Stuff You Should Know - The Compton Cafeteria Riot

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Three years before the riots at Stonewall, the LGBTQ community of San Francisco's Tenderloin rose up. And the story was almost lost to time.  Learn how and why today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be there. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too and this is Stuff You Should Know. It's one of our overlooked history editions and Chuck, this is your pick and hats off to you. Wigs off to you. Yes, it was my selection to pass along to Libby to help us with, but this is a listener suggestion. This came from Gigi Cowlin.

And big thanks to Gigi, because I, and I'm sure you will agree with me, found that not only is the story of the Compton's cafeteria riot interesting in and of itself, but sort of the larger story or a part of the story is the fact that how we preserve history, because Compton's cafeteria riot happened in 1966 and was almost lost to history. Yeah, I agree with all that, which is crazy to think about something that happened in 1966 in San Francisco could be lost to history, but it almost was, if not for the efforts of

one Susan striker. One person. Yeah, this may have really gone away. Oh, totally. I mean, it had gone away and she managed to clutch together a bunch of different tiny little scraps of mentions of it or put the neighborhood and just over the years cobbled together all this little stuff and finally got an idea of it and was able to corroborate it. Like it was Gonville until Susan Striker came along.

Yeah. And we'll talk about what Susan Striker did with this information, but hats off to you, Susan Striker and to Gigi. And here we go with the almost forgotten Compton's cafeteria riot story. Yeah. And the reason why it's significant that it's almost forgotten or it was forgotten for a while is that the Stonewall uprising, or it was forgotten for a while, is that the stone wall uprising, which was a really great episode we did on that, too. That's considered like the watershed moment of gay rights in history, like the riot at the stone wall in,

that was what started it all. The thing is, when you think of things that way, it erases the stuff that came before that. Yeah. And one of the things that came before Stonewall was the Compton's cafeteria riot in San Francisco in 1966, and there wasn't a lot of difference between the two. It was based on it was a reaction and a response to police harassment that had been building over the time It was a multi-racial group of LGBTQ people

Like fighting back against the police that spilled out into the streets like it Bored striking resemblance to Stonewall and yet like you said there are reasons that we'll talk about that it was just pushed into the dustbin of history. Yeah, it's very interesting. So as we have said in this up, we'll talk a little bit about the area at the time in San Francisco called the TinderLine. Yeah. This is in the 1960s. The Tinder line has long had a reputation and even still does today in some ways. In the 60s it was a place where you could go buy drugs or deal drugs, you could go do some illegal gambling, you could get involved in sex work on either side. It was a neighborhood that

didn't have a lot of money and it was a neighborhood that attracted transients, people that teenagers, namely, who were either run out of their hometown because they were LGBTQ or maybe even run out of their family, or maybe even run out of a different neighborhood in San Francisco to sort of collect in the tenderloin where they could turn to sex work because they couldn't get other jobs and they could turn to each other for support in community.

Yeah, a community developed of essentially what one of the people Susan Stryker interview described as like the lowest drawing on the ladder of not just society, including LGBTQ society at the time. These were unhoused, teenage, street trans people. And like, they had no rights. They had no respect from anybody. And yet, they still came together and looked out

for another and formed that community you were talking about. But they lived in really dire straits day to day, and yet they still formed that community. And the reason why they all kind of ended up in this tenderloin is because there was a few square block section of the tenderloin that that was the only place they could live. And even there they got harassed. But like if they strayed out of it, they were beaten, they were, you couldn't leave that area if you were trans in San Francisco at the time. And the, I think Susan Striker compared it to ghetto essentially that, that was the, and a trans ghetto

in San Francisco in the 60s. That's right. And just to marry people that were interviewed from the time, it's clear that the cops basically could do whatever they wanted in there. They could arrest someone for, quote unquote, female impersonation. One was arrested, I believe, Amanda St. James, who is a trans woman there, ran a residential

hotel, was arrested for obstructing the sidewalk. I saw in this documentary that we're going to talk about later, any kind of cross-dressing or drag, they get a rescue for having the buttons on your shirt on what they deemed to the wrong side because traditionally, the buttons on men and women's shirts and clothing is reversed. I never understood why. Was it to draw a distinction between the two when you're shopping? I think it's just to be difficult.

Maybe a short stuff at some point, but they would say, like, oh, no, your buttons are on the wrong side. You're impersonating a female. So let me crack your skull and throw you in a jail cell where you will be abused more by fellow inmates and by the people who ran the jail. Yeah, and one of the reasons that this group of people were in such a pickle was not just because there

was a small area of the world that they could leave. It's that they couldn't even work because they couldn't get ID that reflected their gender. The gender they identified with. If they wanted to work as the gender they didn't identify with, they could just go back to their family that kicked them out in the first place. Right. So to be themselves, to live as themselves, is the way that they were, who they were,

they really, really suffered and paid for it. And we're very poor, resorted to sex work, almost across the board, unless you were really good at singing and dancing, and you could make a living that way. And even those people who are successful at entertaining, very frequently, were stuck in the area of the tenderloin, too. So it was a really, it was a tough position to be in.

And I mean, just the fact that they're like, well, if I want to be myself, it sucks that society treats me this way, but I'm going to be myself, you really have to respect that. Oh, yeah, totally. Within this community, there was a place called Compton's Cafeteria, which provided a haven late at night. It was at 101 Taylor Street right there in the Tenderloin, and it was a restaurant, and it was one of quite a few in San Francisco.

It was a small chain, local chain, started up by a man named Gene Compton in the 1940s. This one opened in 54 and it became a gathering place for these people late at night who were unwelcomed even at gay bars. It was very centrally located, it was clean, it was open 24 hours, it was well lit. It was a place where they could go and have coffee after they got done with work or doing whatever they were doing late at night. What I really wanted more than anything when I was learning about the story was I wanted to learn that Compton's cafeteria was a bright spot in a haven where the owners would run the cops off and let these people do as they would and live in peace.

Sadly, that was not the case. I didn't get the idea that they were just completely unwelcome there, but they did call the cops here and there over the years, and the cops would come down there and run them out. So that was a one disappointing spot for me, but that's what happened. So that's the way we have to report it.

So the still, I mean, even having to face that, like Compton's was the place you went to, because like I was saying, like even in the LGBTQ community, the trans community and the tenderloin were not well thought of, like they couldn't even go into the gay bars and the tenderloin were not well thought of. Like they couldn't even go into the gay bars in the tenderloin. They were limited also in where they could go in, but one of those places they could go was Compton's cafeteria and go be themselves.

And like a real, like you could check in on one another, you could give each other tips to like steer clear of this guy in this car kind of thing. It was despite the setbacks and drawbacks of going there, it was a place that they could go. Does that make sense? Yeah, and it was also a time, you know, we mentioned that they couldn't even go into certain gay bars. It was a time where the LGBTQ community was starting to organize a little bit, starting to kind of speak up a little bit for the most basic rights you could imagine. And it was through the lens, though, of what we're called homophile organizations. One was called the Mattisheen Society.

These organizations where they were gay people, but they were like, hey, listen, I'm middle class. I have a great job, I am gay and I just don't wanna be harassed. So they were organizing, but it wasn't like, it wasn't like the kids on the streets and they weren't, they weren't rabble-rilesing, they weren't radical. In fact, within homophile organizations, there were often disputes between some of the sort of,

you know, middle-age, more, not well-heeled, but sometimes well-heeled people sort of disagreeing with people in their own community, some of these younger kids that were more radical, they're like, we don't even want you in our group anymore. Right, yeah. And those homophile groups, are they were the ones that had the connections to say the press or they had a working relationship with the police department. They were trying to show the rest of society. They were respectable people living respectable lives.

And so being inclusive of unhoused trans teenagers who were also sex workers, kind of, it didn't really stand up to their argument. So they just pretended they weren't there. They excluded and they kept them out. But what's cool is those same unhoused teenage trans sex workers, they were like, well, we'll go organize ourselves.

They were really, really fortunate to have in the neighborhood a couple blocks away from Comptans, a place called Glyb memorial Methodist Church, probably one of the more progressive churches in the United States of all time. There was a Reverend named Cecil Williams, he was a civil rights movement vet, and he was very much interested in supporting these trans kids who were just getting abused one way or another by every quarter of society and he helped them organize actually and they organized into an organization called Vanguard. That's right and Tisa Williams is still alive my friend. Oh, yeah, he's 94 years old. I saw a footage of him preaching and he looked pretty cool. Yeah, so that church was there and like you said

Just just to have any formal Organization on your side for these kids who were trying to radicalize the movement was a really really big deal so Vanguard had formed in 65 and Through the church and through C. C. Williams and Vanguard five and through the church and through Cecil Williams and Vanguard, they eventually would help get the tenderloin recognized as a war on poverty target district in May of 66. Usually when these districts were recognized, there were impoverished communities and usually racism was sort of at the core of what they were facing. But these kids basically stood up with Cisa Williams and they were like, well, no, we're suffering the same way.

And so we should be recognized thusly and they were in May of 1966. Yeah, that was a big deal to get those kind of grants. And they ended up, there was like a center for the kids living on the street. There was a van that doled out medical services. Like it had a pretty good effect as we'll see. So you said that there were times when Compton's cafeteria would call the police on their patrons, their trans patrons.

Apparently that really picked up after Vanguard, after it became clear that these trans kids weren't just like keeping themselves as much as they could that they were starting to have a little bit of self-respect that they were organizing that they were getting political. That's apparently when it really started to step up and the Vanguard I think at that one point picketed outside of Compton, so that was one of the things that they did. And that was a month or so before the riot happened. So you've got these trans kids organizing, starting to have a certain amount of self-esteem

and self-respect that's coming out of their community. And that usually leads to pushback from establishment. And that's what happened. That sounds like a great place for a break, my friend. Thank you. All right. Well, Josh said it perfectly, and when we write back, did knock them down right after this. A brand new historical true crime podcast. The year is 1800, a city hall, New York. The first murder trial in the American Judicial System. A mass-ass trial for the charge of murder. Even with defense lawyers, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on the case, this is probably

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I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I love your sports metaphors. Is bowling a sport? Sure. Oh boy, I'm going to get in trouble for that. Yes you are. I said sure everybody. So this is how lost to time the Compton cafeteria riot has been. Is they're not even positive still what the exact date was? Yeah. Stryker did a lot of research. Susan striker who we mentioned and who will talk a lot more about in this segment. Eventually, striker narrowed it down

to August 27th, which was a Saturday, the last Saturday of that month. But we can safely say it was in August of 1966, probably late August, very early in the morning, as in Saturday, leading into Sunday. And the story is a lot like you said, it's a lot like Stonewall. The police get called in because things are kind of rowdy. The police get there, start being very physically aggressive with these people. And then one of them threw coffee in one of the cops' faces.

And it was on after that, basically. It went downhill pretty fast. Other patrons joined in. The cops started fighting back. The cops eventually go outside and retreat, wait for reinforcements. The management closed the place up. And the people inside started breaking the windows. They started trashing the place.

They flipped the tables over. They started wreckashing the place. They flipped the tables over. They started wrecking it. And, you know, the cops showed up on mass to deal with about 60 people or so that fault the police with their their purses and throwing high heels. And I think they destroyed a police car by the end of the night and said a new stand on fire. I saw it. I saw it potentially hundreds of people like the nearby hotels like drained, the bars drained, like it went, it got serious like after they left Comptance. Yeah, so unsurprisingly, some of them were successfully arrested and taken to jail. And Comptance, you know, for their part basically said, from now now on uh... you know they they called them you know drag queen

patrons at the time said you're not allowed here anymore uh... no more gay hustlers uh... apparently they were um... there were pickets after that like the ensuing days were kind of a mess they would some people would still go down and pick it uh... they wouldn't be allowed in the restaurant they started closing at midnight instead of being 24-7.

And just closed, I think, like five years after that permanently. Yes, but they had immediate effects. First of all, it took that kind of sense of organizing among the trans kids in the tenderloin. It bolstered it. It gave them a feeling like, oh, we actually can make things happen together, even if it was violent in the face of police violence. And apparently it had an effect

that the police kind of stopped so casually harassing or beating or even kidnapping the trans kids in the tenderloin after that, immediately after that. There was an immediate effect. Yeah, for sure. They ended up having an ally in a community relations cop named Elliot Blackstone, who basically was like, I would like to help you folks out. I'm going to advocate for an

end to these anti-cross-stressing laws. You won't get harassed for addressing how you want to address. I'm going to help you get the services that you need. Eventually, a public health unit called the Center for Special Problems started offering their support as well, including getting IDs that reflected their gender identities, which is what you're talking about that kept a lot of them from getting jobs jobs and that allowed many of them to go get legal work and you know they could leave sex work behind. Yeah, I mean, it had a significant impact for trans people. Probably the first one in history. And it was a place where like if you needed a place to stay, they could tell you who to go ask. They could help you fill out applications for hormones and tell you what doctor to go to.

It was a mail drop for some people who had just showed up and didn't have a place to live yet. Like basically everything that supported UnHouse trans kids in the tenderloin in the late 60s, this canceling unit did. And again, this Compton's cafeteria riot is Directly responsible for not just saying like hey, we have these needs that are being completely unmet We're the police are beating us with impunity anytime. They feel like it I read I read one story where this kid had just shown up to San Francisco And one of the first things he saw was another kid laying on the street in agony saying his ribs were broken.

And the kid who just got into San Francisco was like, well, we got to call the police. And the kid with his rib broken said, the police are the ones that did this to me. And that guy, I think he was one of the Vanguard founders. He's like, that just crystallized the situation for him almost immediately. But in responding that with violence, it's sad that it took violence, but they finally stood up and said, no, we're done putting up with this, and that actually had a positive impact in drawing attention to their needs and then getting the city to start responding to those things.

They're very least recognizing that they exist. Yeah, absolutely. Boy, it would be a kettle of fire as an episode, but I wonder if one day we could tackle protests, nonviolent and violent protests through the years because it is a fraught topic. Supposedly, I don't know where I saw this, but I think I just saw it today, something like 59% of non-violent organizations are non-violent movements,

a succeed in their goals, but only like a quarter of violent movements to you. So usually, you wanna back the non-violent ones is if you're betting on it, if you're betting on outcomes of civil movements. So we mentioned forgetting about the riot and how that could happen in 1966, not even that long ago, relatively speaking. Yeah.

Historically speaking, I guess I should say, and how does that happen? And here's how that happens. No one really wrote about it even in San Francisco. The the the the straight quote-unquote straight publications didn't write about it and largely the gate publications didn't even write about it much. I believe there were a couple of members of the local gay community who wrote about it. A gentleman named Raymond Brashear wrote about it in the 1972, so this is five years later. He was a local, very, very radical reverend who was also gay. I think he was a Vanguard founder too.

So, he wrote about it in 1972, gay pride program. So, just in a program for a gay pride event. And then a drag queen at the time named Sandy Green mentioned it, just mentioned it in a letter to the editor. Again, this is six years later. I'm sorry, five years later, I guess. Seven. Seven. Wow. We got a pretty bad. We got there. The 73 issue of gay pride quarterly, but it wasn't even remembered in the LGBTQ community in San Francisco, forget about the rest of San Francisco or America at large. The question is, why did Stonewall become the thing?

There's a few reasons. One is that it was in New York and it was the center of publishing, so that certainly didn't hurt. That's a big reason. In media, another is that these homophile groups that we talked about, in that kind of short three-year span from 66 to 69, started to model themselves a little bit more after things like the black power movement and the woman's rights movement and were a little more sort of activist and action-oriented than they were before when they were just in 66 saying like, you know, can we just have rights like everyone else?

They got a little more aggressive. I saw it put, and there was more kindling. Like they were just starting to bring the kindling out at the time of the Compton riots, but by the time Stonewall happened, there's a lot more kindling to go up. Totally. And that's another really big reason.

Yeah, that's pretty interesting stuff. Also, I think the fact that it was almost purposefully, if not purposefully ignored or just relegated to the sidelines by the larger LGBTQ community in San Francisco, because it was a riot. That really, again, doesn't jive with the idea that, hey, we're just respectable middle-class Americans who want to live a quiet respectable life and be left alone, rioting doesn't really kind of coincide with that. So when you put all those things together, it definitely makes sense that the Compton's cafeteria riot kind of was lost to history.

And the fact that it was written about in just two places, or it was mentioned directly, is really significant. Like, it really underscores what Susan Striker did when she came up with the, I guess, the detective work of putting the whole thing together. I think that's another great spot for a break. Oh, man, I didn't even mean to do that. You're just so good. We'll be right back everybody. A brand new historical true crime podcast.

The year is 1800, a city hall, New York. The first murder trial in the American Judicial System. A man-sense trial for the charge of murder. Even with defense lawyers, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on the case, this is probably the most famous trial you've never heard of. When you lay suffering a sudden violent brutal death, I hope you'll think of me. Starring Allison Williams. I don't need anything simplified, Mr. Hamilton, thank you.

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until she met that man right there. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. I'm a murderer! Hi, this is Chelsea Hamlar. This week on Dear Chelsea, Jada Pinkett Smith, on her new memoir Worthy. When I went through one of the darkest periods, when I was really suicidal, I thought I was inherently broken. A lot of us women, our stories, are still considered taboo.

We feel like that we are going to be dragged through the mud. You guys have been separated, but you're not divorced. No. And you have no plans to get divorced. No. So, talk to us about that. I'm down with it. I think this is a great new way of thinking about marriage. From my perspective, I remember watching that night thinking, what's going on with him? Like, that's not who he is.

What's happening to him? He must be going through something either with you. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be there! Our first call is Mary in Lexington, Kentucky. Mary, welcome to the middle. Hello and thanks for having me. If you really want to know what's going on in this country, heading into the 2024 election, you have to get away from the extremes and listen to the middle. Hi, my name is Venkat. I'm calling you for Atlanta Georgia. On the new election, you have to get away from the extremes and listen to the middle. Hi, my name is Venkat, I'm calling you for Atlanta Georgia. On the new podcast, The Middle with Jeremy Hobson, I'm live every week, taking your calls,

and focusing on Americans in the middle, who are so important politically, but are often ignored by the media. I did a lifetime democratic voter, however I was raised by moderate Republicans from Michigan. Creating space for a simple conversation about the most contentious issues we face, from climate change to artificial intelligence from abortion rights to gun rights. I consider myself to be conservative, cis-colleen, but politically independent. Listen to the Middle with Jeremy Hobson on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So back in I think the early 90s, maybe even 91. Susan Striker was, she was wrapping up her PhD at UC Berkeley.

She was a trained historian. At the same time, she was also transitioning to a woman, and this is 1991. So she's basically like, I might as well not even apply for jobs in academia because I'm not going to get one because I'm trans. So instead she started volunteering. She wanted to put her historian chops to work and she decided to volunteer at the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society in San Francisco in the Castro. And it was there that I think she first came across that 1972 gay pride parade program that Raybrough Shears wrote that mentioned the Compton's riot. And she's like, what

is this guy even talking about? Six years later, I think it said four. Eight, 92. Just terrible. Yeah. And you know, when you see this documentary that I promise you were about to name it, you can like Susan Striker is struck by the fact that like she was just like I couldn't believe what I was reading almost. Like how did I not know about this? Like I'm an active member of this community and everyone knows about Stonewall. Like how did I not even know this? Well, she questioned that it might not have even been a thing or if it was a thing that burst years,

it was maybe blowing it up out of proportion. Yeah, but you know, if in 66, you know, obviously way pre-internet, there's traditional media and if traditional media didn't cover it at all, the only thing you're left with is people and oral history. So that's what Striker did. She first tried to go the city archivist to look for police records and arrest records and the archive said, you know, in the 1670s, they basically shredded and burned a lot of stuff

because of police misconduct. So we don't have anything for that period or that event at least. And so Susan Striker was like, all right, I guess I got to start finding people like literal humans who were either there or were nearby and knew about it firsthand. And that was really hard to do. I mean, all of a sudden, it's like real detective work going on because Susan Striker is having to track these people down. These people that were living on the margins, you know, 50 years ago, I guess at the time, about 40 years ago. So oh, no, less than that, 30 something. I'm trying to think something like that.

And there were plenty of different stories. Like in one story, she found a trans woman who was a cook at Compton's, but was put in a men's prison, was not allowed in interview and ended up dying before Susan Striker could speak to her. She thought about writing a book and ultimately said, you know what, I think this should be, it'll get to more people if I make a documentary out of this. So at long last we can say that the name of the documentary that Susan Striker along with Victor Silverman made was called Screaming Queens, Colin the ride at Compton's cafeteria in 2005, which I watched

on YouTube. That's great. In full, it's under an hour, it's like 55, 56 minutes, but it's also dramatized, which I have not seen, but I'm going to check it out tonight. And Netflix's show Tales of the City in 2019 that I believe Elliott Page stars in. Oh, is that right? I think I saw Elliott Page in the cast, but I didn't dive too deeply yet. So there's a there's a unsung history podcast episode that interviews Susan Stryker and she kind of goes in a detail about putting this whole history together, and it's kind of thrilling, actually. It turns out one of her cohorts at the Game Lesbian Historical Society was a geographer and helped create a map of this vanished area and the tenderloin together.

She started to have like a visual, like a visual idea of where these things were happening. And when she was able to finally talk to people who were there, she knew that this thing actually had happened because she didn't, she didn't say, hey, here's all the stuff I found out. Is this right? She was like, have you ever heard of this

and then would they give her all the same information that she already had? She knew that she was definitely on to something. That's interesting. It's definitely worth checking out. It's a great, great episode. And definitely watch Screaming Queens, too. And the name, I think, Chuck, was in that there's an initial news reel about the tenderloin, the red light distant down there.

And they mentioned how Compton's cafeteria recently had to start closing at midnight and they chalked it up to a sidewalk fight between screaming queens as how they put it. Like they just basically made it sound like it was a cat fight that got out of hand. The police weren't even involved. And that's how they explained how Compton started closing at midnight. So even then, like this is an old news reel, even when like right after it happened, it was being ignored. Yeah, like, yeah, that's really hard to believe, but also easy to believe in some ways, sadly.

So, these days, you can still go over to 101 Taylor Street. That building is still there. It is obviously not the restaurant any longer. It is still a home for many trans people and the tenderloin itself is still still has that sort of that sort of spirit and undercurrent there. People are, you know, it's sort of how San Francisco has treated both this area and this riot is really interesting for progressive city because they haven't done the right thing in many cases over the years. Some people have tried in 2015, there was a developer named, called Group I, that proposed

building a hotel and retail project there with a non-profit space, a couple of blocks away from the location at Compton's. And you know, different people were on board and then within the gay community. And then we're like, no, I don't think we should do this here because it's a historical area. And we should just preserve it as that. And I think that's a sort of a lot of people

are fighting back against that in general in San Francisco, kind of no matter what the cause. Yeah, for sure. So they finally, I guess they went along with it or it just was going to happen one way or another, but they got some concessions out of the developer and the city. And one of the things that came out of it was that the area Taylor Street, that Compton's cafeteria used to be along, they renamed it Gene Compton's cafeteria way. And at first everybody was like, okay,

that's a compromise because we wanted it called Compton's cafeteria riot, I guess way. And the city was like, no, we're not putting riot on an actual official street sign. So they said, well, we'll call it Gene Compton's cafeteria way. And then later on, they're like, no, actually that's a terrible name for it,

because it commemorates one of the people who was anti-trance, who kicked us out of his cafeteria, routinely. Why would we want to commemorate him? We want to commemorate this uprising instead. And they finally changed it to, what did they change it to? Well, they dropped the name Comptans because they didn't want to honor someone who they said, you know, would frequently call the cops on them.

Right. So I can't remember what they named it. I think it might be like transgender, corridor way or something like that. And the reason why is because there's a transgender cultural district there now. And do you remember our colleague, she was a trans woman, Raquel Willis? Oh yeah, sure. I read an article about this new cultural district that she wrote in I think out magazine. It's pretty good. That's great.

Yeah, it's always awesome too. So it's probably the first transgender cultural district in the entire world, and it's very appropriately in the tenderloin because this is like kind of like where a lot of the like ground zero was for the trans community in America. And this cultural district has like a, I think, an entrepreneurial incubator. It helps people looking for housing and jobs. It's everything that you would kind of want as a start for a community that's just now starting to have its needs met.

That's great. I think so too. What if when the city said, oh, we can't have the name right on a street sign, what if they were like, what about quiet right boulevard on Russian Hill? You're awfully quiet about that one. Is there really a quiet right boulevard? I got you for what? Okay, and the fact that you placed it in Russian Hill is what got me. That was well done. Oh, thank you. Very well done. All right. Okay, well if you want to know more about the Compton's cafeteria right, definitely go watch Screaming Queens and go listen to that episode of Unsung History and thanks a lot

GG for the idea, great one. And since I thank GG, that means it's time for listener mail. Yeah, and you know that makes the overall gullible score, Josh with 463, Chuck 1. Hey, at least it's not a big goose egg for you. I got points on the board. That was a sports metaphor. That's right, followed by following a quiet riot, shout, which is probably not something

you expected to hear in this podcast. No, but they hold up. All right, I'm gonna call this the hand burger, then quite frankly, the only reason I'm reading it is because of that word, because I think it's hysterical what this guy says. This from Danny. Hey guys, just finished it to the latest episode.

And the listener mail Sam, I mentioned he was hesitant to try the show, because the title of the show sounded condescending, as if it was suggesting that he should already know certain things at this point in his life. I've heard you mention this about other people. It always cracks me up because that's exactly why I started listening. It started about seven years ago.

The person I was dating at the time would constantly poke fun and belittle me for not knowing certain things. That's a abuse. So one day, uh-huh? That's abuse. It is abuse. So one day, I literally typed stuff you should know into Google, hoping to find a list of things that I oughta know.

Awesome. True story, is what this guy says. What I found instead, thank God, was your show. Admittedly, it took me a while to realize you two weren't simply performing a public service to the world, informing idiot boyfriends of their obvious knowledge gaps and reminying the situation. It probably wasn't until the Jackhammer's episode

That I asked myself should I really know this? That's an abuse too. That is Danny This is the best part. They're needless to say but I'm gonna say it anyways the relationship did not work out What I learned though is that everyone has some knowledge gaps. So what if I thought it was a handburger Whether than a hamburger I think that's important. There's no ham and you eat it with your hands is what Danny says. It makes sense but everyone else calls it a hamburger so. Or a steamed ham. He's steamed ham right.

I'm only going to call them hand burgers from now on though. Yeah, because it makes a really good taste for why you would call it a hand burger. Or that it didn't know IV stood for intravenous. What am I, doctor? Who gives a rip? I like Danny. I like this guy, yeah. All that to say, thanks for doing what you do guys for teaching me stuff I want to know

as well as some things I probably should know. Keep it up until the bitter end, Danny. Thanks a lot, Danny. That was an excellent email. And we're glad that you're on board. I wonder what Danny thought IV stood for. Feel the bitter end, Danny. and send us a rock and email, we would love to hear from you. Wrap it up, spank it on the bottom, send it off to stuffpodcast.it-hardradio.com. Stuff you should know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the I Heart Radio app.

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Well be there! Mothers and daughters, it's always a complicated relationship. At that moment I fell in love with heroin. Like I spent so much of my life trying so hard not to be like you. Oh my god, I don't want to do this right now. Join me for some raw and honest conversations with my mom. This is Crumbs. It's a show about the things we settle for and the bits of ourselves that make us who

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