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In this neighborhood there are not so many places with outdoor seating, so those that have it are very popular. Quetzal on Polk street at the corner of Fern, in the Tendernob area, is one of them and a great place for people watching.
Because of the Tenderloin’s high concentration of apartment buildings, it is also one of the areas of the city with the least parks and green areas. That’s why we were so happy when we heard about the Tenderloin National Forest project on Cohen Alley, between Leavenworth and Ellis Street. From Thomas Hawk’s blog:
Cohen Alley, which used to be one of the most filth, drug and crime infested alleys in one of the worst areas of San Francisco, has recently been renovated, reclaimed and renamed the Tenderloin National Forest complete with gardens and public art and the transformation has been nothing short of remarkable.
Three weekends ago, on May 9th, the alley officially opened to the general public with a day of celebration featuring numerous Bay Area artists and performers. According to the Tenderloin National Forest’s website, the public art and garden space was created to address the lack of green space in the Tenderloin. They say:
The Forest is intended to be an inspiration and model for others to attempt gardening in the inner city. People are welcome to come by the Forest to look, and if the gate is open (when the gardeners are there), to see the plants and exchange ideas about forests and flora in the city.
The Tenderloin National Forest, located on Cohen Alley is open regularly from 12 noon to 5pm every weekday. Check it out.
Geekstinkbreath full photo set of the Tenderloin National Forest can be seen here, and Thomas Hawk’s here, and all the Flickr photos tagged with ‘Tenderloin National Forest’ can be seen here.
717 Leavenworth is a weird little spot. Whenever I would drop deep in to the Loin for eats, I would pass by this little space and wonder what it was. You see, for the longest time it was this front for something called, Geometricks. There were these small sculptures in the windows and sometimes they would change, but the door was never open. It was almost like the apartment building that contains this space was ignoring it.
Then, in March 2009, something happened. The old windows got ripped off. The space got cleaned up and remodeled quite heavily. Suddenly, up sprung, Timezone, one of San Francisco’s newest micro galleries. Basically, they’re mostly just offering the space as you can see in their guidelines that artists have to staff their own shows. Pretty cool system really and I’ve seen it work well in other places. Will there be enough foot traffic to make the place viable? Only time will tell.
Being tired of hearing statements like this tweet below by DJDanLo is the reason that this blog got started to pay tribute to our neighborhood.
Of course, in all fairness, Cleve Jones played by Emile Hirsch in Milk asking, “Why does the Tenderloin always smell like piss?” is a valid question. Yeah, it’s dirty. It’s grungy. There are people shooting up/ defecating/ begging/ sleeping across the sidewalk/ not showering in plain daylight. There are hookers out in the open. There are dealers on the corners (’cause where else you gonna get your OCs?) When walking from North Beach at night, people advise us that we won’t be safe. But, the Tenderloin/Tendernob area of San Francisco also has some real gems to it. And real people. There are great places to eat, small cool galleries, and a vibrant atmosphere that we enjoy everyday. We’re tempted to keep these to ourselves, but our hood needs to get some love because we think it has been treated unfairly and too easily dismissed by people from other areas of the city.
In full disclosure, let’s get a few things out of the way:
- We love to eat and we love cheap eats
- We are Geeks Without Macs
- We love things that are everyday, yet interesting
- We’re known to nap in Dolores Park from time to time
- We love small, locally owned businesses
- We walk most everywhere
- We love Translink
- We’re not afraid of human contact when we walk down Leavenworth to get to the Civic Center Station
- We despise the Academy of Art
- We like cats and dogs equally, but we tend to photograph doggies in the neighborhood more often
- We generally prefer wine as our drink of choice
- We take Yelp.com with a grain a salt
And that’s us. This blog is here to show all the things we see on a daily basis, living in the Tenderloin/Nob/touch of the Two Hills area, inspired by Mission Mission on the Mission District.
