The dank air during anonymous encounters in SOMA clubs, the gritty realty of insomniacs in the Excelsior nearing 4 a.m. and the heat wave that lured flocks of men to the Castro in '72. These visceral and scandalous scenes are the tales of the Guywriters, who discussed their stories last Tuesday at the GLBT Historical Society.

Guywriters is the Bay Area community of gay male writers, started about four years ago, that celebrates their community in the literary works. The event at the GLBT, aptly titled Queers in the Hood, was focused around three keynote writers and one contributing writer that have written prose, poetry and plays about the gay communities in San Francisco.

A writer by the name of Horehound Stillpoint shared his prose about the rough-around-the-edges gay community of SOMA, which stands for South of Market. His compilations of works were crass, but clear and full of desire for a man far from the light-in-the-loafers stereotypes that white knuckle it until they can walk down the alter. His words focused on the passion in anonymity and physical interludes in SOMA clubs, like The Stud.

"There is something about South of Market men," said Stillpoint. "Where real men have curves ... sometimes I think the whole world is going South of Market," Donald Currie, a third-generation San Franciscan, read a segment from his third installment from his CD "Sex and Mayhem Pt. 3", where the 70's gay culture and hot spots were the focus.

"Most of the city went lavender in a hurry," Currie says as he cocks his head and nods.

As he described the city in the early 60's, the other writers laughed and vocally agreed. Currie painted a picture of the exodus that couples from middle America made to the epicenter of "freaks and dark flowers." Currie even pinpointed the moment that the Castro was "discovered" on Memorial Day weekend in 1972, when the heat wave forced people out of their homes and down to the newly opened Toad Hall in the Castro. Everyone collectively seemed to say: "This place has potential."

And while Currie rehashed the quickly recognizable gay Mecca, Jaime Cortez spoke about a gay nook in San Francisco that most locals can't place on a map -- the Excelsior.

His first person narrative spoke about the people he sees in his neighborhood at 4 a.m., and the biographies that his mind creates for these nameless characters. As he spoke of the young man he imagined was afraid to go home to his parents he is approached by an El Salvadorian hustler and is faced with a dilemma: take him to his garage or take him to his bed.

All of the writers used their preferred sections of San Francisco as key characters in their pieces and after everyone read aloud, they began discussing how their gay communities are changing.

Organizer, Anthony William posed the question of whether gay ghettos are now obsolete.

"Gay ghettos are more for tourists than the community," said Alan Miller, author of 'At the Club,' a book of LGBT haikus. "Our sense of community is cyber now. Our generation may have needed more of a physical place than those now."

The discussion continued as different people echoed the belief that gay culture is becoming more integrated and accepted, so the need for a specific, tangible, community is not as necessary. They felt it was more important for some of the places to create a zone for those who need it and when they feel comfortable or when the time is right they bring those comforts to their next community.

Stillpoint brought up that even the gay club scenes are so different now with several of his SOMA spots becoming more drug driven. But he knows change is inevitable.

"It's wonderful and kind of frightening, but that's change."