San Francisco's AutoErotica is the last bookstore of its kind. For owner Patrick Batt and his customers, it's an important bastion of forgotten histories. Owner Patrick Batt opened this store in 1996, long before the Starbucks and the SoulCycle moved into the neighborhood. Before the current renewed interest in gay historic material (though for some, that spark never died) saw vintage magazines sell for upwards of $100 a pop on eBay. Before the guys wearing '80s-inspired short shorts and Chuck Taylors on Fire Island were out of diapers, and before popular Instagram accounts began posting old magazine spreads, with photographers sharing their new pastiche pictorials. Blame the Internet for the death of retail stores, but it's what saved AutoErotica, thanks to the Hail Mary of a GoFundMe drive started by Batt's friend, photographer Bradley Roberge, during the pandemic. The store is also sustained by its popular Instagram (curated by Roberge), which lures folks in from near and far. New York City. England. As far off as Malaysia, which blew Batt's mind. |
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