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A month or so ago my friend and photographer Jim Stewart (
links below) died just short of his seventy-sixth birthday. I was his model in 1982 for a series of photographs he did for advertisement posters for the Leatherneck Bar (
link below), articles in the
Bay Area Reporter and he photographed several performances of mine as well.
photo by Jim Stewart
Jim was born on November 11, 1942. He earned his master's degree at
Western Michigan University and documented the
Leather Lifestyle in the mid to early 80's with his 2011 memoir,
Folsom Street Blues which included many of his photographs.
Folsom Street Blues
by Jim Stewart
book cover photo by Jim Stewart
He was a columnist for the
Bay Area Reporter BARtab section (
link below), a
Folsom Street leather pioneer, a gay man, the cover model of his award-winning 2011 memoir, "Folsom Street Blues," and a photographer for
Drummer magazine (
link below). In 1976, he was among the first leather artists to move
South of Market to Clementina Street.
According to
BARtab editor
Jim Provenzano, Stewart contributed to the nightlife section several years ago. He also wrote the section's
BARchive gay bar history column in 2013 and 2014, which included many of his historic 1970s gay nightlife photos of
South of the Slot bars, Halloween, and the
Russian River scene.
Tom Hinde - 1979
photo by Jim Stewart
While managing a movie theater in 1973, Jim met
Jack Fritscher, a writer, who sponsored his move to San Francisco in 1975.
photo by Mark Hemry
Although our names are not mentioned, Jim and I were subjects in the Fritscher book,
Some Dance To Remember.
Fritscher said that as a member of the SOMA Open Studio movement, Jim chronicled the creative epiphanies of the
Folsom Street art scene with intimate friends he wrote about such as
Tool Box bar founder
Chuck Arnett, leather poet Camille O'Grady, whose performance at the Ambush Bar on Harrison Street I recorded in the early 80's . . .
Camille O'Grady
photo by Glenda Hydler
. . . Old Reliable Studio photographer
David Hurles and 1974 Oscar streaker
Robert Opel who ran naked behind
David Niven flashing a
peace sign while Niven was introducing
Elizabeth Taylor.
As a working carpenter in 1977, Jim built the interior of
Fey-Way Studio, at 1287 Howard Street, where founder Opel exhibited his work alongside
Robert Mapplethorpe,
Tom of Finland, and
Rex,
in the gallery where Opel was murdered in 1979. I did the sound design
for a couple of the exhibition openings at the gallery. Jim appeared in
Uncle Bob, the 2010 documentary film about the Opel killing.
Jim wrote fiction for the Jim Moss, Folsom magazine, he shot photos for the
Society for Individual Rights and documented the
Christo and Jeanne-Claude "Running Fence." He founded his
Keyhole Studios in 1976.
Jim's images of
Folsom Street sexuality, including his iconic photos shot in the
Slot Hotel, appeared in exhibits at bars like the Ambush; in
Drummer as early as issue 14, May 1977; and in the 2008 book "Gay San Francisco."
He managed and photographed various Folsom leather bars in
San Francisco; Allan Lowery's Leatherneck (
links below)
and later, at the same location after the Leatherneck closed and it
became the Drummer Key Club, at 11th and Folsom streets, which is now
the Oasis nightclub.
Jim Stewart died on October 15, 2018, at his home in
Ludington,
Michigan, where he had retired. The
cause of death was pneumonia two days after he broke his ankle
in a fall. He was 75 years old. He is survived by Kenneth Warner his partner of 35 years; they were married in
California in 2008.
Viewfinder links:
Jim Stewart
1977 CARNIFAIR ~ Dancin' for the Seamen
Leatherneck bar, San Francisco, 1977
Leatherneck, Pillow, a Hungry i
Leatherneck posters
Net links:
Bay Area Reporter ~ Jim Stewart obit
Bilerico Project ~ Jim Stewart: SoMa Survivor obit
Found San Francisco ~ Folsom Street: The Miracle Mile
Lambda Literary Foundation ~
Folsom Street Blues: A Memoir of 1970’s SoMa review
BARtab ~ Jim Stewart: Folsom Street Leather
Jim was intense and impassioned
but a sweeter soul never lived!
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, November 21, 2018
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