In case you haven’t noticed, the New York Times has a major hard-on for San Francisco style stories. Maybe it’s because the city is on the list of Things White People Like. Or maybe San Francisco is seen as a fresh alternative to Brooklyn  for the newspaper’s inevitably outdated “what the kids are up to” trend pieces. This piece in the Times is a pretty good example of the genre. Written by Guy Trebay, the article professes to explore San Francisco fashion. And by “fashion” it means hipsters in the Mission wearing high-waisted jeans over bathing suits.

Several SF neighborhoods get mentioned in the piece, including Hayes Valley, the Castro, the Haight, and Pacific Heights. Of the Tenderloin or Tendernob? Not a whisper. This is too bad, as Tenderloin certainly has some innovative fashion, whether it comes from Project Runway designer Christopher Collins or the high-heeled trans gals strutting down Polk Street. As a sign of how out of touch Trebay is, he chose to interview an administrator at the Academy of Art’s fashion department. Academy of Art is one of the largest landlords in the city and is perhaps better known in San Francisco for being a diploma mill for starry-eyed, high-paying, international students than a quality educational institute. It’s not even clear if their main fashion program (they offer another fashion degree online) is accredited. The only (maybe) good thing about Trebay mentioning the AoA is that many of their students do live in the Tendernob, but whether they’ll ever work in fashion, or write about it, is anyone’s guess.

At Tendernights, we were pretty stoked that the loin was there selling their wares. We were even more stoked that they were able to print up Tenderblog t-shirts which we were running around in. Some of you even bought them and are wearing them around the hood. All solid. All good.

For those of you who might have missed out on getting one of these magnificent specimens of clothing, you shall remain missed outteth no more for they are now for sale in black, gray, and army. If you were smart, you’d get all three in a whole variety of sizes since they’re 100% cotton, screened here and just $15, which in today’s tee couture market is a freakin’ steal.

And let me emphasize that in buying one of these tees, you’re not only fronting your Tenderloin/blog pride, but also supporting a local business. This does a helluva lot more for this neighborhood than financially dead-end museums which is why we’re super behind this. That and the fact that the shirts and you, dear TenderReaders, are cool.

(While you’re at it, get a hoodie too. When I wear mine to meetings at the office, those effin’ meetings are adjourned if you get my drift, which I don’t even think I do.)

It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these. So which one is your favorite? And let me remind you that whichever you choose, you will be forced to look at photos of it 30 years from now and have to explain “what the hell people were thinking in my day” to your grandchildren, because they naturally won’t understand this as it’s “so totally obscure”.

Citizen, whenever you are to wake up and wonder, “Oh, what a night… but where have my snazzy white pants gone?” the answer shall be, Larkin & Geary. We’ve all tried them on since we were notified and yes, they’re fantastic. You really want them back.

A while back we told you about The Loin t-shirt by Red Choo Choo, which was a nice addition to the existing collection by the loin. Some months back, when we were looking to print some t-shirts for a fundraising campaign we went to Ape Do Good printing in the Mission. In their Flickrstream we saw this cool t-shirt honoring our neighborhood:

Photo from Ape Do Good flickr

Since then a few people have sent us the link, but as Ape Do Good made it for a client a while back, they don’t know where they are sold. We haven’t seen them anywhere, but maybe you, dear Tender Readers, know more about its origin and whereabouts?

In case you haven’t noticed, Tenderloin has become a little bit fashion-y. (Just a little, don’t get too excited.) Starting at the low end, there’s spendy sneakers at HUF on Sutter and Jones, not to mention several other skate shops in the vicinity. Moving higher in the food chain, there’s Joseph Domingo on Post and Leavenworth. And then there’s Christopher Collins whom I’d never heard of until today. I’ve passed Collins’s storefront several times, but I thought it was for drag queens because of the window showed stiff gowns on 7′ tall mannequins. But apparently, Collins is hot stuff because he’s going to be on Project Runway‘s 8th season, which starts next Thursday the 29th. Hm, who knew? Oh, and while Collins must be hot as a designer, he’s also hot as a human being, yowza! Okay, Project Runway, it’s a date. I’ll be rooting for the adorable home team next Thursday.

A couple of weeks ago we got word of a new San Francisco t-shirt company called Red Choo Choo launching a design honoring our hood – aptly named ‘Loin‘. Thanks to The Loin (a cool underground print shop that we visited recently) we already own cool t-shirts showing our proud love to the neighborhood. Of course, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to add one more to the collection to flaunt a full-frontal Loin when the occasion called for it.

Two days after my online order, the shirt came in the mail. Unfortunately, it was bigger than I had expected, so this morning I emailed the engineers running, Red Choo Choo asking if I could change it. Just a few hours later, Mike showed up at my place with a smaller Loin t-shirt (and wearing one himself, as you can see on the picture). So I took the opportunity to catch up with him and ask him a couple of questions. I found not only out that he loves Barcelona and would like to move there one day, but also how he started his t-shirt company.

It turns out Mike is not a designer or an artist by training. He actually has a background in finance. He moved to San Francisco over 10 years ago and was working as a mortgage markets analyst (or something boring like that), but then the company he worked for was bought out. So about a year and a half he decided to start his own company. He told me that he taught himself Photoshop, Illustrator and how to make a website, and so Red Choo Choo was born. I couldn’t help but asking him about the cute name, which has an equally cute logo that is printed on every t-shirt. Mike said that he wanted a name that was easy to remember, and toy trains are usually the first memorable toys kids have.

Red Choo Choo is based in the Mission and sells its designs in a number of stores around the city (such as Molte Cose in Nob Hill, Rag in Hayes Valley & WinkSF in Noe Valley), but none in the Tenderloin. So why did Mike decide to create a t-shirt on this particular neighborhood? The Red Choo Choo website says the following:

The Tenderloin district in San Francisco is filled with unique characters and establishments that would not fit neatly into a monthly catalog. As the city tries to market the area as a gritty, urban enclave (NY Times), we know the reality of crime and drugs will always be a part of what is ironically, also the area filled with most of the hotels for tourists. Show your love to the area that I would rather spend time in than Fisherman’s Wharf.

Mike added that he likes the Tenderloin because it’s probably the only part of town that hasn’t been gentrified (or not completely, at least) and that it still has a city feel. It’s also an area where real people live, you can still find mom & pop shops, and really good unpretentious food. He also said that every city has a Tenderloin, so Tenderloin means history, and San Franciscans often don’t appreciate that enough. It’s also funny that so many tourist hotels are located in this area, but so few of those tourists actually hang out in it. Some might say it’s for the better, but it’s still a neighborhood that has a lot to offer beyond the general perceptions of hookers, meth, and booze. As the t-shirt says, it’s the tender part of San Francisco. If you know where to chew, that is.

• You can buy the Loin t-shirt online here for $25
• And you can follow Red Choo Choo on Twitter or like them on Facebook

Cafe Royale has been one of my more favorite spots to go to. The best days were when Kate Dumbleton owned and ran it because she was a super awesome lady that pimped the local scene really well, loved good music, good drinks, and was one of those people who work to make a community kick ass. Don’t tell tenderblogette, but I also thought she was pretty hot too. Maybe some of the other gents will back me up on this or just tell me it was the drinks and my lusty 20′s talking. The new owners are generally all right, but is it my imagination, or have the drink prices been raising steadily?

Anyways, one of the cool things about the place is the rotating art exhibits each month. This one was particularly poignant as it features the work of the loin, a print shop here in–The Loin. I’ve been seeing a number of people wearing their very cools designs around the hood as of late and it’s great that they’ve now got a show. For those not able to stop by Royale, check out their store for tha funky threads.

For those who are able to stop by in this suddenly chill month of October, you’ll be greeted by a display of their goods as seen below:

It’s about time we got some local businesses like these!

Here’s another great picture that the talented Myleen Hollero sent over to the Tenderblog to show how mornings look in our neighborhood.

Hipsters be damned. This man truly understands how to mash together a solid morning outfit. His mug might as well have “Badass in Slippers” on it and I bet that ain’t coffee. It’s cognac with a touch of “fuck yeah” for flavor. Take that all you keffiyeh wearers!

It’s time for another Tenderfashion comparison, because we enjoy people watching and outfit criticism.

So do you prefer crazy crimson hair with matching pink shirt and retro suede jacket, or skinny jeans, striped shirt and guitar? Basically, do you prefer a classic Tenderloin look (seen at McAllister and Hyde) or a classic San Francisco hipster look (seen at Ellis and Leavenworth)? And don’t tell us you hate hipsters, because that would be oh-so stereotypical San Francisco according to this great article “Things San Franciscans Like: Hate“:

San Franciscans love to hate on hipsters. They hate hipsters even though they know that they themselves either are, were, or want to be one of these brooding, bruised, skinny people.