Given Harvey Milk mural 575 castro street

{image via towelroad.}

hands down, my favorite moment from last night's oscars was when dustin lance black won for best original screenplay for MILK.  i cried throughout the entire film and i cried throughout dustin's entire acceptance speech.  mascara was everywhere -- on the couch, on my dress, on my cat.

i first learned of harvey milk in college when i saw the documentary the times of harvey milk. (be sure to move it to the top of you netflix queue if you haven't seen it yet!)  after graduation, i moved to san francisco and lived in the castro district where harvey's spirit still thrives and continues to inspire.

Harvey milk premiere castro theatre

{above left: harvey milk and friend rick nichols, 1977;  above right: premiere of MILK at the castro theatre, 2008.}

the building that once housed harvey milk's camera shop and campaign headquarters, located at 575 castro street, is now one of the best one-of-a-kind gift shoppes in san francisco.  it's called given, and the owner, nick romero, not only possesses impeccable taste in art, accessories, and funishings, but he is also one of the friendliest neighborhood merchants around.

Given shop 575 castro street milk

nick cherishes the history of the his store's location and even commissioned artist john baden to paint a mural on given's wall to memorialize the historical and beloved supervisor.  the mural depicts a beautiful array of colors, 60s-inspired flourishes, and a gun.  but instead of firing a bullet, the gun fires harvey milk's most famous quote: "If a bullet should enter my brain, let the bullet destroy every closet door."

Given shop 575 castro street harvey milk mural 2

last year, given's location was used for the principal photography for MILK.  the gift shoppe closed for six weeks and underwent a complete transformation to replicate milk's historical camera shop and campaign headquarters.

Given shop 575 castro street transformation milk

what's not to whorange?  be sure to visit nick's fabulous shoppe the next time you're in san francisco!  also, you can visitgiven online.

{image of mural via lucin da lunicy.  images of given interiors via yelp.}