I Love A Parade

Since June is not only Pride month but also Juneteenth, two culturally different yet equally notable events for different reasons.  For over 50 years the SF Pride Parade has become a fulcrum point for San Francisco politics, tourism, and culture.  With only a three-year tradition so far (since it just recently became an official federal holiday in 2021) Juneteenth now has its own promenaded.

The two most famous parades San Francisco is known for are the Gay Pride Parade every June and the Chinese New Year Parade every February.  Yet many other ethnicities and groups regularly share cultural contributions with their own annual promenades.  In fact, this city has parades I don't think many San Franciscans know about.

The Gay Pride Parade usually attracts visitors in the hundreds of thousands, yet almost a million gathered to enjoy the festivities in 2022.  The Gay Pride Parade and the Chinese New Year Parade, which welcomed 150,000 spectators in 2024, are the two cultural gatherings in San Francisco which are known the world over.   Like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City or the Rose Parade in Pasadena, many visitors from around the world plan their year around attending these quintessential San Francisco gatherings.

Gay Pride Parade

In fact, the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade is the oldest of its kind outside of China, beginning in 1851, a year after the city was founded and three years after gold was discovered.  With the dragon floats and firecrackers, it is one of the most unique experiences for an American parade-goer.

The Chinese New Year Parade  

Four parades now shut down the main arteries of the city:  the aforementioned Gay Pride, Juneteenth, and Chinese New Year Parade.  And the St. Patrick's Day Parade. 

From the Gold Rush to fifth-generation Irish Americans, like former Mayor, Lieutenant Governor, and current Governor Gavin Newsom, immigrants from the Emerald Isle have helped build the city from the days when it was a little outpost with just 800 residents.

San Francisco's St. Patrick's Day Parade is not as well-known as New York's, or even that of Chicago where they dye the Chicago river green.

The St Patrick's Day Parade

In fact, it's not that well-known to locals, even though it's been an annual event since 1851 and regularly welcomes 100,000 parade-goers annually.

G.P. Giannini, an Italian immigrant to San Francisco, founded the Bank of Italy.  After the 1906 earthquake and fire, he took what remaining assets he had, and made small loans from the back of a wagon.  That little local bank eventually became Bank of America.  Did I mention a little-known kid named Joe DiMaggio, who happened to play for the New York Yankees, was born in North Beach, our Italian neighborhood?

Columbus Day/Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day Parade

As significant as the Irish and Chinese cultural contributions are to the city, Italian immigrants found their way to the San Francisco after the Gold Rush and have been a part of the city's fabric ever since.  It was once called Columbus Day, then Italian Heritage Day, then Indigenous Peoples’ Day.  But whatever you call it, a little parade winds its way through the North Beach neighborhood to honor the Italian citizens of San Francisco every October.

Every few years, a major San Francisco sports franchise wins its respective championship game.  The San Francisco Giants recently won three World Series within five years.  The Golden State Warriors have been dominating NBA championships into the 21st century, as well.  And with each victory, comes a parade through the city to honor our local heroes.  Though there is no theme other than sharing in the collective civic enjoyment of a shared cultural experience, sometimes a victory at the right time can heal a city as well.

The Golden State Warriors Victory Parade In 2022

In his book, Season of the Witch, author David Talbot writes about another time when the city experienced anxiety over a pandemic, political upheaval, and a sports franchise that won a championship victory when the city really needed it.  

The 1982 Super Bowl victory over the Dallas Cowboys was just such an event. "Wounded by one civic trauma after the next -and long used to the dreariness of defeat on its athletic fields- San Francisco was not quite ready to give itself over to the 49ers fever.  But the numbness from all those years of grisly headlines slowly began to lift from the city.  The glow was spreading, like the first fingers of light over Twin Peaks, after an endless shroud of gloom."  

Like a tightly-wound coil from the pressures of the last four years, the Golden State Warriors put a spring in the city's step when they won the NBA championship in 2022, just as we were emerging from the 21st century horrors of political upheaval and the pandemic.  In the end, Mr. Talbot's observation of that magical time in 1982 rings true today, "Cities, like people, have souls.  And they can be broken by terrible events, but they can also be healed.  It was just a game.  It was just a catch.  But sometimes that's enough."

If you are lucky enough to be in San Francisco when one of our teams wins a championship (sorry 49ers, you came close this year) and parade through the streets, you too, can capture some of the spirit even non-sports fans share.

Though not as well-known as those in New Orleans or Rio De Janeiro, San Francisco's Carnival celebration has attracted almost half a million spectators annually for more than four decades.  Yet, in typical San Francisco style, we don't commemorate Mardi Gras as it is done traditionally in February; our Carnival Parade is in May for some reason.

From the anti-Chinese vigilantes of the 19th century (yes, the word vigilante was invented in San Francisco), to the labor warriors who often sacrificed their lives during the 1930s, to the civil rights and anti-war protests of the 1960s, San Francisco is well known as the epicenter of political and cultural activism.  

One the many protest parades common in San Francisco

Akin to the French Situationists of the 1950s and 1960s, San Francisco protests can often feature a melding of art, humor, and politics.  Market Street, the main artery of the city, is where many organizations and movements gather to exercise their First Amendment rights. 

At any one (or all) of the aforementioned parades, you may see an elderly Asian man holding a sign which begins with a mention of the, “Twelve Galaxies," often involving a current political figure.

Frank Chu, the Twelve Galaxies Guy

Like the Emperor Joshua Norton in the 1870s or Wavy Gravy in the 1960s, Frank Chu is one of the too-few eccentric personalities this city is famous for, and who has become a perennial parade participant.  He is such a well-known and beloved figure (although he is a bit curmudgeonly in person) that a popular bar appropriated the name Twelve Galaxies.  During the decade it was open, Frank Chu was a fixture there.

It doesn't matter if it is the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Chinese New Year Parade, or a protest, it is not beyond the realm of reason to see Frank Chu with a Twelve Galaxies sign exposing a perceived metaphysical injustice.  Often one only he knows about.