Partner Rick Stokes, Ross
Moore
Queer Places:
Steamworks, 2251 5th St, Sacramento, CA 95818
Ritch Street Bathhouse, 330 Ritch St, San Francisco, CA 94107
David
Irl Clayton (May 27, 1932 - September 7, 1995) was a lawyer and co-owner of
Berkeley's popular Steamworks bathhouse chain. Clayton was the partner of
attorney Rick Stokes, with whom he
owned the Ritch Street Bathhouse, a popular gay bathhouse in San Francisco
during the 1970s. According to an article about the bathhouse controversy in the Sunday Examiner, April 1, 1984, Clayton said:
"The measure Littlejohn's proposed bathhouse regulation initiative would have only a token effect and would not help in fighting AIDS.
The next step would be for police to begin to halt sexual solicitations in gay bars, gay movie houses and back room private clubs."
David Irl Clayton was born in Sacramento, the youngest child of Herbert and Ella Clayton.
He was valedictorian of his High School class. He majored in History and Russian at UCLA, then graduated from Boalt Hall at U.C. Berkeley. He then entered the U.S. Army and served as counselor to terminally ill soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.
David practiced law in Sacramento until 1967 when he became Associate Counsel with the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance. At that time he and
his partner, Rick Stokes, moved their home to San Francisco. His position permitted him to represent the poor and underprivileged. In 1969 he became Chief Counsel for the Natoma Street Office. In 1972 he entered private practice, by forming with Rick and Dale, the law partnership of Stokes, Clayton, and McKenzie.
In his youth, David was very active in Oak Park Methodist Church, and while at UCLA, the Wesley Methodist Student Fellowship. He spent two summers working at a Methodist Church in Kauai. After returning from the Army he was Lay Leader and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Oak Park Methodist. In San Francisco, Bethany Methodist Church was his spiritual home and he served that church in many positions.
Rooted in his religious heritage was a deep commitment to stewardship and to tithing; both expressing his belief that people to whom life has been more than generous have an obligation to share.
David dedicated a great deal of his personal time and resources to others. He was a very active member in a number of gay organizations—among which he was a founding member of the first gay organization in Sacramento,
Association for Responsible Citizenship, a member of the Council of Religion and the Homosexual, as well as being a founding member of the Golden Gate Business Association.
In 1982 he met Ross Moore, who became part of his core family, to whom he provided guidance and opportunity—sharing his ideals of education, service, stability, and achievement—and sharing his passions for classical music, literary fiction, travel, theater, and London.
In 1984 David left the practice of law to manage the family businesses. In this capacity he oversaw the formation of the Steamworks Health Education Office, the first privately funded safer-sex education, outreach and support effort of its kind, becoming a national model of business-community partnership in the battle against AIDS.
David served on the board and as president of the board of Theater Rhinoceros. He was a major supporter of the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. He was a patron of the Museum Society, and supported the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Modern Arts, the Symphony, and the Zoological Society.
He gave the money to build the kitchen for The Center (for PWA's) in Oakland. He was a substantial contributor to the gay unit of the new main library.
David Clayton died of AIDS related ill-ness on September 7, 1995.
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
