Petrelis Files

Death of 'A-Gay' Culture Watch:
SF's Mecca Closes

Until recently, if you wanted to catch a glimpse of A-gays and their moneyed culture, one of the best sidewalk spots to watch them in action was in front of the Mecca bar and restaurant on Market Street, opposite the Safeway store.

You could watch A-gays in their latest model Jaguars and BMWs pull up to the parking valet, step out of their cars in expensive fashions and stride their way into the pricey Mecca. No more. Mecca is gone.

The Bay Area Reporter story on the closing provided lots of details behind the demise:

Owners of the swanky restaurant Mecca issued a statement January 22 that they were temporarily closing the popular Castro supper club's doors, located at 2029 Market Street. The owners blamed the current financial crisis as contributing to the restaurant's economic woes.

"Mecca restaurant closed ... as a result of the recent, very challenging business climate," CVP Holdings Inc., Mecca 's owners, said in the statement released by Andrew Freeman and Co, which has briefly handled Mecca's public relations, according to a representative at the firm. ...

The popular Castro restaurant, which opened in 1996, had been going through another difficult economic time, Betty Sullivan, host of the popular Ladies' Night at Mecca for more than six years, said last March. At the time Sullivan was hired as Mecca's public relations consultant to revamp its image as a welcoming destination for quality entertainment, dining and socializing. ...

To drive up business over the past few months, the restaurant had tried to start a monthly Saturday night party geared at gay men called Swank and brought in drag persona Donna Sachet, the Bay Area Reporter's social columnist, to do several dinner show nights. It also attempted to hold wine-tastings paired to special dinner menus to drum up sales. ...

In these tough economic times, let's all worry about where the A-gays of San Francisco will now gather to spend their money ... Not!