For many San Franciscans, Christmas Eve means the chorus at the Castro. Newspaper listings trace how the tradition began.
Mission High and a church service
In 1985, the Chronicle and the Sunday Examiner & Chronicle listed a Christmas Eve concert by the chorus at 8 p.m. at Mission High School. That same week, the San Francisco Community of Religious Science invited the public to a Christmas service featuring the chorus. In 1988, the chorus sang Christmas Eve highlights at First Congregational Church.
“Spend Christmas Eve at the Castro!”
On December 24, 1990, the Castro Theatre’s box in the Chronicle’s movie directory announced “Home for the Holidays,” an evening of traditional and contemporary holiday favorites by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. The tradition had begun under Artistic Director Stan Hill.
By 1995, the Examiner wrote that Christmas Eve in San Francisco would not be complete without it. That year’s program included music from “Angels: Songs of the Seraphim,” with San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Claudia Waite and Nicolle Foland as guests. In 2009 the Examiner listed the 20th annual edition, with three shows, audience-chosen favorites, singalongs and “Fruitcake,” a comic homage to Julia Child.
From the archives: this post retells reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner and the San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle. The original articles survive only in newspaper archives, so we have told the story here in our own words. Details attributed to those outlets are their reporting; see the sources below.
Sources
- San Francisco Chronicle, “Church services advertisement”, December 21, 1985. sfchronicle.com
- San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, “Datebook music listings”, December 22, 1985. sfchronicle.com
- San Francisco Chronicle, “Concerts listing”, December 24, 1985. sfchronicle.com
- San Francisco Chronicle, “Castro Theatre listing: Home for the Holidays”, December 24, 1990. sfchronicle.com
- San Francisco Examiner, “Holiday picks: Home”, December 24, 1995. sfexaminer.com
- San Francisco Examiner, “Holiday events listings”, December 24, 2009. sfexaminer.com
