Thank you, Amy, for such a beautiful, evocative story. The Castro of that era was such a special place. My late partner introduced me to the neighborhood not long after we met. We took two long trips to San Francisco in the 1990s, the first in (I think) 1991. We were pet sitting just up the hill for a friend who was traveling, a bit of a bittersweet occasion, because he was going home to England for what he presumed was the last time before his health (he had AIDS) made that impossible.

Lenny and I did a lot of the usual tourist stuff involving chocolate and sea lions, but every day we hung out in the Castro. Just being with our people.

I first really learned about Harvey Milk then. I'd heard his name before, and I had a vague sense of why he had been so important, why he had been assassinated — but I'd never heard his story told by people who had loved him.

That was very special to both Lenny and me. Thanks for telling your story in a way that made those feelings come rushing back!