A Self-Guided Audio Walking Tour
Exploring the Threads of Queer Counterculture in the Haight
Join the ever-unfolding legacy of revolutionaries who helped make this neighborhood an epicenter for civil rights and anti-war movements, student uprisings, feminism, and gay liberation, by taking a
WALK WITH ME.
This first-of-its-kind venture from Eye Zen Presents is decades in the making,
and our most intimate exploration yet.
Narrated by founder Seth Eisen, co-written with Jax Blaska, and guided by live archival recordings of dozens of Queer elders, this unbelievable true-tale spans decades in search of the answer to a question that has pulled Queer community to San Francisco for decades: where do I belong?
Illustration of the Cockettes by Reese Dallas Bice
Delve into immersive soundscape by James Ard and follow a real-time GPS map as you journey through the Haight, the six-episode journey invites audiences to move through layered timelines of queer creativity, mutual aid, grief, and resilience, from the 1960s through the AIDS crisis to the present.
Hand-painted illustrations by award winning artist Reese Dallas Bice, archival photos, and historical documentation spark imagination as stories are shared about Queer luminaries like the Cockettes, the Radical Faeries, Peggy Casserta, Arthur Evans, Sylvester, and more.
Join the baton-passing of vital life lessons from Queer elders whose stories now hold the hidden keys to our social and cultural geographies.
Illustration of Gus’s Pub by Reese Dallas Bice
WALK WITH ME is a reminder that we are never truly alone: we stand in the wake of progress, hard-won by those who dared to claim space for community to grow and thrive. The queer countercultural history of the Haight is shaped by the LGBTQ+ and Black, Trans, Femme, and Gender-Nonconforming revolutionaries whose work is a necessary guidepost as we strive together towards communal liberation.
Revisit this audio-tour time and time again at your leisure, and treasure the radical archival work that Eye Zen has spent over a decade honing to keep our shared legacy alive.
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EPISODE GUIDE
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Gay artist and historian Seth Eisen moves to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury in 1994 to live closer to his gay brother, seeking connections to Queer chosen family and queer ancestors after HIV/AIDS had ravished The City, killing off a whole generation of radical queer people. Seth's brother Steve dies in 1995 leading Seth to work with queer elders coping with the effects of long term disease.
Now, after 30 years of working to discover LGBTQ ancestors outside himself, he finds a deeper sense of belonging in his own backyard. He returns to The Haight 28 years after his brother’s death to rediscover how his own history has become more connected to the ancestors than he previously had thought possible.
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Episode 1
Arrive in San Francisco alongside our Ancestor Chorus, in the 1960s and 70s, and our narrator, Seth, in 1994. Listen into the natural world around you and feel the layers of history, ecology, and spirituality converge on the Haight-Ashbury.
Episode 2
Revolution is in the air as everything from feminism, anti-war, Gay Liberation, and Black Power begin to explode in the 1960s. Out of this churning mire of possibility grows the foundation for communal life, creative intervention, psychedelics, and genderf!ck.
Episode 3
Gay spirituality and a reverence for the natural world shapes the political, personal, social, and sexual lives of our Ancestor Chorus. Stroll through Buena Vista park to notice the clues left behind from their escapades, and join Seth and his brother Steve on one of the many dog walks they took there.
Episode 4
Out of the Bars and into the Streets! As we land at the commercial center of Haight Street, we’ll hear about the 7 iconic gay bars that once lined these streets, the hippie businesses that flourished here, and about how rising queer visibility led to political action.
Episode 5
The Summer of Love is over as the drugs get harder and disease begins to descend on what used to be the utopian enclave of the Haight. AIDS forever alters the fabric of queer life in San Francisco, and Seth reflects on his brother Steve.
Episode 6
Where does this leave us now? How does the proverbial baton get passed down from generation to generation of queer artists, activists, changemakers, and community members? And how do we find belonging among a fractured and constantly self-reinventing city?
This exciting project is generously supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission and California Arts Council.
Poster artwork by award-winning queer illustrator Reese Dallas Bice.
Photos by Gary Ivanek.