The Tenderloin is a small, densely populated neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. In addition to its rich history and diverse community, there is significant poverty, homelessness, and crime. It is known for its immigrant communities, single room occupancy (SRO) hotels, restaurants, artistic community, and large homeless population. The Tenderloin is well served by public transit and is near Union Square, the Financial District, and Civic Center. The 2000 United States Census reported a population of 28,991 persons, with a population density of 44,408/mi² (17,146/km²), in the Tenderloin's 94102 ZIP Code Tabulation Area, which also includes the nearby Hayes Valley neighborhood.
The Tenderloin is now a designated historic district with many hotels from the early 20th century, some of which have been renovated into boutique tourist hotels and others into supportive housing. Squalid conditions, homelessness, crime, illegal drug trade, prostitution, liquor stores (more than 60 in 2008), and strip clubs give the neighborhood a seedy reputation. However, these conditions have also kept rents in the area more affordable to low-income and working class people in a city that is among the priciest in the country.
With some of San Francisco's most prestigious real estate only a few blocks to the north, the nearby office towers of the Financial District and the upscale retailers and hoteliers of Union Square located immediately to the east, the Tenderloin often surprises tourists. As with other lower-income neighborhoods such as the Mission and South of Market (SOMA) districts, many artists and writers make the Tenderloin their home.
While Tenderloin streets closest to the Market Street corridor are among San Francisco's most undesirable, a gradual but distinct rise in income level occurs as one travels north toward the affluent Nob Hill neighborhood (the gentrified north part of the Tenderloin is sometimes referred to with the euphemism / neologism Tendernob ). Relative to other areas, the Tenderloin is the only largely working-class neighborhood within the downtown area.
The dot-com boom of the late 1990s brought a great deal of redevelopment and resident inhabitation to the SOMA district in particular, but some revitalization funds put into the Tenderloin made a prominent impact — evident today by a much broader section of new ethnic restaurants and bars, as well as a more long-term young working class.
Area
The Tenderloin is a dense downtown neighborhood located in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, nestled between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about fifty square blocks and a conservative description has it bounded on the North by Post Street, on the East by Mason Street, on the South by Mission Street and on the West by Van Ness Avenue and Ninth Street. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill can range as far north as Pine Street in western sections of the Tenderloin, such as the Polk Gulch neighborhood.
The Tenderloin roughly lies west of Union Square, south of Nob Hill, east of the Western Addition and Van Ness corridor, and north of SOMA.
It includes neighborhoods referred to as Civic Center, Downtown, Polk Gulch, and Little Saigon. The words "The Tenderloin" seldom appear in real-estate listings.
The extension of the Tenderloin south of Market Street in the vicinity of Sixth, Seventh, and Mission Streets is known locally as Mid-Market and is "Skid Row," or sarcastically as "the Wine Country," an allusion to "winos" (street-dwelling alcoholics). The northern part of it beginning at Post Street is called a variety of names, including Tenderloin Heights, Lower Nob Hill (widely used in real estate listings) or The Tendernob. The eastern extent, where it meets Union Square is known as the Theater District. Part of the western extent of the Tenderloin, Larkin and Hyde Streets between Turk and O'Farrell, was officially named "Little Saigon" by the City of San Francisco.
Nestled between successful commercial areas and high priced residential areas, parts of the Tenderloin have historically resisted gentrification, maintaining a seedy character and reputation for crime. The region includes City Hall, San Francisco Public Library, and the Asian Art Museum. Abandoned architectural landmarks are also located here, such as the old Hibernia Bank located on the dilapidated corner of Jones and McAllister Street, near a methadone clinic, the Saint Anthony Foundation and St. Anthony Dining Room, founded by Franciscan friar Alfred Boeddeker in 1950. UC Hastings, California's first law school, and the oldest law school west of the Mississippi River, is also present in the area.
In July 2008, the area was designated as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. The historically accurate name for the neighborhood is "Uptown Tenderloin," as opposed to the "Downtown Tenderloin" on Kearny Street (closer to the Financial District.)
Night life
The Tenderloin hosts major world class institutions and cutting edge alternative arts groups.
Large theaters in the neighborhood include the Geary, the home of the American Conservatory Theater, and the Curran, Golden Gate and Orpheum Theatres operated by the Shorenstein Nederlander Organization. The neighborhood includes the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library and the Asian Art Museum. Adjacent to the neighborhood on its Western edge is the San Francisco Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall and the Herbst Theatre.
Alternative theaters in the Tenderloin include EXIT Theatre, which operates four storefront theaters and produces the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the New Conservatory Theatre, the Phoenix Theatre, the Off-Market Theatre, The Last Planet Theatre and others. Alternate galleries include The Luggage Store, the 509 Cultural Center, the Shooting Gallery and others.
The Tenderloin is a historic downtown bar neighborhood dating to prohibition and before. Many bars have entertainment including Lefty O'Doul's piano bar, the Dixieland-oriented Gold Rush, and the drag bar, Aunt Charlie's. Larger live music venues include the Great American Music Hall and the Warfield Theatre.
The Tenderloin hosts many dive bars, including some left over from when the neighborhood housed large numbers of merchant seamen such as the 21 Club and the 65 Club. New, trendy bars have surfaced in the neighborhood, some designed as imitation speakeasies. Hip dance clubs, such as Club Six, Suite 181, and Ruby Skye sport long lines late at night. Historically, the Tenderloin has had a number of strip clubs, although their number has decreased in recent decades. The most well known is the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre.
Transportation
The Tenderloin is one of the most public transit friendly neighborhoods in the Western United States. It sits atop a transportation hub that connects to all of the Bay Area transit systems, as well as the historic downtown cable car turnaround. Major bus lines that run North and South, as well as East and West, dissect the neighborhood.
The neighborhood's Powell Street and Civic Center subway stations connect to the San Francisco MUNI Metro lines running under Market Street and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, including service to and from San Francisco International Airport.
On the surface of Market Street run the popular F Market line with historic streetcars from around the world, electric trolley buses, and many bus and streetcar lines. The City's busiest bus line, the 38 Geary, runs through the neighborhood as it goes from the Bay to the ocean. There are stops in the Tenderloin for Marin County's Golden Gate Transit and San Mateo County's SamTrans. The Transbay Terminal, with connections to Amtrak and the East Bay's AC Transit, is a short Market Street bus ride away.
With the large number of hotels, restaurants, bars and theaters in the neighborhood, cabs are usually easy to hail and there are several rental car agencies in the area. Market Street, with designated bike lanes, is friendly to bicycles, although very busy with autos and buses. Wheelchair lifts on many buses make the system accessible to the disabled.
Driving and parking in the Tenderloin are problematic for the uninitiated and is discouraged by many transit activists. Street parking is scarce and expensive. Private parking lots are expensive although there are short term public lots nearby at 5th and Mission Streets and Ellis/O'Farrell (between Powell and Stockton). Onramps to the major east/west Highway 80 and Highway 280, and the major north/south Highway 101, are a short drive from the neighborhood.
History
The Tenderloin borders the Mission/Market Street corridor which follows the Spaniards' El Camino Real which in turn traced an ancient north/south Indian trail. Sheltered by Nob Hill and far enough from the Bay to be on solid ground, there is evidence of a community living here several thousand years ago, and when the area was excavated in the 1960s for the BART/MUNI subway station at Civic Center remains of a woman dated at 5,000 years old were found.
The Tenderloin has been a downtown residential community since shortly after the California Gold Rush in 1849. It had an active nightlife in the late 1800s with many theaters, restaurants and
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