49th Annual Pride Celebration Dazzles San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- After the iconic pride parade along Market Street wrapped at Civic Center Plaza, the parties heated up in the Castro. Whether they were inside bars or out on the street, people danced their hearts out in the name of pride.

"My pride is going prideful, I love it, it's energy, it's giving me life and I love life," said Tina O'Hear of Oakland. Thousands of people sported colorful rainbow looks in celebration of pride.

"Dress and look how you want to with no judgement from anybody, that's one of the best parts about it for me," said Kenneth Bronson of San Francisco.

Business was big Sunday evening. Long lines formed just about everywhere you looked in the Castro, including outside the ever-popular Hot Cookie.

"We do like three times more than we usually do," said Hot Cookie Assistant manager Evan Sermeno. "We try to keep it fun, try to keep it interesting."

Park Gyros on Castro Street said it saw more than 1,200 customers this weekend. Normally, it gets about 500.

"We open until 2 a.m. and then it's going to be very busy and everyone is happy to be here to eat our gyros and hummus," said owner Ali Yaldiz.

Philip Gallardo says he made a trip from LA because San Francisco pride is unlike any other.

"Honestly from LA, a lot of people are more superficial, I feel like coming to San Francisco everybody's more down to earth, everybody feels each other's vibe, everybody connects with each other more, and it's just like I said, all about love," said Gallardo.

The celebrations began Sunday morning with the city's 49th Annual Pride Parade. KPIX 5 was a proud sponsor and our employees and their friends and family marched and waved at the crowd from a double decker bus.

The parade wasn't completely trouble-free. Just minutes after the start, a group of protesters broke down barricades and blocked the procession at Market and Sixth, chaining themselves together inside rainbow tubes. The protesters eventually agreed to leave, and the parade resumed without any major disruptions about and hour later.

"Everyone was amazing at the parade, the music, the after-party at Civic Center," said Araceli Smith of Concord. "All the music, the people there, just happiness all around."

SFPD says officers took two people into custody during the protest.

RELIVE THE ENTIRE 2019 SF PRIDE PARADE: KPIX Full Broadcast: 49th Annual San Francisco Pride Parade