San Francisco is a known as arguably the prettiest city in America, perched on hills, overlooking the bay and ocean, with distinct architecture throughout. But in the heart of the city has been a dark spot known as the Tenderloin neighborhood – aka, skid row - with numerous pornography and sex shops, rampant drugs, prostitution, and crime. Amazingly the area has managed to resist gentrification for decades; it’s always difficult to get money and ambition to move in to a blighted area as the first adopters. And so the Tenderloin has managed to maintain its standing as the least appealing aspect of San Francisco. So much so that not only will you not find it listed on an San Francisco tours itineraries, but you won’t even find the tour buses slicing through the area even if it’s the most direct route between the beautiful sightseeing attractions of interest.
Finally, there could be the faint tremors of a movement taking place that may see the area become elevated to a level more appropriate for residing within America’s prettiest city. Two arts related groups are pushing into long uncharted areas within the Tenderloin to house their musicians’ practice spaces, recording studios and performance venues. The non-profit, Gray Area Foundation for the Arts will open new studios in the area, taking up in a prior pornographic theater for its Grey Area Gallery art gallery as well as their Recombinant Media Labs experimental sound group and will focus on music centric art, software oriented artwork and electronic media. RML will also house an audiovisual lab, promote film screenings, and live performances, and multimedia installations.
The groundbreaking for these endeavors brought out the mayor’s office and the SF Entertainment Commission which spoke of the beginning of what might soon become the center for an arts hub in the Tenderloin, and the city is supporting such moves with grants toward that end. The SFEC is pushing for the conversion of another area porn theater into what would be a mixed-use artists’ space and music facility such as band rehearsal space and a live performance venue. This has prompted the San Francisco Arts Commission to explore the idea of converting space at the Golden Gate Theater into artists’ and musicians’ spaces. Maybe the Tenderloin is finally moving in the right direction toward joining the city as an integral and vital aspect of San Francisco. And maybe someday the San Francisco tours will acknowledge that the neighborhood exists, or at least cut through without having to explain it away to the tourists as they pass quickly.
