Wow Amanda H. I dont know why such the hatred for The Gulch and that corner? sorry your friend lives a few blocks away but you know what...DONT WALK BY THE GULCH THEN! Simple eh? And yeah I would appreciate not shutting down Famouth because I kinda sorta totally live there and you know what...I love it! Sure there is the occasional crack head on the corner (lol what corner in SF doesnt?!), but they dont stay long and Ive never been harassed by them. The do their deal and walk on so who gives a damn? Bonus is that the bums that hang out on 5th and Folsom always sing RnB songs and call me "doll" and "lady"." Anywho, I love Falmouth St and the Gulch are great neighbors! As far as The Gulch goes, I dont go in there really (because Im a classy lady) but they seem nice and they have my favorite porn poster in all of SF inside. The one of the guy with white pants on grabbing his crotch staring seductively (and slightly retardedly) from beneath his unibrow. I love it....Ive named him Unibulge! read more

[This is a fluctuating review, in that I'll adjust it per visit.] 2015 October 28th: ONE STAR * My Blue Moon visit spoilt by a less-than-helpful clerk. Hey, I get it: it's just retail, it's a jizz joint, all kinds walk in, and it's still in a neighbourhood that side of sketchy. One doesn't have to be particularly bright to work here, but just because someone does work here doesn't mean they're mentally deficient either. So here's the irritating problem I faced to-day: At 1.30 I visited, but the clerk kindly told me 'The arcade's closed. They're not finished back there yet.' I nodded and asked when it would re-open. His response: 'I don't know. They haven't told me. I'm sorry. They'll just finish when they finish.' It all seemed genial enough, though a bit vague. Of course I made the mistake of assuming that we were both referring to the arcade being closed temporarily due to a mid-day cleaning by janitorial staff. So when I returned 40 minutes later and the arcade was still off limits, I asked how long did it normally take for the janitors to clean it. NOW - FINALLY - the clerk tells me that he never said they were cleaning. Rather, there are workmen doing some carpentry. They'd been working since early that morning. I am flabbergasted. I ask him why he didn't tell me in the first place. He rolls his eyes and smirks to another person in the store. I then spend a little time at the counter composing this review. He uses his eyes to call me a 'dick' and I do the same but with my lips, and leave. One or two bad experiences here out of so very many orgasmic ones will hardly keep me away. And I suspect that within a week or two, I'll get a chance to return - maybe even bump into Casey Williams again! - and the score will return to its normal FOUR STARS. Until then, to-day's visit has left me with a bad taste in my mouth, rather like an unwashed/shitty arse or a cheesy foreskin. 2015 August 12th: FOUR STARS * * * * It is so much easier to find sex when one's gay rather than straight, especially in this city (or so my straight friends tell me). And I do so appreciate The Folsom Gulch. Sure they have sex toys and some clothing to purchase, but it's those blessed porn video booths in the back that draw me back every so often. I find most afternoon visits rather sparse when it comes to the quality of partners. There also seems to be a limit on versatility in the clientèle. Evenings do fare better on both counts. Still, there are times when the reverse is true. So it's hit or miss, I'm afraid. The holes are an adequate size - in the partitions between booths - but larger ones would be fun, and allow for more rimming and dick+ball play. There is one over-sized booth which is excellent for 3-5 people, or to ride a guy's ass while he's on all fours on the ground. The video monitors a not too small. They do have an irritating habit of blacking-out every minute or so, and then resuming your video about 10 seconds later. Don't know what that's about. I find it a great place to arrange for a quickie with a Grindr or Craigslist hook-up. The area is being built up, and it's right next to a fire station, but it still feels a little dangerous to venture there without keeping an eye out for trouble. read more

Four Stars because I was pleasantly surprised to FINALLY find that Folsom Gulch had finished (?) their redesign/construction project that was started May-ish of this year. At that time, they said they were hoping to have it done "before PRIDE" - that didn't happen, and in fact it wasn't even done by the time Dore Alley rolled around, at the end of July. I'm not sure about the wisdom of reducing the number of booths by more than half, even with the added larger room for larger format porn viewing and other group activity. We'll see, or they'll see, if it was a sensible move or not, or even a cost-effective one. The remodel has yielded a couple good things: the place is clean, and maybe more importantly, it looks like maybe it'll be easier to keep clean. Also the booths, shortage of them as may be the case, are larger, considerably larger. Oh and another bonus is that while the bathroom "door" hasn't changed (western style, it swings back and forth), there's now a working soap dispenser, and a sensible faucet at the sink. AND it seems the store personnel are paying better attention to keeping the paper towel dispenser stocked. Now, if they could figure out how to get the low-lifes to not put paper towels in the toilet, that would be an achievement. For now though, even the bathroom seems clean. Hopefully patrons will realize we all have a part to play in the clean factor. Yeah, I know, if I'm so concerned with CLEAN, why am I going THERE? Because I like it CLEAN, that's why. The dicks (not the good kind) who have already started to stick their gum to the walls and light their smokes and joints inside the establishment, well, they need to be called out and then kicked out. I'd also have thought it would be more crowded, even on a Monday afternoon/evening, considering the permanent closure over the weekend of the Nob Hill Theatre. It might take a while for patrons to wander back, after the way-way-way too long construction project, and even then, with so many fewer booths, the place might not really be able to accommodate the crowds they used to get - maybe that's by design? Wish you luck, Folsom Gulch, because we can't really afford to lose these kinds of places to play. Maybe I'm a naive fatalist, but they seem to be disappearing at a fairly steady rate. Hopefully management here will keep the place clean. And maybe consider a better use for the large-ish dead-zone space, the area just outside the bathroom - it seems like a candidate for better use. And maybe now they'll also keep the focus on customer service which tends to lack here depending on who's staffing the store. read more

I went in here one day after work. The guys looked at me strange. SF is a city of gender variants, drag queens, etc. They then said, "We don't have a lot of women come around here". Then I said in my best gay voice, "Oh hun, I am not a woman". But they were older and I am really really petite. But come on...JAWLINE! I bought a dildo here and plan to come back to get some more sex toys. They also have a good selection of CURRENT gay porn. It's cool that apparently they have a gay sex arcade. It's like to try it(if I was single)...after all, that tankie and short shorts aren't in my closet because I layer them over leggings. ;) read more

This South of Market survivor has always been my go to place for 'personal needs' fir going on 25 years now. Open late, with a large selection of videos, toys, clothing, herbals, and 'electrical contact cleaners', the prices are reasonable, and the staff, in particular Mica from a quick stop there this evening, are helpful, knowledgeable, and super friendly. Now if they can just figure out parking! read more

Parker is one amazing individual! Great vibe and knows all about great customer service! Thank you for making my first experience here a delight! read more

Took myself off to Folsom Gulch on a Wednesday afternoon around 4pm. Paid $10 to the friendly guy on the desk to enter the arcade. The place was busy, with guys leaning nonchalantly against the wall. Blue-collar dude scooped me up straightaway and pushed me to my knees. Don't usually care for being pushed around, but hey, this guy alone was worth the trip. After he zipped up, I checked out a gloryhole or five. Without exception, the guys are masters of their craft. I'm definitely coming again ;-) Message me if you have any questions. read more

Excellent place to meet other guys for something quick and easy. I've gone here 5 times over the past year and have never left disappointed. Best times for me are weekdays over lunch so I can be fed a liquid meal (or 3!) Seems to be a great place for businessmen to stop in, unzip at a gloryhole booth and feed a willing mouth--perfect for what I'm looking for--uncomplicated anonymous sex with a nice cock. read more

A complete waist of money. They should count the people they let in. 20 minutes allowed in the back during busy times.....I spent 30 waiting. Whatever....done. read more

I love this place. Sure the guys have a little attitude & who can blame them? The neighborhood is changing and that means so are the neighbors. If you value old school SF, and are (read) HOMOSEXUAL, then no probs. Its clean, they offer so-so tools but then again its a BOOKSTORE. It ain't no leather dungeon. Bottom line: no frills, no bulls*t, and you walk a way with a grin on your face and dirty draws. What could be better? read more

This place is a real great time, i stumbled in here on a tuesady night back in 05 with my x his name starts with F, it was a great night of blaring Amanda Blank and dancing seductivly for him, Amidst all of this i noticed out of the corner of my eye a midnight black woman dancing on the corner to what sounded to be cotton eyed joe. I was immediately entranced! My x who's name starts with a F led the way as we entered what is called THE FOLSOM GULCH, imminently i was taken into a dark room with many, many penises peaking their heads out of tiny holes, before i knew it i had one in my eye, nose, mouth, and between my big toe and second toe, it was beyond thrilling, when it was all said and done my x boyfriend who's name starts with a F came down from the ceiling in a harness, apparently he thought it was a rock climbing wall, to say the least we both had fun ;) read more

If I could score lower I probably would do so. I was really hoping that the new design of the gulch would make it better than it was before. To my surprise and shock, the inside was destroyed by building a big theater room with benches that no one uses. Also, the new design took away from the number of rooms you can go into to play. There are 7 booths but only 6 have doors that lock and 4 of the video players are broken and don't come on at all. The lock on 1 of the booth doors has been broken since the very beginning. Usually, you can stand or lean for 60 to 90 minutes because many of the people there don't come out of the booths at all. Waste of money. Most times there is no paper in the bathroom at all, nor soap to wash your hands. Once to my surprise, I hit the right night when everyone was cute, fun and less than 300 pounds. Only once. Also, I always feel bad for the staff trying to work with the old, out of date computer and printer. I think it works on DOS - whatever that is. Why wouldn't the owner fix the place up so that it's decent? It's almost like the owner of the miserably constructed Blow Buddies is the same owner of Folsom Gulch in the way they show the love for their business. For $10 let me see what you may get -- Nothing at all but a waste of time and money. read more

What ever happened to class? It's poking through the glory hole of your next door neighbors video booth. In this age of grndr hookups Folsom Gulch is a delightfully visceral experience. You know what you're getting into or vice versa. The carousel of slamming doors and pitter patter of pacing addicts adds to the ambience of this last of its kind video arcades. 10$ to come in and stay until you've gotten your money's worth. Don't bring the family to this one. It's a solo experience. read more

Folsom Gulch is just OK. The depth and breadth of their sex toys is sub par in comparison to other porn stores that I've visited--and believe me when I say that I've been to A LOT of porn stores. Hey! Everyone needs a hobby! Don't judge. Back to the review-- The arcade area is fairly gross, but you can't really expect much from this area. However, the main problem with the arcade is that every booth has at least 3 or 4 peepholes/gloryholes whereby other passionate patrons of porn may watch you "handle your business." I don't begrudge anyone their voyeuristic pleasure, but sometimes you just don't want to be watched. It;s extremely annoying. There needs to be 2 or 3 booths that are peep-prohibited. read more

The store was good. However, the clerk was not . I paid 20$ to yelp and bought $52 worth of merchandise. He charged me an an extra $32. When I questioned him on it. He said coupon was only for 10$. I had to go to my bank account on line and show him it was 20. He then rang up a 22$ duplicate bill. And said it would be fixed. Two days later the $32. Still remains. I am on vacation in SF. And now have to go back there and deal with them again. Not happy here! read more

Stopped by last night to pick up a quick item..we arrived ten minutes before the store was scheduled to close..As soon as we opened the door,one of the men behind the counter screamed Goddamnit! And slammed down his cash drawer.. the other gentleman politely informed us that they were closed. As we were walking out we asked if we could just give him cash for the item. He replied that he has NO IDEA how to calculate tax on a 20 dollar item and so refused to accommodate our simple request. When we arrived at our next stop(a bar) the man there told us he'd had a similar unpleasant interaction with the drama queen I mentioned before....Avoid this place and give your money to a business who appreciates your patronage.Will NEVER patronize this establishment again read more

Return to this place after being enticed by Yelp offer but my reviews cannot be bought. When presented with the offer, he seemed bothered by it and I asked if it was good for all merchandise, he said it wasn't good for arcade and good on all others so I bought an item yet tried to be helpful on redemption procedure but got a dirty look from him for being too aggressive. The backroom is a real dive as it was last time and attendance was light. The patrons were mostly aging locals and hard working blue collar workers who just got off work. If you are into sweaty and smelly men, this is the place read more

Yeah no. Staff were super rude and uninterested. Thank you for being yet another shitty adult store that confirms the stereotypes.

I'd heard of Folsom Gulch; so, during Folsom Steet Fair 2009 weekend, I checked this place out. What a raunchy dive....But, that's okay, raunch can be fun! There's the bookstore in the front, but most guys head straight to the private video cabins in back. Well, they're mostly private. There's gloryholes in between 'em. Spent a little time in the back; and like anything else, the selection of men can be a total crap shoot. There was a range of blue-collar types, younger guys on their lunch breaks to persistent trolls. read more

Been there only once (last week). Paid $10 to use only the booths. The back room where the booths are smelled pretty bad (I went in at about 1:30am). The booths were pretty dirty (really sticky floors, cum on the floor). I liked that I could watch porn w/out having to worry about putting money in the machines (the $10 covers it). I also liked that at Folsom Gulch you can pretty much hook up freely (i.e. go into booths w/other guy without worrying about a 1-person only rule), which a lot of guys were doing when I was there. I ended up just jacking off and not hooking up w/anyone since I wasn't feeling any of the guys, but I plan to be back another time. A pet peeve of mine when using glory holes is dealing w/the pushy guys who keep fucking peeking and putting their fingers through the gh's when clearly one isn't interested! They're pretty much at any arcade booth you go to. ***Note: I gave Folsom Gulch a shot before, but the guy at the front was having, I'm assuming, a bad day because he was snappy and bitchy. He told me I would have to wait at least 15 minutes if I wanted to pay the $ 10 to access the booths because he was transferring registers w/the other guy who was starting his shift I guess. I didn't mind waiting, but I didn't appreciate his bitchy tude so I ended up leaving. Fortunately, the bitchy guy wasn't there when I did go to the booths. The guy who was at the register was actually pretty cool (tall bearish young guy). read more

The clerk (the old man with moustache and big belly) wasn't friendly at all, he kept looking disrespectful at us. We were going to buy a jockstrap but there wasn't the size of the one we wanted so we were deciding for another jockstrap then the clerk told us to leave because our 20 minutes browsing time had finished (actually it's less than 10 minutes we were there), really!!!!! So we left and glad that we didn't spend our money at his shop. read more

Many fun sex spots are in seedy areas. Thats a truism. Unless youre wearing a gold watch and expensive clothes, look like Gomer Pyle fresh from the boonies, or look like a lost little puppy, probably no one will give you any trouble. This is not just a San Francisco thing- anywhere in the US of A you can expect the same at an adult bookstore/sex parlor. I had some very hot nasty sex with two or three masculine men. And I agree, why are prudish folks and uptight women visiting the Gulch anyway? It is obviously a gay hook-up joint. Are people today really that naive and uninformed that they cant recognize a gay adult bookstore compared to a 'married couples' lingerie shop? read more

Great mix of men in the back rooms. Way better than anything we have in Arizona. The older gentleman at the counter was way friendly and helpful when looking for a specific product. read more

If I could give it more stars I definitely would! I walked in at 4:40pm today, a Saturday. I was greeted by the clerk and once he confirmed I was aware what type of activities went on in the arcade I paid my $10 and headed back. All I can say is for a submissive bottom I was in heaven! Within minutes I had drained my first beautiful cock and by 6:00 I had pleasured 14 with my talented mouth and had another 4 slam me hard through the glory holes! Every been except one has great size holes and everyone I encountered was clean and respectful. If I lived in this city I would have to get a second job to support my Gulch arcade habit! I easily could have stayed all night and serviced an unlimited supply of hard Tops but honestly my knees got sore and I ran out of condoms so I went ahead and left. I will definitely be back! I wonder if I can go back there dressed as the sissy slut I am? read more

Their prices keep going up while the service and clientele deteriorate. Staff now closes the back at 6pm to kick out anyone who hasn't paid for an extended entry, rude and a mood killer. read more

Clerks are unhelpful and obviously don't do any cleaning. The booths in the arcade are grose and dirty. Some doors don't lock, some tv's are broken and majority of the channels don't play. Obviously, management doesn't care if the arcade make's money or not. It's very outdated and run down. read more

Best place in the city if you're looking for hot, ananymous M2M encounter, adult "toys", and DVD's. The staff are helpful, courteous, and go above and beyond to keep out the "trash". read more

So, I tried to buy a family pack, because my wife and kids were with me, but the guy said they don't have any family rates (which totally sucks), but then my wife said it's okay honey, the kids and I would rather stand out here and watch drug deals going down, you go on in and take your time (she's a problem-solver, my little lady!), so I went on in but couldn't find the musicals so I got some erotic massage DVDs, and for later after the kids are put to bed, something special that I think she and my in-laws will find very amusing, but then I remembered that my wife's dad doesn't like ethnic stuff, and the man behind the counter suggested a bootleg of Rush Limbaugh doing the nasty on a P-town dance floor, but I can't get excited by all that leather-and-boas business, so I left kind of dejected but a nice gentleman down the street was showing my teenagers how to load a pipe, so all-in-all, it was a good outing, we all learned something, and I'm giving Folsom Gulch four stars for unidentifiable aroma, flattering (nearly non-existent) lighting, wholesome atmosphere, and rockin' soundtrack. read more

fancier and sleezier than City Entertainment. the guys vary in the arcade. the employees are nice and accommodating considering the activities that go on in the back and on Folsom Street. depending on the time of night and the day, there are some tweekers and drunks but overall a good place to get off. read more