At the Crossroads of Turk and Taylor

In 1966, a structure at the northwest corner of the intersection, now identified by the San Francisco Assessor’s Office with the nondescript name 101-121 Taylor Street Properties, was home to Gene Compton’s Cafeteria. In August of that year, this popular hangout became the site of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot — a landmark incident of collective resistance to police oppression targeting transgender or gender-variant people, most of whom were sex-working, young, and precariously housed. Half a century later, the property at Turk and Taylor is owned by GEO Group, one of the world’s largest for-profit prison companies. In the building once inhabited by Compton’s Cafeteria, GEO Group now operates a “residential reentry facility” under contract to the federal and California state prison systems. An awning over the entryway reads simply “111 Taylor St. Apartments,” belying the fact that this is a correctional institution whose residents remain under the authority of the penal system while they prepare for post-incarcerated life.