Mission

Jose Sarria, renowned singer and what used to be called a female impersonator, was born in 1920 and performed at many venues, including the old Black Cat In the Tenderloin, “a very bohemian place with a very mixed crowd,” he recalled. “Pretty soon 200 or 300 people would be [there], and I was the queen bee, the First Lady, they used to call me.”

Photo by Lenny Limjoco