After a prominent feature in Life magazine in 1964, it was considered the archetypal leather bar, helping to cement San Francisco's reputation as the "gay capital" of the US.

The patronage of the Tool Box included influential personalities of the early San Francisco leather scene, among others artist Bill Tellman, Jack H. (owner of the Detour and the Slot, co-owner of Febe's), artist Mike Caffee (creator of the logo and a statue for Febe's),[3] as well as the Satyrs Motorcycle Club (oldest gay motorcycle club in the US) from Los Angeles.

[6] The article also included an interview with Bill Ruquy, part owner of the bar, who detailed the strict dress code that excluded tennis shoes among other garments that did not fit the biker aesthetic.

[4] Especially for queer men living in conservative small towns, the publication shed a spotlight on this gay subculture of butch leathermen, who did not fit the widespread clichés of the 'effeminate homosexual'—and where to find them.

The interior of the bar prominently featured oversized murals depicting a crowd of tough-looking masculine leather-clad men in black and white, among them sailors, bikers, businessmen and construction workers.