LGBTQ Leather memoir

LBTQ Leather Memoir

Augmented Reality Documentary 2021

This video is test sample of the Augmented Reaslity app for the Robert Opel bootprint.   Running the app on their phone/tablet when the viewer approaches the Robert Opel bootprint marker in Ringold Alley a 3D graphic of a boot appears.  When the viewer taps the boot on their screen historical images, text and sound appear.

The City of San Francisco has designated the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood as a LGBTQ and Leather Historic District preserving the history and culture of the area.  In response local activists, historians, LGBTQ/leather organizations, community members and businesses built the San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley in Ringold Alley. I am creating an Augmented Reality (AR) documentary app for viewers to experience this history on phone or tablet at the memorial.

Ringold Alley between 8th and 9th streets is designed as a historic walk. The Alley memorializes LGBTQ and Leather institutions, businesses and individuals who created spaces, organizations and entertainment for the LBTQ and Leather community in SOMA. Along the block granite markers are carved with the names of businesses and institutions in SOMA. Brass boot prints in the sidewalks are etched with the names of deceased leaders, business people, artists, activists and residents of SOMA.

The AR app tells the stories of individuals and institutions with video/audio interviews, photographs, 3D models of artifacts and animations. A viewer points their device’s camera at a boot print marker and the app detects information on it. A 3D model of an artifact related to the individual appears on the screen overlaid on the marker. The viewer can interact with the 3D object and bring up images, stories, audio/video interviews. Each boot print and granite marker will have information in the app that tells its story. The App will be available free for iOS and Android devices.

In my conversations with individuals involved in the creation of the history alley they have all said that the information recorded there was incomplete.  The markers in the alley provide only names of businesses, institutions and places; the brass boot prints only list names and the person’s affiliations.  The designers of the memorial are excited about the potential of having an app that would flesh out the story for visitors to Ringold Alley.  This includes locals and international visitors who come to San Francisco wanting to know more about the area and the city’s history.  SF and SOMA are LGBTQ and Leather meccas that historically have offered a site of safety and freedom for people from around the world.