San Francisco Ballet School Francisco Ballet. Harold Christensen continued as director of the newly named San Francisco Ballet School until his retirement in 1975. Under Harold Christensen, a nonprofessional curriculum flourished alongside its professional training, with programs targeted at students from very young children to working adults. However, the School became and remained a strictly classical academy for the 33 years that Christensen served as its head. This was particularly advantageous in light of the many directorial changes at SF Ballet, as school students who became company members were able to provide valuable continuity in the face of multiple directorial changes. The Ford Foundation
Castro District, San Francisco of their sexuality. Many settled in the Bay Area, San Francisco and Sausalito. In San Francisco, an established gay community had begun in numerous areas including Polk Street (which used to be regarded as the city's gay center from the 1950s to the early 1980s), the Tenderloin and South of Market. The 1950s saw large amounts of families moving out of the Castro to the suburbs in what became known as the "White flight", leaving open large amounts of real estate and creating attractive locations for gay purchasers. By 1963, the Castro's first gay bar was opened called the "Missouri