People vs. Owen Bathhouse Closure Litigation Records, 1984-1987

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Summary

Creators:
San Francisco (Calif.). Bureau of Communicable Disease Control.
Abstract:
Court documents and other records related to the case People of the State of California, ex rel. George Agnost, et al. vs. Ima Jean Owen, et al. (Superior Court No. 830-321), aka People vs. Owen, filed October 10, 1984, by San Francisco City Attorney George Agnost and Director of Public Health Mervyn Silverman, in an effort to close fourteen bathhouses, sex clubs, bookstores, and adult movie theaters by claiming them to be a public nuisance, in response to the burgeoning AIDS epidemic.
Extent:
1 carton (1.0 cubic feet)
Language:
Collection materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], People vs. Owen Bathhouse Closure Litigation Records, 1984-1987 (SFH 31), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

Background

Scope and content:

The bulk of the material consists of copies of pleadings filed by both plaintiffs and defendants, including declarations of physicians, public health experts, and investigators, upon which the City based its application for a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, and permanent injunction to enforce Dr. Silverman's closure order of Oct. 9, 1984; along with subsequent court filings, including writs of supersedeas, a summons, the modified preliminary injunction, depositions, supplemental declarations, exhibits, and a defendants' first set of interrogatories. There is also some case-related correspondence, including letters, memos, articles, and investigative reports, between city officials, law firms, private investigators, and community organizations. Some correspondence concerns proposed legislation to transfer jurisdiction for bathhouses from the Police Code to the Health Code.

The declarations in support of the bathhouse closures are of particular interest, as they reflect a representative set of medical and official points of view on businesses that facilitate public gay sex and the relationship of these businesses to the spread of AIDS. Declarants include Mervyn Silverman, Director of Public Health (DPH); Dean Echenberg, Director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at DPH; faculty and administrators at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), Mount Zion Hospital, the AIDS Activities Office, San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, California State Department of Health Services, the Center for Disease Control; and several private investigators.

Biographical / historical:

The court case People of the State of California, ex rel. George Agnost, et al. vs. Ima Jean Owen, et al. (Superior Court No. 830-321), aka People vs. Owen, filed Oct. 10, 1984 by San Francisco City Attorney George Agnost and Director of Public Health Mervyn Silverman, documents the efforts of the San Francisco Department of Public Health to close fourteen bathhouses, sex clubs, bookstores, and adult movie theaters by claiming them to be a public nuisance, as a response to the then-new knowledge of sexual methods of AIDS transmission. More broadly, the case positions San Francisco in a local and ultimately national public debate over AIDS–related policies in the 1980s, in which city officials, community activists, and private citizens struggle with the relationship between public health and gay civil rights.

Defendant businesses in the original Oct. 10 complaint were: The Academy; The Animals; The Boot Camp; Club Baths of San Francisco; California Baths Corp.; Club San Francisco; Folsom Gulch Books; Gartman Enterprises; Jack's Turkish Baths; Jaguar Book Store; The Savages Theater; San Francisco Health Club; Tea Room Theater; The Slot Hotel; The Baths.

Although the provenance of this collection is unknown, based on the organization and original notations on the material, the records appear to be from the files of Dean Echenberg, then-Director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Acquisition information:
The collection was acquired via an anonymous donation December 18, 1996.
Processing information:

During processing, the entire collection was re-foldered and re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes. Some metal staples remain.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in two series: Series 1. Sex clubs/Bathhouses Subject Files, 1984-1986; Series 2. Court documents, 1984-1987. Series 2 is arranged chronologically.

Physical location:
Open for research. The collection is offsite and advance notice is required for retrieval. Material must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research and available for use during San Francisco History Center hours. Photographs are available during Photo Desk hours. This collection must be requested at least 4 business days in advance of visit.

Four confidential documents written between City Attorneys and Department of Public Health officials are restricted from public access.

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], People vs. Owen Bathhouse Closure Litigation Records, 1984-1987 (SFH 31), San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

Location of this collection:
San Francisco Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102, US
Contact:
(415) 557-4567
sfhistory@sfpl.org
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