Consuming Queers

Gerard Koskovich just posted something interesting, over on our Facebook page. He writes, “The records of Old Wives Tales are preserved in the archives of The GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. The “Consuming Queers” display at the society’s new GLBT History Museum in the Castro District features a revenue-and-expenses chart from the store from 1978–1979.”

A little more information:

GLBT History Museum (San Francisco) ‎”Consuming Queers: The GLBT Marketplace” in “Our Vast Queer Past” documents the emergence of queer consumer capitalism. The background graphic is the 1978-1979 income and expenses chart from Old Wives Tales, a lesbian-feminist bookstore in San Francisco that was in business from 1976 to 1995. Photo: Dec. 10, 2010.See More The GLBT History Museum, located at 4127 18th St. in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, opened on Dec. 10, 2010.

Joani Blank, Down There Press

I interviewed Joani Blank, of Down There Press (also founder of Good Vibrations), last April. This is the first edition of I Am my Lover. Also, below: a picture of Joani with her Good Vibrations wares.

Old Wives Tales

Carol Seajay, founder of Old Wives Tales Bookstore (SF) is on the left. I interviewed her on April 11. 2011 in her home, in San Francisco. This photograph was taken inside the store, in the 1980s. Carol also founded the Feminist Bookstore News. Every person I called in California for an interview said to me, “Call Carol Seajay.”

Here’s a great article about her: http://foundsf.org/index.php?t​itle=Carol_Seajay%2C_Old_Wives​_Tales_and_the_Feminist_Bookst​ore_Network
“They opened Old Wives Tales on Halloween, 1976, paying themselves $200 a month.”