San Francisco Ballet Building Boston Globe" noted, "Dance people don't merely visit the San Francisco Ballet building: They make pilgrimages to it." The San Francisco Ballet was the first professional ballet company in the United States. The company was founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. In 1942, the ballet separated from the San Francisco Opera to become its own independent company. The company’s performances are currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco. It is among the world’s leading dance companies, presenting over 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans
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