The Tenderloin Will Not Be Televised
 

This is the first part of a series I am doing on San Francisco's Tenderloin. For those unfamiliar with the area, these are the neighborhood boundaries:

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Many of you however are familiar with the Tenderloin so I'll refrain from editorializing about the neighborhood other than some basic facts about the area: It is San Francisco's densest neighborhood as well as its poorest and is rapidly becoming San Francisco's fastest-gentrifying. The latter is a surprise to no one aware of the huge wave of gentrification that has been occurring in the City over the last few years; Silicon Valley has officially expanded into San Francisco. Many wonder what that will mean for the few neighborhoods in SF that are still relatively affordable; the Tenderloin is very much a part of the conversation. It's literal centrality in the City and its adjacency to the Financial District and the shopping around Union Square has always baffled tourists and transplants who wonder what city in its right mind would allow the country's worst homelessness to occur in one of the biggest tourist areas in the world. Perhaps what is most surprising though is precisely how unsurprising the neighborhood's many issues are to San Franciscans; it's more or less accepted as the city's designated homeless neighborhood and drug market. Outside of rare incidents involving tourists, the media has largely chosen to ignore the Tenderloin and its growing drug addicted and mentally ill populations.

Of course, the homeless are not the Tenderloin's only residents; far from it. This series is meant to look at the 2013-2014 Tenderloin including its natives and transients, gentrification and homelessness, businesses and shelters, etc.

Welcome to the Tenderloin.


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^This is George, a current resident of the SRO building Jefferson Hotel. Before he lived there, he was out in the streets of the Tenderloin strung out on crack; before that, he had just picked up his crack addiction in his native East Oakland. He's now recovered and works for MUNI; however, he still lives in the Tenderloin. Like many recovered and recovering addicts in San Francisco, he's living in one of the many SROs in the Tenderloin which itself has the highest concentration of SROs in the world. He and his girlfriend plan on moving out at some point; his biggest complaint was the overpowering smell of crack that filled up the building on the 1st and 15th of every month. Jefferson Hotel is pictured below and in photos #1, 19, 20, 31 and 38.

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^George's room; he pays $600 a month to live there. He does not have his own bathroom; he shares with the others on his floor.

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And that's Part 1. Part 2 will hopefully be done by the end of October.

Nice pictures. I think I went to a bar in the Tenderloin when I was in San Francisco a few years ago. But, I was drunk and I don't remember where it was exactly. I also don't remember the name of it.

I really like threads like this that are more than just a bunch of pictures.

Very authentic. Now that's my kind of city! Loved every bit of this set.

Great stuff.

I've got to admit, I'm not complaining at all about the TL gentrifying. The area is shockingly filthy and smelly...not even in a cute ~I love grit~ kind of way.

Excellent tour - every shot had something to say.

Real, raw and ripe.

Wow, the gritty side of SF. Cool pics

..

I wouldn't be lying if I said I'm looking forward to the Tenderloin gentrifying

Ohh and.. awesome, awesome pics as usual!!!

excellent and sensitive job with this topic.

informative too. there are still poor people in sf? who knew??!

Awesome thread!

I know you're probably being tongue in cheek....but yeah, SF has plenty of poor people. About 100,000 residents live under the poverty line, and there are plenty more with incomes just above the poverty line.

Very easy to tell that you put alot of care and thought into this one. Accurate and comprehensive. Well done, yo.

Great shots. That area is almost like a time capsule of American downtowns in the 70's and 80's. One of the memories I have was going into a Ritz Camera store and it being swarmed with flies. I"m like "How in the hell do you have a problem with flies in a camera store?"

there is a kitchen store (like, knives and pots and stuff) here in pristina that has an enormous bee problem.

cheap pots though.

(oh, and great photos)

Excellent work man. Keep them coming.

Very interesting thread about the Tenderloin. Thanks for sharing these excellent pictures, Nineties.

In our visit to San Francisco, two years ago, we stayed at Knights Inn Dowtown, 240 7th street. That area, near the Tenderloin, in front of it, was full of homeless and poor people, above all by night, but we hadn´t any problem walking around there, though for our next visit we´ll choose another area, mainly for the proximity to the downtown and touristic places of San Francisco.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain.:tup: