was so smitten the mayor declared a Sam Smith Day. On closing night they pulled Kim Petras onstage for "Unholy," and then the two of them simply walked a few blocks to Lookout for an impromptu afterparty. Petras didn't even change; she swept into the bar still in her stage dress, same bag on her arm. The owner confirmed the whole thing."
"That is the platonic celebrity night out in this city: no entourage clearing a private room, just two of the biggest queer pop stars alive deciding the evening needed one more drink, in a Castro bar, with the rest of us."
"Valentine's week, 2013. The Scissor Sisters frontman turned up at Booty Call Wednesdays, an OG party from that era, complete with a broken-hearts kissing booth in the back. And it wasn't a tourist drop-in; a couple of years earlier Shears had been in town writing the music for the Tales of the City musical at A.C.T., so he was practically a local with a keyboard. Q Bar has its own survival story, too: it went dark after a 2019 fire and didn't reopen until November 2024."
"Before the Oscars, before any of it, this 19"
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