Powerhouse

Powerhouse sits on Folsom Street in SoMa — the street that gives the Folsom Street Fair its name and that was the centre of San Francisco's leather and fetish scene from the 1970s onward. The bar is what a Folsom Street leather bar should be: dark, unpretentious, with a darkroom and a crowd that has no interest in performing for an audience. The themed nights rotate through the leather community's sub-categories — rubber nights, uniform nights, bear nights, fetish dress codes — and each draws the specific crowd for whom that theme represents home rather than costume. Powerhouse is not a tourist bar. It is a working community venue for San Francisco's leather-identified gay men, and the atmosphere reflects the mutual understanding of a regular clientele. Located on Folsom Street between 9th and 10th, the bar is in the heart of the SoMa leather geography that also includes The Eagle a few blocks away. During Folsom Street Fair in September, the entire neighbourhood becomes the world's largest outdoor leather event and Powerhouse is one of the central gathering points for the week's programming.