San Francisco Voice

Before I moved to San Francisco, my brother lived here in a neighborhood that was loosely defined as Lower Nob Hill which turned out to just be a pretty name for the edges of the Tenderloin neighborhood.  He told me stories about wandering a little bit too far from those edges, into the heart of the Tenderloin, and encountering shady activity that he just didn’t see throughout the rest of San Francisco.  But at the same time, he loved his neighborhood.  And now that I live here and have hung out regularly with friends who take advantage of the relatively cheap rents in the Tenderloin, I have to say that I love it a bit myself.  Like with the SoMA, there are some sketchy areas of the Tenderloin and there’s a reason that it has its bad rap, but there’s also a lot of fun to be had there if you have the right attitude about it.

The difference between the SoMA and the Tenderloin for me is that I consider the SoMA a place where you can go during all hours of the day and night; it has a pretty veneer during the day that makes it tourist-friendly and a happening nightlife that draws in locals from throughout the city.  In contrast, although I’ve had reason to be in the Tenderloin during the day, I basically consider this a nighttime neighborhood.  I suppose that’s kind of odd when you think about it; you generally want to avoid “bad” neighborhoods at night, but I guess what I like about the Tenderloin is its nightlife.  There’s an appeal to the dive bars and the slightly ghetto venues of the Tenderloin.  The moonlight makes the place look nice.

The grittiness of the Tenderloin is obvious during the day.  I’ve seen people urinating on the streets here, it’s not uncommon to find forties in paper bags in hand before noon and I once saw a needle propped up in the arm of a stranger as I passed his body on the street.  I admit, none of that is pretty.  Friends who live in the area cite prostitution, primarily but not entirely transsexual prostitution, as the biggest problem they encounter on a daily basis, although street fights and general fear of crime are up there as well.  But they live there, not because they can’t afford anywhere else but because the benefits of the low prices outweigh the annoyances of the neighborhood.

That said, The Tenderloin is a very “local” neighborhood.  There’s not really any reason for most tourists to make their way to this part of town.  If they do, it’s basically Polk Street that they probably want to linger around because this is where the nightlife is located.  Looking for the transsexual strip club?  That would be in this area.  Trying to find the anti-Castro-style gay bars?  This place is a good bet.  The streets stay active throughout the night and it’s easy to grab a cab, but you should probably know where you are and where you’re headed when you step out to enjoy the life here.