In her last full year of life Doris Fish wrote a column for the San Francisco Sentinel newspaper, a free LGBT weekly. Part society column, soapbox and memoir, the year’s worth of writing are a great treasure to friends and fans. She was thoughtful, defiant, controversial, witty and eloquent to the very end.
Gratitude to Tree Pulido, who transcribed these from ancient Xeroxes!
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel October 26, 1989 City Beat Putting on the Frock By Doris Fish Everyone was shopping last week. They were three-deep at Cliff’s candle counter; the bottled water was all gone at Cala and the flashlights and batteries were the hot items at Pay N’…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel November 2, 1989 City Beat Oh, You Stunning Queens! By Doris Fish You were all stunning! I mean it, Saturday night on Castro was as lovely as ever. And thanks to the Police persons for being there. I saw no trouble during my twenty-minute…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel November 9, 1989 De-Frocking Ourselves By Doris Fish The week after Halloween is awful. Drag is anathema to even the most benign citizens. One has to be very careful; I can’t even wear my day-glo Doris Fish t-shirt to Rhythm & Motion aerobic classes…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel Classics November 23, 1989 So Much to Be Thankful For By Doris Fish Didn’t people always say, “You have so much to be thankful for!”, when you complained about how scarce your life, or more importantly, your lifestyle was? It always seemed so silly…
San Francisco Sentinel November 30, 1989 Fake Fur Rules! Ok? By Doris Fish Having dated quite a few dogs in my time (not currently darling), it’s only natural that I would feel empathy for animal rights activists. I cheered when I saw them on the news the day after Thanksgiving giving those shoppers…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel November 16, 1989 ‘Fish on Thursday’ By Doris Fish Last month everything happened on Tuesdays. This month it’s Thursdays. And this Thursday its “The Doghouse” on channel 25 at 9pm. We’re the guest “dogs” on the show! How curious that I should be so…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel December 7, 1989 Not Another Martini, Darling! Eight is My Limit By Doris Fish December is barely here, and my mailbox is bursting with smart soirée invitations. I’m flattered to be considered a good party risk. Of course, it has been years since I…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel December 14, 1989 The Doris Decade By Doris Fish The eighties started for me in 1979 when I met Miss X. With Tippi we formed the Sluts A-Go-Go, did a show and went to Australia for our South Pacific nightclub tour (really one nightclub…
San Francisco Sentinel December 21, 1989 “Fish and Dips” By Doris Fish Lacking photographic evidence, you’ll just have to believe what I tell you! I was traffic-stoppingly beautiful last week, making one of my rare public appearances at the lovely home of the still unmarried Gwynn Waters (well she’s famous to me!). I…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel December 29, 1989 Street Talk ‘Send In the Lions’ By Doris Fish I considered going to Mass on Christmas. My boyfriend and I spent the holidays with his family. I just couldn’t do it. My youthful animosity towards the Church of Rome has…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel January 5, 1990 Bay City Beat ‘She Who Would Be Empress’ By Doris Fish Of all the many ridiculous ways to waste time, running for Empress ranks up there with housework. Although I’m no expert on housework, I’m pretty proficient at ridiculous time-wasting projects so I…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel Theatre January 11, 1990 Men, Lesbians and Transsexuals By Doris Fish, Sentinel Arts Writer Joke about AIDS will never be a real trend, but I hope the nineties will bring some humor to our dastardly situation. We loved and laughed at “Terms of Endearment”…
San Francisco Sentinel January 19, 1990 ‘I’m Serious About My Career’ By Doris Fish Many years ago, I told myself, “When I hit thirty, I’ll give up show business.” Now I say, “I’ll get serious about this showbiz stuff when I hit forty.” I’m close enough to start thinking about a career again. …
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel January 26, 1990 Street Talk Fish on a Soapbox By Doris Fish Arts Writer “Save the Pigs!” was the headline for a discarded column I started some weeks back. It was not very amusing, with long turgid ramblings about the shocking cruelties inflicted on…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel Arts February 9, 1990 Chaos at Court By Doris Fish Sentinel Arts Writer Imperial politics imperil the Empress! Or rather the most vocal candidate, Vinnie. It seems she has been aggressively courting the friends and followers of rejected candidates Ggreg (“2 ‘g’s like Lloyd)…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel February 2, 1990 Street Talk Dear Doris… By Doris Fish, Sentinel Arts Writer The letters have been piling up and it’s time to air them out before they get too passé. Manny, a native of West Germany now in town, writes, “What…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel February 16, 1990 Street Talk Meanwhile, on the Other Side of the Planet By Doris Fish In the land of Oz, in sunny Sydney, it’s Mardi Gras time. Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, that is. The whole city goes almost gay for a…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel February 23, 1990 Street Talk And the Nominees Are By Doris Fish Bet you thought I meant the Oscars. No, it’s our own Outstanding Cable Car Awards! You can imagine my excitement, when for ten years I’ve been totally ignored, and now I…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel March 1, 1990 Street Talk Catholic Kids By Doris Fish, Sentinel Arts Writer When Catholics go “bad” they go whole hog. At a recent photo session for West Graphics, it came out that we’d all been Catholic children and hellcats ever since. Billi…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel April 12, 1990 Street Talk Hi, I’m Back! And So Are the ‘70s! By Doris Fish Sentinel Arts Writer In case you hadn’t noticed I’ve been out of town for a few weeks. I missed you all terribly. I trust it was mutual. What…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel April 26, 1990 Street Talk Liz Taylor Week By Doris Fish Sentinel Arts Writer It’s not really, or at least not officially Elizabeth Taylor Week, except at my boyfriend’s house where we spent Earth Day watching Liz’s sixties environmental epic, “The Sandpiper”. What a…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel May 3, 1990 Street Talk Woof, Woof Miss Chaos Pageant at Club Uranus By Doris Fish Sentinel Arts Writer “If the stage could bark…” the late Tommy Pace said, and I couldn’t help thinking of him last Sunday night at the Miss Chaos Pageant…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel May 10, 1990 Street Talk My Mother, Mildred By Doris Fish Sentinel Arts Writer My mother, Mildred, and Marilyn Monroe shared a birthday, though Mil is three years older. They also shared a slight physical resemblance which I inherited to an uncanny degree. Unfortunately,…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel May 17, 1990 Street Talk Sin City By Doris Fish How could I sink so low as to lip-synch to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and yet still have it be one of the high spots at that low dive, DNA? When housework seems suddenly…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel May 24, 1990 Street Talk Oh George, You Poor Miserable Thing By Doris Fish (Note from Tree (transcriber) Included at the end is the article Doris refers to: ‘Get a Life’ by George Buchanan, originally published in the Bay Times. TW: Nasty and hurtful comments…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel May 31, 1990 Street Talk A Quiet, Dressy Evening By Doris Fish Doris Fish, Ms. Bob Davis, Ambi Sextrous and Tippi. Photo courtesy Phillip R Ford. Date TBD, likely between 1988-90. Commissioned by Bob Davis, Doris painted this in 1990. From the left,…
San Francisco Sentinel June 14, 1990 Street Talk Birthday Boy By Doris Fish Before I regale you with “The Phil Ford Party Saga”, I must clear up slight blurring of the facts from a few weeks ago. It seems I suggested that my good, good friend Miss X was a lush! Not in…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel Street Talk June 21, 1990 Oh No, Not Another Gay Day! By Doris Fish My, how time flies! Has it really been a year? I’ve had twelve months to get ready, and I still don’t have a thing to wear! “What are you…
San Francisco Sentinel June 28, 1990 Street Talk Our Little Brothers and Sisters By Doris Fish I had difficulty feeling like part of an oppressed minority last week. If only for a few days, we were on top of the heap. We’ve been abused for centuries, we’ve been the faggots on the bottom…
San Francisco Sentinel July 12, 1990 Street Talk Hideous Old Queen By Doris Fish For once I don’t mean Miss X; I’m referring to the Queen I see in the mirror. Yes, I admit it, I’m no spring chicken. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I was carelessly calling anyone who…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel July 19, 1990 Street Talk A Letter from Paris By Doris Fish “Dear Possum, “I would write more often but nothing happens. I thought Princess Di would be plaguing me with phone calls and invitations for ‘at-homes’ with Elton John at the piano,…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel July 26, 1990 Street Talk Miss Sushi Takes a Walk By Doris Fish “A day without a lesbian is a day without sunshine,” was a piece of graffito I used to see each day scratched into the sidewalk near the Castro. Well, I had…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel August 23, 1990 Street Talk Behind the Scenes By Doris Fish You have no idea how dull my life can get. At my age it’s often a delight to be bored and not to move for hours at a time, but it does bring…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel Street Talk August 30, 1990 Wicked, Wicked Friends By Doris Fish Is your favorite friend the worst person you know? Until his death nobody was wickeder than Tommy Pace. But he was so beloved that his naughty antics were tolerated even by the victims. …
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel September 13, 1990 Street Talk Here She Is! Miss Jersey Street! By Doris Fish It would be pretty hard to write about the ‘Miss Jersey Street’ contest without mentioning Jean Marie Helmick, even though she begged me not to put her name in this…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel Street Talk August 16, 1990 Bad Thoughts, Kind Words By Doris Fish Lypsinka, Lypsinka, Lypsinka! It’s all I’ve heard for the last two weeks. I just returned from a week’s retreat in the Sequoias and my answering machine is full of the bitch. All…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel October 4, 1990 Street Talk Did I Say Something Wrong? By Doris Fish Gosh, I’m not so sure I like all this attention. Still, I stuck my neck out, so I have only myself to blame! While I take some delight in causing…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns SAN FRANCISCO SENTINEL October 18, 1990 Street Talk “Let’s Bite Each Other’s Tails Off” By Doris Fish There’s a heartbreaking phenomenon – one often reads in the tales of farm animal abuse; the victims will attack each other. Chickens peck each other to death to get…
Doris Fish’s San Francisco Sentinel Columns San Francisco Sentinel October 25, 1990 Street Talk By Doris Fish ‘So Long For Now’ Not a word. Sometimes I sit here for an hour and nothing happens. But I bless the cosmos for this wonderful chance to enlighten and annoy my friends and fellow readers. …