The Catacombs: Iconic Place

Steve McEachern founded the Catacombs private fisting club at 3343 21st Street in May 1975 and managed it until his death there on August 21, 1981. The legendary Catacombs was the epitome of the influential clubs that defined San Francisco’s leather and S&M community before AIDS. Jack Fritscher chronicled the Catacombs and photographed its interior in a dozen historic images published with his landmark essay, “The Catacombs: Fistfucking in a Handball Palace,” in Drummer 23 (July 1978). A personal friend of McEachern, Fritscher continued to document the club’s history, culture, and significance in Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer, Gay Pioneers, Profiles in Gay Courage, and Founding Folsom Street.