paper cut of 5 people standing outside the Bearded Lady Truckstop Cafe, arms around eachother, looking cool and fun.

The Bearded Lady Truckstop Cafe

An Oral History of the San Francisco Dyke Scene

The Bearded Lady Truckstop Cafe: An Oral History of the San Francisco Dyke Scene is the story of a group of extraordinary artists, writers, musicians, and performers who carved out a space for themselves in a world that wanted to erase them.

We hear from trans icons Silas Howard, Daniel Sea, and Lynn Breedlove; authors and artists Harry Dodge, Ali Liebegott, Shoshana von Blanckensee, Stanya Kahn, and Lisi DeHaas; filmmakers Sarah Kennedy, Sini Anderson, and Tai Uhlmann; cultural activists Cara Page, Zeph Fishlyn and Elissa Sloan Perry; tattoo artist Idexa Stern; astrologer Jessica Lanyadoo and many, many others. Includes personal photographs and art by Miriam Klein Stahl

Through intimate interviews, woven together without narrator intervention, the reader is drawn into the excitement of the mid ’90s in San Francisco, a time when lesbians and dykes were flocking to the Mission District, rent was cheap, and anything was possible.

Black and white photo of two fabulously dressed people., wearing boots, crop tops, sun glasses. They are standing close together talking in an outside park
Two masc/butch appearing people with their arms around each other behind a crouded counter and flanked by packed shelves in a cafe. Menu on chalkboard behind them. One is wearing a flanel and has a red tiny mohawk.

Currently looking for agent or publisher for this book, reach out!

Gay Pride/Freedom parade in SF, background is a line of marchers with Maitri AIDS hospice banner, in the forground is two shirtless men kissing holding large signs that say "It's Clear We're Queer" and "Thank God We're Gay!"

Advance Praise

“The Bearded Lady Truckstop Cafe: an Oral History of the San Francisco Dyke Scene is full velocity multi vocal noisy alive jostling storytelling about a visionary time and place that continues to inspire, challenge and invite generations of queer punk feminist experiments. I love how this book is so specific in where it comes from and who it’s about and yet splashes far past those borders to bring us all into our own understanding of fierce, lively, necessary community.”
— Madeline ffitch, author of Stay and Fight
Paper cut of a woman with her hands in her curly hair, nose ring and flowered sweater, at a cafe