Harvey Milk Plaza


Harvey Milk Plaza is a transit plaza at the Castro Muni Metro subway station commemorating Harvey Milk, in San Francisco's Castro District, in the U.S. state of California.

History

When the Castro MUNI METRO subway station opened in 1980, it featured a transit plaza that has served thousands of commuters and visitors to the Castro for 38 years. In 1985, the plaza was dedicated to Harvey Milk, who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US and assassinated in 1978. In attendance were Mayor Dianne Feinstein, Harvey Milk's successor to the SF Board of Supervisors Harry Britt, and President of the Board of Supervisors John Molinari. In 1997, a flagpole dedicated to Milk was added to the plaza grounds. It flew the iconic rainbow flag designed by Gilbert Baker that has become a world-wide symbol for the LGBTQ community. Photographs from various stages of Milk's life were installed in the plaza in 2006 and "blessed" by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
The Castro MUNI/METRO subway station and Harvey Milk Plaza were designed by the architectural firm Reid & Tarics Associates. Howard Grant AIA was the principal in charge of design.
In 2017, designs were submitted to renovate the memorial. The winning submission belonged to Perkins Eastman.