{"id":597,"date":"2020-09-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lovenselife.com\/uncategorized\/history-of-folsom-street-fair"},"modified":"2020-09-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T00:00:00","slug":"history-of-folsom-street-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair","title":{"rendered":"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For one day a year, 13 blocks of San Fransisco explodes with leather and all things kinky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a summer celebration of BDSM, leather culture, and sexuality that\u2019s been going for over 30 years. Not only does it bring over 400,000 people (making it the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> largest street event in California), but it raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities around health, health education, and art. It\u2019s earned great respect and trust from city officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But what did this massive celebration start as?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The birth, you could say, started with a club aimed for gay navy men looking for some action \u2013 appropriately called The Sailor Boy. Other clubs and bathhouses slowly and carefully sprung up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1961 the first leather bar that opened in SoMa was The Toolbox. It might have ended up like any other club if it wasn\u2019t for Life magazine doing an article called &#8220;Homosexuality In America.\u201d It was a first for any major publication to openly penetrate the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Needless to say, leather men from around the country flocked to move there and find their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the 1970\u2019s many bars and bathhouses had opened on Folsom street\u2019s \u201cMiracle Mile\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Running in tandem with the discos and drink holes, the CMC Carnival (California Motorcycle Club Carnival). This was a BDSM dance and fair, complete with vendors and a back room for sex. Things seemed to be going great, with over 4,000 attendees annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But then the AIDS epidemic hit in the 80\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The community started to lose its standing and many of the establishments folded up and moved away. The people that stayed decided to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1985, they wanted to start a new fair, something that would bring more visibility to the community. They wanted to raise money for funding for safer sex education as well as creating other oppertunies for people to connect and share information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wouldn&#8217;t take on the Folsom name yet \u2013 rather, \u201cUp Your Alley\u201d. In 1987, they would move to the location everyone now knows and loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-white-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\">Every been to the fair? Share your experiences in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For one day a year, 13 blocks of San Fransisco explodes with leather and all things kinky. It\u2019s a summer celebration of BDSM, leather culture,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[14,61,52,56],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kink-bdsm","tag-bdsm","tag-fetish","tag-kink","tag-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist - Lovense Sex Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist - Lovense Sex Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For one day a year, 13 blocks of San Fransisco explodes with leather and all things kinky. It\u2019s a summer celebration of BDSM, leather culture,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lovense Sex Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lovensetoys\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Robyn Robyn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Lovense\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Lovense\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Robyn Robyn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Robyn Robyn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a170fab589801b4dbac466a690f4d791\"},\"headline\":\"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\"},\"wordCount\":358,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"bdsm\",\"fetish\",\"kink\",\"world\"],\"articleSection\":[\"KINK &amp; BDSM\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\",\"name\":\"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist - Lovense Sex Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"Ed Bierman\/Flickr\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/\",\"name\":\"Lovense Sex Blog\",\"description\":\"Learn Better Sex. Choose Better Toys. Play With Confidence.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Lovense Sex Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-lovense.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-lovense.jpg\",\"width\":207,\"height\":45,\"caption\":\"Lovense Sex Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lovensetoys\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Lovense\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a170fab589801b4dbac466a690f4d791\",\"name\":\"Robyn Robyn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae2265e64238634aad29200f89b6dc86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae2265e64238634aad29200f89b6dc86?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Robyn Robyn\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/author\/robyn\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist - Lovense Sex Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist - Lovense Sex Blog","og_description":"For one day a year, 13 blocks of San Fransisco explodes with leather and all things kinky. It\u2019s a summer celebration of BDSM, leather culture,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair","og_site_name":"Lovense Sex Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lovensetoys\/","article_published_time":"2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Robyn Robyn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Lovense","twitter_site":"@Lovense","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Robyn Robyn","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair"},"author":{"name":"Robyn Robyn","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a170fab589801b4dbac466a690f4d791"},"headline":"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist","datePublished":"2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair"},"wordCount":358,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg","keywords":["bdsm","fetish","kink","world"],"articleSection":["KINK &amp; BDSM"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair","url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair","name":"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist - Lovense Sex Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/dcd8979cfedf4419b1ce9d4b8b16fbec-e1619083992391.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"Ed Bierman\/Flickr"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/kink-bdsm\/history-of-folsom-street-fair#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Quick History Of Folsom Street Fair \u2013 From Sailors to Sadomasochist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/","name":"Lovense Sex Blog","description":"Learn Better Sex. Choose Better Toys. Play With Confidence.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#organization","name":"Lovense Sex Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-lovense.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/logo-lovense.jpg","width":207,"height":45,"caption":"Lovense Sex Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lovensetoys\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Lovense"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a170fab589801b4dbac466a690f4d791","name":"Robyn Robyn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae2265e64238634aad29200f89b6dc86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae2265e64238634aad29200f89b6dc86?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Robyn Robyn"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/author\/robyn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lovense.com\/sex-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}