In a year marked by increased attacks on gay rights, this year’s Pride — titled “Queer Joy is Resistance” — underscores joy as a form of defiance and survival. “Here in San Francisco, our community is celebrated,” said San Francisco Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford. “We’re not going to stand for what we’re facing.”
With this in mind, Mission Local spoke to three LGBTQ+ business owners in the Mission to learn about how they came to San Francisco, and what “community” means to them.
Hila Gelato
Ilary “Hila” Biondo, who owns the eponymously named Hila Gelato located at 951 Valencia St., opened her shop in June 2023 after moving to the United States from Italy to be closer to her wife, a San Francisco-based acoustic engineer who met Biondo on a trip back to Italy in 2021 to renew her visa.
“San Francisco is one of the most welcoming places in the world,” said Biondo. ”I’ve felt nothing but supported here.”
From the moment Biondo saw the space on Valencia, she knew it was the perfect place for her business. “I felt a connection, something about that stretch of Valencia Street, with its view toward Liberty Hill, kept calling me. The shop had been an ice cream shop before, and it just felt right,” said Biondo.
Biondo has worked in the food industry her entire life. Growing up in the Sicilian countryside and then relocating to Palermo, she made olive oil and learned from farmers and chefs on the job, first as a waiter, then sous chef, then as the owner of a small wine bar. “It was in Sicily, as a gelato chef for ten years, that I really found my craft,” said Biondo. “I developed my own recipes there, which became popular with locals and tourists alike. “That hands-on, traditional approach still guides me.”
“Community is everything,” added Biondo. “Feeling like you belong gives you strength, and solidarity is how we all grow. For me, hospitality is the foundation. Even more than making good gelato. I want my shop to be a place where people feel safe, welcome, and seen.” Biondo sees making food by hand, from scratch, is a simple and powerful way to build community with one another. To that end, she also teaches gelato-making classes.
Casements
Gillian Fitzgerald, originally from Ireland, moved to San Francisco nearly two decades ago. “People meet you at face level here,” she said, of how she fell in love with the city. “I feel very, very blessed for that.”
In January of 2020, Fitzgerald opened Casements, at 2351 Mission St. with two other bar industry veterans, Sean O’Donovan and Chris Hastings. They named the bar after Roger Casement, a gay, Irish-born poet and diplomat who exposed colonial atrocities perpetuated by the rubber industry against the indigenous peoples of Peru and the Congo, and advocated for Irish independence.
Six weeks after Casement’s official opening, the city shut down as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Miraculously, said Fitzgerald, the community kept the bar afloat. Casements was able to set up a parklet and open a back patio — originally a parking lot. They now have a bar that is four times bigger than the bar they opened with.
A sign in front of the bar reads “Be Good or Be Gone” — which also happens to be Fitzgerald’s philosophy of what Casements should be — a safe space where customers can socialize with each other comfortably and establish new friendships. “It starts with creating the space for people to meet — that’s what we try and orchestrate. We have the seating organized outside to encourage people to actually mingle and not just stick with their groups. We’ve got to get everybody on the same page.”
Arcana
As a teenager, Naz Khorram’s activism in the 2009 Green Movement in Iran landed them in prison, and then solitary confinement. Moving to San Francisco to study art was a way out. To help support themself, they worked as a prep cook, then cashier, then server, then event manager.
Opening Arcana, a natural wine bar, restaurant, music venue and plant boutique at 2512 Mission St. in 2021 brought together Khorram’s skills in art, food, and hospitality.
Khorram regularly books other queer artists and performers at Arcana, such as Miami-based DJ Coffintexts and local DJ Queenie, and encourages LGBTQ+ people to apply for openings at Arcana. To Khorram, creating economic opportunity is one of the most meaningful ways to support the queer community.
When looking for a location for Arcana, Khorram knew they wanted it to be within an immigrant neighborhood. “The communities of all backgrounds across Mission bring us a vibrant food, music and art scene that I admire. Mission has long been a home for queer communities of color, trans folks, artists, activists, and working-class LGBTQ+ people who didn’t always feel fully represented or welcome in more mainstream gay enclaves,” they said.
“Add these two to the wonderful sunny days Mission offers us, and this is exactly where Arcana and myself belong — the most diverse, vibrant, inclusive and sunny neighborhood in our beautiful city.”