Castro as 'America’s first gay neighborhood' myth

The Castro District, centered around the Castro Theatre, became a nationally prominent gay neighborhood in the 1970s and a crucible of LGBT political organizing. It is commonly described as the first gay neighborhood in the United States, but historians note that other U.S. cities had established gay communities and meeting places earlier. The claim that the Castro was definitively the first is therefore debated and depends on how one defines a "gay neighborhood." The Castro remains a historic center of LGBT culture and activism in San Francisco.