Jan 24, 2023
We start Part 2 talking, briefly,
about the 2016 election. Then we move on to COVID and how the
pandemic affected Thee Parkside. In a word, it
was devastating, but Malia and her crew rose to the challenge. They
had opened La Lucha coffee from the front window of the joint in
2015, and were able to keep that going.
Because of Parkside's kitchen, they
were considered essential and so were able to be open when other
bars weren't. But, as Malia points out, it was a "constant state of
pivoting." It wasn't only the always-changing federal, state, and
local regulations around COVID, but she and crew trying out
different things until they got to what worked.
Even though they made it, COVID got
Malia thinking about community. Her friend,
photographer Chloe Sherman, had
been posting photos of queer San Francisco through the years. The
photography revealed for Malia what had been lost, not in the
pandemic, but through gentrification over decades. This inspired
her to start doing research on the history of lesbian bars in The
City.
At this point, Malia dives into some
of that history, including the 40-some-odd lesbian bars that
existed in San Francisco between World War II and the 1990s. She
touches on the bigotry and discrimination of the lesbian community
over the decades and what it meant to overcome that and operate a
business, even here in The City.
Seeing a void, Malia sought to
re-establish a space in San Francisco for womxn and femme-centered
queers. With a word in to her realtor, incredibly, the spot on 16th
Street in the Mission that used to be Esta Noche was available.
Signs? Signs.
Opened in 1979 by gay Latinx men who
were tired of going to predominantly white bars in the Castro, Esta
Noche thrived for 35 years until 2014, when a new liquor licensing
fee was imposed and they were unable to raise enough money to cover
it. Bond bar opened soon after and ran until its owner sold to
Malia earlier this month. Everything is set for Mother to open its
doors on Thursday, Feb. 2.
Malia speaks to the fears of doing
what she's doing. Not one to seek the spotlight, she feels an
intense pressure to get this right, to defy what seem like odds in
these times. We applaud her efforts and look forward to seeing
Mother thrive for many, many years.
Photography by Michelle Kilfeather and Jeff Hunt