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S.F. Hopes to Save Castro Country Club


Castro Country Club x390 (pick up) I Advocate.com

San Franciscans on Saturday kicked off a fund-raising drive to save the Castro Country Club, a clean and sober meeting place that opened in the Castro in 1983. The owner of the building housing the center died last year, and now the property is set to go on the market July 1, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“This place has always been a place of comfort, a place of sanctuary,” said state assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who was at a Saturday fund-raiser for the meeting place, which hosts more than 30 Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Co-Dependents Anonymous, and similar 12-step meetings a week.

Club reps told the Chronicle that they expect the asking price for the 1901 Victorian to be about $1.7 million. They hope to raise $700,000 in their campaign, called “Keep the Steps in the Castro,” in order to buy the property, secure a long-term lease there, or to find another location in the Castro.

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Reader Comments
  • Name: DanB Is A Big Poopy Meanyhead
    Date posted: 4/26/2010 6:54:49 PM
    Hometown: SF

    Comment:

    I've mixed feelings about this place. On one hand, it's wonderful that there is a spot in the Castro for the clean and sober folks to go, and the front steps have always been lively and a great place to hang out on a sunny day. On the other hand, CCC is "fiscally sponsored" by Baker Places, which is a pretty abusive residential mental health/ addiction treatment service provider in San Francisco.

  • Name: Dinei
    Date posted: 4/26/2010 11:56:36 AM
    Hometown: San Francisco

    Comment:

    I hope this campaign will keep the Country Club open for the folks who need it. It is ironic that just 2 doors up is the bar “The Mix”, which is open almost 24/7. I live in the neighborhood and it’s depressing to see guys drinking at “The Mix” as early as 9am. The Castro is very decadent these days and have lost its charm. At the corner or 18th/Castro, in front of Walgreens, there always some smelly homeless begging for money, it’s very depressing indeed.

  • Name: MarkM
    Date posted: 4/26/2010 10:57:14 AM
    Hometown: Oakland

    Comment:

    It has a real flop-house kind of feel. I won't miss it. I like that there are places for GLBT people in recovery to go, and I would hope that a meeting keeps happening in the area. I know that this sounds petty, but the smoke stank from there is really too much. The bars are cleaner these days.

  • Name: GGREEN
    Date posted: 4/26/2010 9:48:40 AM
    Hometown: San Francisco

    Comment:

    The Club isn’t endearing itself to its neighbors these days. Saturday it hosted a 3-hour ear splitting sound fund raiser. No dancing just very loud dance music that could be heard several blocks away. In a neighborhood as densely populated as the Castro that is extremely inconsiderate. Most Castro neighborhood residents feel its Gay Freedom Day everyday in the Castro, complete with noisy floats and people parading 24/7.

  • Name: Tokkar
    Date posted: 4/25/2010 6:40:37 PM
    Hometown: The Crossroads

    Comment:

    I was going to ask what this had to do with LGBT news...until I did something remarkable: I looked it up. Novel, I know, but hey! So, without further ado, and in case anyone else is wondering, I present the following link: http://castrocountryclub.org/site/?page_id=2



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