Compton’s Cafeteria

“The first known instance of collective militant queer resistance to police harassment in United States history.”— Susan Stryker, trans historian.

Black and white photo of a restaurant from the street, sign reads: "Gene Compton's"
Gene Compton’s cafeteria in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. The site of a landmark riot between trans people and police in 1966. Photo given to NPR courtesy of Screaming Queens.

In the 1960s, in San Francisco’s redlight Tenderloin District, a 24-hour food joint by the name of Compton’s Cafeteria was an unofficial congregation spot for genderbent queers of all sorts.

Owned by a queer elder, Compton’s was a place where folks—many of whom were young and engaged in survival sex work—would go to get food, to hang out, to be indoors with a bathroom, and to sit down in a chair, without getting kicked out.

Photograph of Asian American Trans woman Tamara Ching in an elegant white gown with long, shiny earrings standing in front of a plain white wall.
Photo of Tamara Ching, which she courteously gave to NPR, year unknown.

Asian American transgender woman Tamara Ching—pictured right—who grew up in the Tenderloin and frequented Compton’s in the 1960s said of the place:

“It was good to go and be seen and talk to people about what happened during the night. To make sure everybody’s okay, everyone made their coins, everybody’s coming down off drugs and didn’t overdose, and that you didn’t go to jail that night […] Compton’s nourished people. People would sit there for days drinking a cup of coffee. I would buy a full meal. I don’t cook and I loved eating at Compton’s.”—Tamara Ching, interview with Nicole Pasuka, NPR, 2015.

Such was the arrangement at Compton’s until 1966 when the original owner passed away.  New owners called the police, and instead of putting up with the police harassment, folks fought back and a violent riot broke out.

Why does this place matter?

Other than being a pre-stonewall queer riot, Compton’s was a place trans people had made their own, taken up space in, and fought for when threatened.  

Image of the Vanguard “Street Sweep,” 1966.

In response to the Compton’s riot, San Francisco queer youth activist group Vanguard held a symbolic “street sweep,” reclaiming public space as their own and protesting their displacement by police.

For the many displaced trans youth that lived and worked in the Tenderloin (or other places, for that matter), public space often had to function as the space for “private” activities like living, sex, and fostering a sense of family.