Tenderloin, San Francisco, California
Encyclopedia
The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, California
, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, nestled between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about 50 square blocks and a conservative description has it bounded on the north by Post Street, on the east by Mason Street, on the south by Market Street
and on the west by Larkin Street. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill historically has been set at Geary Street
.
The terms Tenderloin Heights or The Tendernob
refer to the area around the indefinite boundary between the Upper Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill. The eastern extent, near Union Square, overlaps with the Theater District. Part of the western extent of the Tenderloin, Larkin and Hyde Streets between Turk and O'Farrell, was officially named "Little Saigon" by the City of San Francisco.
There are a number of stories about how the Tenderloin got its name. One says it is a reference to an older neighborhood in New York
with the same name and similar characteristics. Another is a reference to the neighborhood as the "soft underbelly" (analogous to the cut of meat) of the city, with allusions to vice
and corruption
, especially graft
. There are also some legends about the name, probably folklore
, including that the neighborhood earned its name from the words of a New York City police captain, Alexander S. Williams
, who was overheard saying that when he was assigned to another part of the city, he could only afford to eat chuck steak
on the salary he was earning, but after he was transferred to this neighborhood he was making so much money on the side soliciting bribes that now he could eat tenderloin
instead. Another version of that story says that the officers who worked in the Tenderloin received a "hazard pay" bonus for working in such a violent
area, and thus were able to afford the good cut of meat
. Yet another story, also likely apocryphal, is that the name is a reference to the "loins" of prostitutes
.
The Tenderloin borders the Mission/Market Street corridor, which follows the Spaniards' El Camino Real
, which in turn traced an ancient north/south Indian trail. The Tenderloin is sheltered by Nob Hill, and far enough from the bay
to be on solid ground. There is evidence that a community resided here several thousand years ago. In the 1960s, the area was excavated to develop the BART
/MUNI
subway station at Civic Center. During the excavation, the remains of a woman dated to be 5,000 years old were found.
The Tenderloin has been a downtown residential community since shortly after the California Gold Rush
in 1849. It had an active nightlife in the late 19th century with many theaters, restaurants and hotels. Notorious madam
Tessie Wall
opened her first brothel on O'Farrell Street in 1898. Almost all of the buildings in the neighborhood were destroyed by the 1906 Earthquake
and the backfires that were set by firefighters to contain the devastation. The Tenderloin was immediately rebuilt with some hotels opening by 1907 and apartment buildings shortly thereafter, including the historic Cadillac Hotel. By the 1920s, the neighborhood was notorious for its gambling, billiard halls, boxing gyms, "speakeasies
," theaters, restaurants and other nightlife depicted in the hard boiled detective fiction
of Dashiell Hammett
, who lived at 891 Post Street, the apartment he gave to Sam Spade
in The Maltese Falcon.
In the mid-20th century the Tenderloin provided work for many musicians in the neighborhood's theaters, hotels, burlesque houses, bars and clubs and was the location of the Musician's Union Building on Jones Street. The most famous jazz club was the Black Hawk
at Hyde and Turk Streets where Miles Davis
, Thelonious Monk
, Gerry Mulligan
, and other jazz greats recorded live albums for Fantasy Records
in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
With housing consisting almost entirely of single-room-occupancy hotel rooms, studio and one bedroom apartments, the Tenderloin historically housed single adults and couples. After World War II
, with the decline in central cities throughout the United States, the Tenderloin lost population, creating a large amount of vacant housing units by the mid-1970s. Beginning in the late 1970s, after the Vietnam War
, the Tenderloin received large numbers of refugees from Southeast Asia—first ethnic Chinese
from Vietnam
, then Khmer
from Cambodia
and Hmong
from Laos
. The low cost vacant housing, and the proximity to Chinatown through the Stockton Street Tunnel
, made the area attractive to refugees and resettlement agencies. Studio apartments became home for families of four and five people and became what a local police officer called "vertical villages." The Tenderloin quickly increased from having just a few children to having over 3,500 and this population has remained. A number of neighborhood Southeast Asian restaurants, banh mi
coffee shops, ethnic grocery stores, video shops and other stores were created at this time, which still exist.
The Tenderloin has a long history as a center of alternate sexualities, including several historic confrontations with police. The legendary female impersonator Rae Bourbon, a performer during the Pansy Craze
, was arrested in 1933 while his show "Boys Will Be Girls" was being broadcast live on the radio from Tait's Cafe at 44 Ellis Street. On New Years Day in 1965 police raided a Mardi Gras Ball at California Hall on Polk Street
sponsored by the Council on Religion and the Homosexual
, lining up and photographing 600 participants and arresting several prominent citizens. One of the first "gay riots", pre-dating the Stonewall riots
in New York, happened at Compton's Cafeteria
at Turk and Taylor Streets in August 1966 when the police, attempting to arrest a drag queen, sparked a riot that spilled into the streets. Prior to the emergence of The Castro as a major gay village
, the center of the Tenderloin at Turk and Taylor and the Polk Gulch at the western side of the Tenderloin were two of the city's first gay
neighborhoods and a few of these historic gay bar
s and clubs still exist.
Both the movie and book The Maltese Falcon were based in San Francisco's Tenderloin. There is also an alley, in what is now Nob Hill, named for the book's author (Dashiell Hammett
). It lies outside the Tenderloin because the boundary was defined with borders different from today's. Some locations, such as Sam Spade
's apartment and John's Grill, also no longer lie in the Tenderloin because local economics and real estate have changed the character and labeling of areas over time.
In July 2008, the area was designated as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places
.
, maintaining a seedy character and reputation for crime. Squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, illegal drug trade
, prostitution
, liquor store
s, and strip club
s give the neighborhood a seedy reputation.
Part of the neighborhood forms part of the theater district. Prominent theatres include the Geary, the home of the American Conservatory Theater
, and the Curran
, Golden Gate and Orpheum Theatres operated by the Shorenstein
Nederlander Organization
. Alternative theaters in the Tenderloin include EXIT Theater, which operates four storefront theaters and produces the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the New Conservatory Theater, the Phoenix Theater, the Off-Market Theater, The Last Planet Theater and others. Alternate galleries include The Luggage Store, the 509 Cultural Center, the Shooting Gallery and others. The neighborhood has many bars dating to prohibition and before with dive bar
s, including some left over from when the neighborhood housed large numbers of merchant seamen such as the 21 Club and the 65 Club. New, trendy bars have surfaced in the neighborhood. One bar is built on the site of a previous speakeasy
, Bourbon and Branch, at the corner of Jones and O'Farrell Streets. The original speakeasy was restored in the bar's basement, including many of the original decorations. Many bars have entertainment including the Dixieland-oriented Gold Rush, and the drag bar, Aunt Charlie's. Larger live music venues include the Great American Music Hall
and the Warfield Theater
. Historically, the Tenderloin has had a number of strip club
s, although their number has decreased in recent decades. The most well known is the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater
.
, Shepard Fairey
, Barry McGee
, Mike Giant, Blek Le Rat
and Dan Plasma.
) are adjacent plots in the Tenderloin and Sixth and Market area. The neighborhood was considered to be the origin of a notorious Filipino gang Bahala Na Gang or BNG, a gang imported from the Philippines
. In the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, the gang was involved in extortion, drug sales, and murder for hire.
Graffiti
art is a common feature in the neighborhood as a featured artist Tie One was killed in the neighborhood. Dealing and use of illicit drugs occurs on the streets. Property crimes are common, especially theft
from parked vehicles. Violent acts occur more often here and are generally related to drugs. The area has been the scene of escalating drug violence in 2007, including brazen daylight shootings, as local gangs from San Francisco, and others from around the Bay Area battle for turf. 14 of the city's 98 homicides took place in the area in 2007.
, the first provider in the city of shelter for homeless parents and children, since 1971. It is an ethnically diverse community, consisting of families, young people living in cheap apartments, downtown bohemian artists, and recent immigrants from Latin America
and Southeast Asia
. It is home to a large population of homeless, those living in extreme poverty
, and numerous non-profit social service agencies, soup kitchens, religious rescue missions, homeless shelters and Single Room Occupancy
hotels. All of this comes together to make this one of the most diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco.
The Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC) has offered important social services to the poor of this neighborhood for decades. According to its Director, Randy Shaw, the clinic's "mission is to prevent tenant displacement, preserve and expand the city’s low cost housing stock and to provide comprehensive legal assistance to low income tenants. The Clinic is successful in fulfilling this mission by providing free legal services, securing SRO units through the Master Lease program and offering comprehensive support services to our clients."
Religious institutions providing community services to the Tenderloin include Glide Memorial Church
, which was reinvigorated by Cecil Williams
in 1963, Saint Anthony's
, a program of the Franciscan
s and San Francisco City Impact founded by Pastor Roger Huang. These all provide meals and other social services to poor and homeless residents and others. Glide and the surrounding neighborhood provided much of the setting for the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness
. In 2008, The Salvation Army
opened the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center, a multipurpose center featuring a gym, swimming pool and fitness center among other amenities.The funding for this center was made possible by a 1.5 billion dollar bequest from Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc. Adjacent to the Kroc center is Railton Place, a 110 unit apartment complex run by the Salvation Army for former foster youth, homeless veterans, and adults recovering from addictions.
In 1987, residents and others from the Aarti Hotel on Leavenworth Street founded the 509 Cultural Center at 509 Ellis Street. After the 1989 earthquake damaged that facility, artists founded The Luggage Store at 1007 Market, at the intersection of 6th Street, Market, Taylor and Golden Gate Avenue.... From 2006 to 2008, The Loin's Mouth
, conceived by its editor Rachel M., was a semi-quarterly publication about life in the Tenderloin and Tendernob areas. Since then, others have come about to fill the gap including the Tenderloin Reading Series, which is a quarterly literary event in the neighborhood as well as The Tender
, which is a local journal focusing on the events, food, and politics of the neighborhood.
In 2006, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
was formed to produce, exhibit, and develop creativity with the most contemporary new media
technologies. Initially located on Taylor Street in an 8000 sq ft (743.2 m²) space, they have since moved across the street to rent space from The Warfield
.
Every year the local Vietnamese Community hosts the Tết
celebration of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year in the Little Saigon section of the Tenderloin.
Boeddeker
Park, located at the corner of Eddy and Jones Streets, is one of the most used parks per square foot in the City but has had difficulty meeting the needs of the neighborhood's varied communities. It is often unused by children and is commonly occupied by drug addicts
and intoxicated
people during the daytime. Periodically there are efforts to improve the park, such as holding free concerts.
The Tenderloin Children's Playground, on Ellis Street between Leavenworth and Hyde Streets, was opened in 1995 and has attractive indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and hosts a number of community and family events.
Sgt. John Macaulay Park, named after a San Francisco police officer who was killed in the adjacent alley while on duty, is a small gated playground
at the corner of O'Farrell and Larkin Streets. Although the park is located across the street from a strip club, it is frequented by parents and children from the neighborhood.
The "Tenderloin National Forest" (a project of the nonprofit organization The Luggage Store/509 Cultural Center) is an unofficial park that was established from 1987-present that maintains the park and opening hours. It is located on Cohen Alley just off Ellis Street.
Vice President Tracy Reiman sent Mayor Ed Lee
a letter proposing for renaming of the neighborhood and suggesting alternative name like the Tempeh
District, claiming "the city deserves a neighborhood named after a delicious cruelty-free food instead of the flesh of an abused animal." The proposal was met with ridicule by locals and Mayor Ed Lee refused to take the bait.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, nestled between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about 50 square blocks and a conservative description has it bounded on the north by Post Street, on the east by Mason Street, on the south by Market Street
Market Street (San Francisco)
Market Street is an important thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. It begins at The Embarcadero in front of the Ferry Building at the northeastern edge of the city and runs southwest through downtown, passing the Civic Center and the Castro District, to the intersection with Corbett Avenue in...
and on the west by Larkin Street. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill historically has been set at Geary Street
Geary Boulevard
Geary Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, beginning downtown at Market Street near Market Street's intersection with Montgomery Street, and running westbound through downtown, the Civic Center area, the Western Addition, and running for most of its length...
.
The terms Tenderloin Heights or The Tendernob
Tendernob
The Tendernob is an area in San Francisco, California between the affluent Nob Hill area to the north and the less affluent Tenderloin to the south...
refer to the area around the indefinite boundary between the Upper Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill. The eastern extent, near Union Square, overlaps with the Theater District. Part of the western extent of the Tenderloin, Larkin and Hyde Streets between Turk and O'Farrell, was officially named "Little Saigon" by the City of San Francisco.
History
Tenderloin, Manhattan
The Tenderloin was an entertainment and red-light district in the heart of the New York City borough of Manhattan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
with the same name and similar characteristics. Another is a reference to the neighborhood as the "soft underbelly" (analogous to the cut of meat) of the city, with allusions to vice
Vice
Vice is a practice or a behavior or habit considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption...
and corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
, especially graft
Graft (politics)
In general graft is an unscrupulous use of one’s authority for personal gain. However, the gain may also end up in party coffers...
. There are also some legends about the name, probably folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, including that the neighborhood earned its name from the words of a New York City police captain, Alexander S. Williams
Alexander S. Williams
Alexander S. Williams was an American law enforcement officer and police inspector for the New York City Police Department...
, who was overheard saying that when he was assigned to another part of the city, he could only afford to eat chuck steak
Chuck steak
Chuck steak is a cut of beef and is part of the subprimal cut known as the chuck. The typical chuck steak is a rectangular cut, about 1" thick and containing parts of the shoulder bones, and is often known as a "7-bone steak"...
on the salary he was earning, but after he was transferred to this neighborhood he was making so much money on the side soliciting bribes that now he could eat tenderloin
Beef tenderloin
A beef tenderloin, known as an eye fillet in New Zealand and Australia, filet in France and Germany and fillet in the United Kingdom, is cut from the loin of beef. As with all quadrupeds, the tenderloin refers to the psoas major muscle ventral to the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae,...
instead. Another version of that story says that the officers who worked in the Tenderloin received a "hazard pay" bonus for working in such a violent
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
area, and thus were able to afford the good cut of meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
. Yet another story, also likely apocryphal, is that the name is a reference to the "loins" of prostitutes
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
.
The Tenderloin borders the Mission/Market Street corridor, which follows the Spaniards' El Camino Real
El Camino Real (California)
El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...
, which in turn traced an ancient north/south Indian trail. The Tenderloin is sheltered by Nob Hill, and far enough from the bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
to be on solid ground. There is evidence that a community resided here several thousand years ago. In the 1960s, the area was excavated to develop the BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
/MUNI
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
subway station at Civic Center. During the excavation, the remains of a woman dated to be 5,000 years old were found.
The Tenderloin has been a downtown residential community since shortly after the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
in 1849. It had an active nightlife in the late 19th century with many theaters, restaurants and hotels. Notorious madam
Madam
Madam, or madame, is a polite title used for women which, in English, is the equivalent of Mrs. or Ms., and is often found abbreviated as "ma'am", and less frequently as "ma'm". It is derived from the French madame, which means "my lady", the feminine form of lord; the plural of ma dame in this...
Tessie Wall
Tessie Wall
Teresa Susan Donohue , better known as Tessie Wall was an American madam who owned and operated brothels in San Francisco, California from 1898 to 1917. She was married to gambler and political boss Frank Daroux, whom she attempted to kill in 1917 as he sought to divorce her...
opened her first brothel on O'Farrell Street in 1898. Almost all of the buildings in the neighborhood were destroyed by the 1906 Earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
and the backfires that were set by firefighters to contain the devastation. The Tenderloin was immediately rebuilt with some hotels opening by 1907 and apartment buildings shortly thereafter, including the historic Cadillac Hotel. By the 1920s, the neighborhood was notorious for its gambling, billiard halls, boxing gyms, "speakeasies
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
," theaters, restaurants and other nightlife depicted in the hard boiled detective fiction
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...
of Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
, who lived at 891 Post Street, the apartment he gave to Sam Spade
Sam Spade
Sam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....
in The Maltese Falcon.
In the mid-20th century the Tenderloin provided work for many musicians in the neighborhood's theaters, hotels, burlesque houses, bars and clubs and was the location of the Musician's Union Building on Jones Street. The most famous jazz club was the Black Hawk
Black Hawk (nightclub)
The Black Hawk was a San Francisco nightclub which featured live jazz performances during its period of operation from 1949 to 1963. It was located on the corner of Turk Street and Hyde Street in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Guido Caccienti owned the club along with Johnny and Helen...
at Hyde and Turk Streets where Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
, and other jazz greats recorded live albums for Fantasy Records
Fantasy Records
Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label...
in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
With housing consisting almost entirely of single-room-occupancy hotel rooms, studio and one bedroom apartments, the Tenderloin historically housed single adults and couples. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, with the decline in central cities throughout the United States, the Tenderloin lost population, creating a large amount of vacant housing units by the mid-1970s. Beginning in the late 1970s, after the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the Tenderloin received large numbers of refugees from Southeast Asia—first ethnic Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, then Khmer
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
from Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
from Laos
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. The low cost vacant housing, and the proximity to Chinatown through the Stockton Street Tunnel
Stockton Street Tunnel
The Stockton Street Tunnel is a tunnel in San Francisco, California, and carries its namesake street underneath a section of Nob Hill near Chinatown for about three blocks. The south portal is located just shy of Bush Street, which is about two blocks to the north of Union Square. The north portal...
, made the area attractive to refugees and resettlement agencies. Studio apartments became home for families of four and five people and became what a local police officer called "vertical villages." The Tenderloin quickly increased from having just a few children to having over 3,500 and this population has remained. A number of neighborhood Southeast Asian restaurants, banh mi
Bánh mì
Bánh mì or bánh mỳ is a Vietnamese term for all kinds of bread. Bread, or more specifically the baguette, was introduced by the French during its colonial period. The bread most commonly found in Vietnam is single serve and resembles a torpedo, therefore the term bánh mì is synonymous with this...
coffee shops, ethnic grocery stores, video shops and other stores were created at this time, which still exist.
The Tenderloin has a long history as a center of alternate sexualities, including several historic confrontations with police. The legendary female impersonator Rae Bourbon, a performer during the Pansy Craze
Pansy Craze
During the Pansy Craze of 1930-1933 in Manhattan, gay clubs and performers, known as "pansy performers", experienced a surge in underground popularity.-Performance styles:...
, was arrested in 1933 while his show "Boys Will Be Girls" was being broadcast live on the radio from Tait's Cafe at 44 Ellis Street. On New Years Day in 1965 police raided a Mardi Gras Ball at California Hall on Polk Street
Polk Street
Polk Street is a street in San Francisco, California, that travels northward from Market Street to Beach Street and is one of the main thoroughfares of the Polk Gulch neighborhood traversing through the Tenderloin, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill neighborhoods. The street takes its name from former U.S....
sponsored by the Council on Religion and the Homosexual
Council on Religion and the Homosexual
The Council on Religion and the Homosexual was a San Francisco-based organization founded in 1964 for the purpose of joining homosexual activists and religious leaders.-Formation:...
, lining up and photographing 600 participants and arresting several prominent citizens. One of the first "gay riots", pre-dating the Stonewall riots
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
in New York, happened at Compton's Cafeteria
Compton's cafeteria riot
The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in August 1966 in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. This incident was one of the first recorded transgender riots in United States history, preceding the more famous 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City.A smaller-scale riot broke out in 1959 in Los...
at Turk and Taylor Streets in August 1966 when the police, attempting to arrest a drag queen, sparked a riot that spilled into the streets. Prior to the emergence of The Castro as a major gay village
Gay village
A gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people live or frequent...
, the center of the Tenderloin at Turk and Taylor and the Polk Gulch at the western side of the Tenderloin were two of the city's first gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
neighborhoods and a few of these historic gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
s and clubs still exist.
Both the movie and book The Maltese Falcon were based in San Francisco's Tenderloin. There is also an alley, in what is now Nob Hill, named for the book's author (Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...
). It lies outside the Tenderloin because the boundary was defined with borders different from today's. Some locations, such as Sam Spade
Sam Spade
Sam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....
's apartment and John's Grill, also no longer lie in the Tenderloin because local economics and real estate have changed the character and labeling of areas over time.
In July 2008, the area was designated as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Attractions and characteristics
Nestled between successful commercial areas and high priced residential areas, parts of the Tenderloin have historically resisted gentrificationGentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
, maintaining a seedy character and reputation for crime. Squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, illegal drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
, prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, liquor store
Liquor store
In the United States, Australia and Canada, a liquor store is a type of store that specializes in the sale of alcoholic beverages. In South Africa and Namibia these stores are generally called bottle stores....
s, and strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s give the neighborhood a seedy reputation.
Part of the neighborhood forms part of the theater district. Prominent theatres include the Geary, the home of the American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
, and the Curran
Curran Theatre
The Curran Theatre is located in San Francisco and was named by its first owner, Homer Curran. The theatre is currently owned by Carole Shorenstein Hays and is operated by SHN - Overview :...
, Golden Gate and Orpheum Theatres operated by the Shorenstein
Carole Shorenstein Hays
Carole Shorenstein Hays is an American theatrical producer. She has produced many award-winning Broadway plays. In additiion to her Broadway endeavors, she is the President of SHN , a theatrical producing company in San Francisco...
Nederlander Organization
Nederlander Organization
The Nederlander Organization, founded in 1912 by David T. Nederlander and based in Detroit, Michigan, is one of the largest operators of legitimate theatres and music venuesin the United States. Its first acquisition was a lease on the Detroit Opera House in 1912. The building was demolished in...
. Alternative theaters in the Tenderloin include EXIT Theater, which operates four storefront theaters and produces the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the New Conservatory Theater, the Phoenix Theater, the Off-Market Theater, The Last Planet Theater and others. Alternate galleries include The Luggage Store, the 509 Cultural Center, the Shooting Gallery and others. The neighborhood has many bars dating to prohibition and before with dive bar
Dive bar
A dive bar is a type of bar or pub. Dive bars generally have a relaxed and informal atmosphere—they are often referred to by local residents as "neighborhood bars," where people in the neighborhood gather to drink and socialize...
s, including some left over from when the neighborhood housed large numbers of merchant seamen such as the 21 Club and the 65 Club. New, trendy bars have surfaced in the neighborhood. One bar is built on the site of a previous speakeasy
Speakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
, Bourbon and Branch, at the corner of Jones and O'Farrell Streets. The original speakeasy was restored in the bar's basement, including many of the original decorations. Many bars have entertainment including the Dixieland-oriented Gold Rush, and the drag bar, Aunt Charlie's. Larger live music venues include the Great American Music Hall
Great American Music Hall
The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater...
and the Warfield Theater
The Warfield
The Warfield, also known as The Warfield Theater, is a 2,300 seat music venue located at 982 Market Street, San Francisco, California. It was built as a vaudeville theater, and opened as the Loews Warfield on May 13, 1922.-History:...
. Historically, the Tenderloin has had a number of strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s, although their number has decreased in recent decades. The most well known is the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater
Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater
The Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre is a striptease club at 895 O'Farrell Street near San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. Opened as an X-rated movie theater by Jim and Artie Mitchell on July 4, 1969, the O'Farrell remains one of America's oldest and most notorious adult-entertainment...
.
Murals
The tenderloin serves as a mecca for the lowbrow art scene in San Francisco, housing the "White Walls" gallery and "Shooting Gallery". The tenderloin has been home to mural work by artists such as BanksyBanksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
, Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey
Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary graphic designer, and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign, in which he appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. His...
, Barry McGee
Barry McGee
Barry McGee is a painter and graffiti artist. He is also known by monikers such as Ray Fong, Lydia Fong, Bernon Vernon, P.Kin, Ray Virgil, Twist and further variations of Twist, such as Twister, Twisty, Twisto and others.-Life and career:McGee graduated from El Camino High School in South...
, Mike Giant, Blek Le Rat
Blek le Rat
Blek le Rat, born Xavier Prou in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris in 1952, was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the “Father of Stencil Graffiti” .-Early career and Influence:...
and Dan Plasma.
Crime
The Tenderloin is a high-crime neighborhood, particularly violent street crime such as robbery and aggravated assault. Seven of the top ten violent crime plots (out of 665 in the entire city as measured by the San Francisco Police DepartmentSan Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
) are adjacent plots in the Tenderloin and Sixth and Market area. The neighborhood was considered to be the origin of a notorious Filipino gang Bahala Na Gang or BNG, a gang imported from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. In the late 1960s to the mid 1970s, the gang was involved in extortion, drug sales, and murder for hire.
Graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
art is a common feature in the neighborhood as a featured artist Tie One was killed in the neighborhood. Dealing and use of illicit drugs occurs on the streets. Property crimes are common, especially theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
from parked vehicles. Violent acts occur more often here and are generally related to drugs. The area has been the scene of escalating drug violence in 2007, including brazen daylight shootings, as local gangs from San Francisco, and others from around the Bay Area battle for turf. 14 of the city's 98 homicides took place in the area in 2007.
Social services
The Tenderloin has been the home of Raphael HouseRaphael House
Raphael House is a shelter in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, California which provides transitional housing and support programs for parents and children who are experiencing homelessness....
, the first provider in the city of shelter for homeless parents and children, since 1971. It is an ethnically diverse community, consisting of families, young people living in cheap apartments, downtown bohemian artists, and recent immigrants from Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. It is home to a large population of homeless, those living in extreme poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, and numerous non-profit social service agencies, soup kitchens, religious rescue missions, homeless shelters and Single Room Occupancy
Single Room Occupancy
A single room occupancy is a multiple-tenant building that houses one or two people in individual rooms , or to the single room dwelling itself...
hotels. All of this comes together to make this one of the most diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco.
The Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC) has offered important social services to the poor of this neighborhood for decades. According to its Director, Randy Shaw, the clinic's "mission is to prevent tenant displacement, preserve and expand the city’s low cost housing stock and to provide comprehensive legal assistance to low income tenants. The Clinic is successful in fulfilling this mission by providing free legal services, securing SRO units through the Master Lease program and offering comprehensive support services to our clients."
Religious institutions providing community services to the Tenderloin include Glide Memorial Church
Glide Memorial Church
Glide Memorial Church is a church in San Francisco, California, affiliated with the United Methodist Church that opened in 1929. Although conservative until the 1960s, since then it has served as a counter-culture rallying point and has been one of the most prominently liberal churches in the...
, which was reinvigorated by Cecil Williams
Cecil Williams
A. Cecil Williams is an American minister of the United Methodist Church and a community leader, author, lecta;dknmfaurer, and spokesperson for the poor.- Early Life :...
in 1963, Saint Anthony's
St. Anthony Dining Room
The St. Anthony Foundation is a nonprofit social service organization in San Francisco, California. They are best known for their operation of the St. Anthony Dining Room in the Tenderloin District. It was founded in 1950 by Franciscan friar Alfred Boeddeker to serve free meals to the poor in an...
, a program of the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
s and San Francisco City Impact founded by Pastor Roger Huang. These all provide meals and other social services to poor and homeless residents and others. Glide and the surrounding neighborhood provided much of the setting for the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit of Happyness
Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack on January 9, 2007, which included sixteen tracks.-Box office:The film debuted first at the North American box office, earning $27 million during its opening weekend and beating out heavily promoted films such as Eragon and Charlotte's Web...
. In 2008, The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
opened the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center, a multipurpose center featuring a gym, swimming pool and fitness center among other amenities.The funding for this center was made possible by a 1.5 billion dollar bequest from Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc. Adjacent to the Kroc center is Railton Place, a 110 unit apartment complex run by the Salvation Army for former foster youth, homeless veterans, and adults recovering from addictions.
Culture
In recent years, residents have spearheaded a local arts revival.In 1987, residents and others from the Aarti Hotel on Leavenworth Street founded the 509 Cultural Center at 509 Ellis Street. After the 1989 earthquake damaged that facility, artists founded The Luggage Store at 1007 Market, at the intersection of 6th Street, Market, Taylor and Golden Gate Avenue.... From 2006 to 2008, The Loin's Mouth
The Loin's Mouth
The Loin's Mouth was a semi-quarterly, Tenderloin-based publication about life in the San Francisco Tenderloin and Tendernob area. It was conceived of by its editor, Rachel M., in the Spring of 2006 and released seven issues through the Fall of 2008...
, conceived by its editor Rachel M., was a semi-quarterly publication about life in the Tenderloin and Tendernob areas. Since then, others have come about to fill the gap including the Tenderloin Reading Series, which is a quarterly literary event in the neighborhood as well as The Tender
The Tender
The Tender is a local neighborhood news blog focusing on San Francisco's Tenderloin District.-History:Started in May 2009 and originally called, "The Tenderblog", The Tender is one of the main news sources for the neighborhoods of the Tenderloin, Civic Center, Mid-Market, Tendernob, and Little Saigon...
, which is a local journal focusing on the events, food, and politics of the neighborhood.
In 2006, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts is a new media arts organization and exhibition space in San Francisco, California. Gray Area hosts exhibitions and music events, software and electronics classes, a media lab and resident-artist program...
was formed to produce, exhibit, and develop creativity with the most contemporary new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
technologies. Initially located on Taylor Street in an 8000 sq ft (743.2 m²) space, they have since moved across the street to rent space from The Warfield
The Warfield
The Warfield, also known as The Warfield Theater, is a 2,300 seat music venue located at 982 Market Street, San Francisco, California. It was built as a vaudeville theater, and opened as the Loews Warfield on May 13, 1922.-History:...
.
Every year the local Vietnamese Community hosts the Tết
Tet
Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...
celebration of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year in the Little Saigon section of the Tenderloin.
Parks and recreation
Historically, the downtown Tenderloin had no parks between Union Square to the East and Civic Center Plaza to the West until a number of activists, who organized the City's Citizens Committee for Open Space, advocated for more open space in the Tenderloin in the 1970s. As a result a number of parks and playgrounds were created including first Boeddeker Park, a multi-use facility, then the youth-oriented Tenderloin Playground, followed by a number of mini-playgrounds.Boeddeker
Alfred Boeddeker
Alfred Boeddeker, O.F.M. was an American Franciscan friar who is best known for having founded humanitarian programs to aid the poor and marginalised in the San Francisco Bay Area. These programs, named by Father Boeddeker for Saint Anthony of Padua, include the St. Anthony Dining Room , the St....
Park, located at the corner of Eddy and Jones Streets, is one of the most used parks per square foot in the City but has had difficulty meeting the needs of the neighborhood's varied communities. It is often unused by children and is commonly occupied by drug addicts
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
and intoxicated
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
people during the daytime. Periodically there are efforts to improve the park, such as holding free concerts.
The Tenderloin Children's Playground, on Ellis Street between Leavenworth and Hyde Streets, was opened in 1995 and has attractive indoor and outdoor recreational facilities and hosts a number of community and family events.
Sgt. John Macaulay Park, named after a San Francisco police officer who was killed in the adjacent alley while on duty, is a small gated playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
at the corner of O'Farrell and Larkin Streets. Although the park is located across the street from a strip club, it is frequented by parents and children from the neighborhood.
The "Tenderloin National Forest" (a project of the nonprofit organization The Luggage Store/509 Cultural Center) is an unofficial park that was established from 1987-present that maintains the park and opening hours. It is located on Cohen Alley just off Ellis Street.
Renaming attempt
In March 2011, People for the Ethical Treatment of AnimalsPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
Vice President Tracy Reiman sent Mayor Ed Lee
Ed Lee
Edward Hubert Lee is a retired professional ice hockey player who played two games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Quebec Nordiques.Traded to the Minnesota North Stars in 1985, Played for the Fredericton Express and the Springfield Indians in the American Hockey League.-References:...
a letter proposing for renaming of the neighborhood and suggesting alternative name like the Tempeh
Tempeh
Tempeh , or tempe , is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty...
District, claiming "the city deserves a neighborhood named after a delicious cruelty-free food instead of the flesh of an abused animal." The proposal was met with ridicule by locals and Mayor Ed Lee refused to take the bait.
See also
- TendernobTendernobThe Tendernob is an area in San Francisco, California between the affluent Nob Hill area to the north and the less affluent Tenderloin to the south...
- Tenderloin, New York
- The Tenderloin TimesThe Tenderloin TimesThe Tenderloin Times was a free monthly newspaper serving the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, published from the 1970s to the 1990s, with a circulation of 15,000. Its pages were filled with news on homelessness, social programs affecting the area's residents, immigration, neighborhood...
- The TenderThe TenderThe Tender is a local neighborhood news blog focusing on San Francisco's Tenderloin District.-History:Started in May 2009 and originally called, "The Tenderblog", The Tender is one of the main news sources for the neighborhoods of the Tenderloin, Civic Center, Mid-Market, Tendernob, and Little Saigon...
- Hospitality HouseHospitality HouseHospitality House is a center that serves the homeless and poor of San Francisco, specifically those of the Tenderloin district of the city, where it is located. It provides counseling, instruction and other forms of assistance. Its programs include classes in art and creative writing, and it...
External links
- Community Housing Partnership
- Glide Memorial in the Tenderloin
- Temenos Catholic Worker Helping the homeless in the Tenderloin.
- The Loin's Mouth Now defunct, free semi-quarterly neighborhood zine about life in the Tenderloin/Tenderloin Heights area.
- Map of Tenderloin Microhoods
- North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District A non-profit coalition of residents, business & property owners, working to improve our community.
- San Francisco Neighborhood Guide Tenderloin entry on sfgate.com.
- The Tender - A group community news portal writing about events, art, food, and neighborhood issues in the Tenderloin & TenderNob.
- Tenderloin Housing Clinic
- Tenderloin Morality Crusade Draws Prostitutes' Wrath Article on Tenderloin morality crusade of 1917 in The Tenderloin TimesThe Tenderloin TimesThe Tenderloin Times was a free monthly newspaper serving the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, published from the 1970s to the 1990s, with a circulation of 15,000. Its pages were filled with news on homelessness, social programs affecting the area's residents, immigration, neighborhood...
by Don MacLaren. - The Tenderloin: San Francisco's Fountainhead - Article arguing for the importance of working class neighborhoods to a city's vitality.
- Up from the Deep (The Hotel Project) History, extensive architectural data, and hundreds of recent and archival photos.
- Uptown Tenderloin Survey for the National Register of Historic Places district nomination.
- Warren Commission Volune XXV: Exhibit 2328 FBI Interview Placing Jack Ruby in the Tenderloin during 1930s