SAN FRANCISCO—A new documentary tracks the history of San Francisco and its role in the sexual revolution, and features interviews with Carol Queen of Good Vibrations, Sister Roma of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and others.
Bay Area Revelations: Sexual Revolutionaries is the latest installment of the documentary series produced by NBC Bay Area. Narrated by acclaimed actor Peter Coyote, the episode debuted in September, and will be aired again at 1 a.m. Sunday, Oct. on NBC Bay Area.
“Find out which pivotal moments in San Francisco's history transformed it from a ‘wild west’ town during the Gold Rush, to a conservative Irish-Catholic city to today's modern Bay Area,” the show’s description reads. “From free loving hippies to adult porn to same-sex marriage, the people of the Bay Area have pushed the boundaries for the right to express themselves freely and to live their truest lives.”
San Francisco has a long history of sex, the documentary notes, dating back to the Gold Rush days, when 95 percent of the residents were male and most of the women were sex workers. Music halls, balloons and brothels were centered in the city’s Barbary Coast area, today’s Pacific Street.
The reality and the myth of the Barbary Coast, historians explain in the episode, combined to give San Francisco an image of a “crazy, sexual town.”
Much of the debauchery came to a halt, however, following the 1906 earthquake. During recovery from the disaster, historians said, city leaders, politically active women and prominent Irish-Catholic residents made a concerted effort to clean up the city, shuttering houses of ill repute, bars and more.
In addition to covering the city’s thriving underground vice scene and its history of abortion mills, the documentary also extensively features the history of hippies and the Summer of Love.
From Carol Doda dancing on the piano at the Condor nightclub, to Jim and Artie Mitchell and their O’Farrell Theatre and hit adult film Behind the Green Door, to Harvey Milk’s elections and assassination, to how HIV and AIDS affected residents, Bay Area Revelations: Sexual Revolutionaries traces how the city became what it today.
A segment of the show focuses on Sister Roma and her introduction to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The drag queen, activist and adult film director talks of the history of the group, and the activist role the organization plays today.
“When the HIV/AIDS crisis started to ravage the community … that’s when the Sisters found their purpose,” Sister Roma said.
The episode also has with a segment about the sexual revolution as it related to women, and explores the radical way Good Vibrations changed how women enjoyed their bodies and sex toys. It was one of the first sex shops in the country that focused on women and their pleasure.
“Clean and well lighted, friendly, feminist and fun … these are some of the ways [founder Joani Blank] wanted to talk about Good Vibrations,” Carol Queen says during her interview.
For more on the episode, or to view it as well as bonus clips, visit NBCBayArea.com.
