Tourists: take a walk on the wild side
The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and the clangy-sounding cable cars all characterize San Francisco, often viewed as America’s most beautiful and iconic city. But civic boosters here want to add something else: a slum.
It’s what is commonly known as the “Uptown Tenderloin” district, home to druggies, and perhaps the dingiest domain of the city.
“We offer a kind of grittiness you can’t find much any more,” Randy Shaw, a long-time Tenderloin housing advocate, told The New York Times. “And what is grittier than the Tenderloin?”
Plans here call for a new $3 million museum, an arts district, and even a walking tour of what boosters call “The world’s largest collection of historic single-room occupancy hotels.”
Shaw’s plans for the area have the backing of Mayor Gavin Newsom who announced a city grant last month to help promote a “positive identify” for the Tenderloin. plaques on buildings are being prepared throughout the neighborhood.
The very densely populated area has about 30,000 people in 60 square blocks, almost all of which have a residential unit.
The district’s drug trade is so widespread, and so open, that the police recently asked for special powers to disperse crowds on certain streets.
Efforts to revitalize the Tenderloin a start in the right direction, but it’s still “a very, very long road” to attract tourists, says Laurie Armstrong, a spokesperson for the city’s CVB.
“At this point in time, there aren’t many reasons for visitors to go there,” she said.
But boosters cite historical nuggets such as the Hotel Drake, where movie director Frank Capra (“It’s a Wonderful Life”) used to live, or the Cadillac, where Muhammad Ali trained and where legendary singer Jerry Garcia lived.
By David Wilkening
David
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