Your story helped me travel back in time in my mind to my first introduction to San Francisco, our West Coast gay mecca. The first time I walked into The Lone Star, the "Bear Bar" of SF, unknowing just how much I fit the profile, I had the feeling of Dorothy waking up in Oz. I met the nicest man that night, and made a lifelong friendship that lasted for 25 years until his passing. At the time I didn't know he was more or less the "mayor of BEAR SF", and he always laughed at remembering my "wonder" at having stumbled into my "niche" in the gay world. I miss him. I miss that gay space. But...I had it then, and the memories are wonderful! Thanks for the reminder to look back now and then.