#tenderloin san francisco

[juancarlosvasquez]

Tenderloin (San Francisco)

Walking dead,

crawling naked in a love parade,

the return of ambulances

on roadless paths,

when I'm on the verge of blissful highs

I yearn for

caresses,

to lull me to sleep

in the night,

six months have slipped away

among incense over graves,

and a celestial restlessness,

visions of Jupiter compacted into pipes.

This face cannot be mine,

the face of Sunday

at noon.

If it weren't noon

and had I something to do,

these damn ambulance sirens

wouldn't torment me

with their regrets.

How do I reclaim, with punches,

the street's tranquility?

How do I demolish, with an axe,

the memories in my veins

without submerging in a tub

to masturbate?

There's a putrid smell of beer,

so romantic yet so pathetic,

Ideas of escape linger,

along with enduring words.

If I had a dog, its barking

would convince me, but I have no dog,

only nights that bring me joy in contempt,

and instead of protesting,

everything pushes me

towards terrible and sorrowful laughter.

© Juan Carlos Vásquez

© Photo by Mitchell Funk

[edyer-art]

“if it feels oppressive — kick against it”, 11x14”, ink on panel, 2022. Title is a reference to the musician Arca and the painting’s subject was inspired by Amanda St. Jaymes in the documentary Screaming Queens by Susan Stryker, about the riot at Compton’s Cafeteria.

“Turk street was our street, and the buildings that were on it, the hotels, that’s where we lived; that was our home… The El Rosa was really like a wayward home for girls. There were so many of us that were there; our families had disowned us… It was a wonderful place. We spent the holidays together there. We became each others family. We held on to each other.” — Amanda St. Jaymes

[themonsterthing]

Tenderloin in the rain.

[jacquelynstuber]

The Tenderloin

The Phoenix Hotel

San Francisco

October, 2023

[fulldenimjackett]

finally met someone who like goes into into the city just for fun! like just walking around and looking at stuff

[morffyne]

Dont do drugs

[flommischen]

[lonetravelertheory]

My local philz coffee shop

[whatevergreen]

High Tide, San Francisco, March 24, 2013 - Robby Virus "A divey cocktail bar in the Tenderloin neighborhood."

Closed 2019. The neon sign which has been there since before the 1970s, has been removed.

[scumz-photography]

[bighominiglo]

As someone who lived in SF for a minute years ago, and it's only gone downhill since then, it is the culture that makes the city so unsafe. California and SF in particular has the worst wealth disparity in the country. Ironic, considering what they virtue signal about in politics.

The homelessness problem is much worse than almost anywhere else in America, and the cops refuse to even police certain areas. Yes, they refuse to police. Meaning victims and children in that area are SOL. Yes, this is frequently a very racist and classist policy as the white affluent neighborhoods will have cops respond to their calls. i lived in the Tenderloin, one of the least policed areas smack dab in the middle of the city where homeless and addicted people line up on the streets outside and you have to step over heroin needles and literal shit (this was before fentanyl). i got harassed daily just for daring to be a woman outside.

Now instead of giving everyone a right to housing, building more shelters, high density affordable housing to combat the homelessness problem, SF just does nothing! In fact they incentivize homelessness and crime by refusing to police entire areas! And the citizens block every attempt at housing and shelter projects left and right. They're all NIMBYs who cry "muh low skyline" and don't want their property values "driven down by poor people".

Instead of programs to help addicts get clean they hand out free needles and give them tents to get high in! Outright helping people kill themselves through drugs. Helping homeless people kill themselves through drugs.

They decriminalized stealing so businesses have left the city in droves. Making it straight up a scene from a dystopian novel where the billionaires are sequestered away in giant but not tall buildings and complain to the cops when the homeless problem they refuse to solve lands itself on their property. The cops then take the homeless person back to the tenderloin and hand them a needle to help them kill themselves.

Of course people don't want to live there anymore. This is what their politics and self determination radical individualist capitalist culture has done for them, despite being one of the most progressive cities. No one hates the homeless more than San Francisco.

[simonh]

Accurate Auto Body by Thomas Hawk

[craigleephoto]

Homeless encampment sweep in the San Francisco Tenderloin on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. (Craig Lee/The San Francisco Examiner)

1. Christopher Jones (left), 51, and Jeff Fultz, 52, living homeless on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets. Christopher Jones has been living homeless since 1995 and Jeff Fultz came to San Francisco from Michigan 9 months ago.

2. Homeless encampment on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets just before a sweep.

3. Christopher Jones (left), 51, and Eddie Thomas, 57, both seated as San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team members talk with Jamel Davis, 39, during a homeless encampment sweep on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

4. Sean DeLise, Incident Commander San Francisco Fire Department Paramedic, speaking to Amber Miller, 38, during a homeless encampment sweep on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

5. Christopher Jones, 51, moving his belongings during a homeless encampment sweep on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. Christopher Jones has been living homeless since 1995.

6. Jeff Fultz (jacket with “I Have Issues”), 52, moving his belongings during a homeless encampment sweep on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

7. Eddie Thomas, 57, during a homeless encampment sweep on Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

8. Homeless encampment sweep on Taylor Street between Ellis and Eddy Streets by San Francisco Public Works on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023.

[urbandrivingskills-blog]

Goat karahi, okra, daal, rice, naan. Shalimar. San Francisco. May 2022.

[herederosdelkaos]

Arte y literatura : San Francisco and other poetic dreams | Edited by Don Brennan

San Francisco and other poetic dreams is made possible by Writers workshop 146 Leavenworth St. San Francisco CA. Edited by Don Brennan. Program Director at jennywileysf@hotmail.com, or drop by the Community Arts Studio.

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. William S. Burroughs.

[irreplaceable-spark]

Former Drug Dealer Tells How San Francisco Failed the Homeless | Ricci Wynne

"When I came back to San Francisco, I started seeing things through a different lens, I started seeing it for what it really was. And I, it was really, like jarring to me." 

Siyamak sits down with Ricci Wynne, a San Francisco resident, and videographer. He was once a drug addict and labeled a career criminal but has since turned his life around and has become an advocate for the homeless and sober living. He continues to fight for a change in San Francisco's approach to homelessness and drug addiction.