FIRST DISPATCH

In January 2006, participants in Community Housing Partnership’s Training Institute started the Tenderloin Oral History Project. The group, mostly residents of Single Room Occupancy hotels, explored their community armed with simple tape recorders. This first dispatch provides small glimpses into lives lived in one of San Francisco’s most complex and dense neighborhoods. TOHP will continue to gather stories meeting once a month to compile, analyze and publish voices from this important community.

Community Housing Partnership is an organization which provides permanently affordable housing with optional support services in the Tenderloin and on Treasure Island. – James Tracy

Jerome Peters
Street Musician and Photographer
Location of Interview: Pacific Bay Inn
Interviewed by: John Duke

Ah’ve seen, um, Ah’ve seen less killin’s. Uh, when I first moved in here, I, at least experienced two uh two murders; and uh and that was, like, the first year, four years ago; and, ever since then, eh, the Tenderloin, since…since Newsom came into power, I’ve seen a cleaner, more mellow Tenderloin than I ever saw before.”

I think I look Caribbean; I think that’s my, my appearance. I’m wearin a straw hat; that’s what we wear on the islands; keep the sun out, you know – heh, heh…sometime, the rain too. Um, I’m dark skinned Jewish; I guess dark and Jewish Christian. My ethnicity, thinks I’m uh, uh I do have half…well, most of my ancestors are dark skinned, meaning black, from South America, and from some maybe from Africa; I’m dark skinned, so obviously I have dark in ancestors; but the tradition by which I go is the Jewish tradition, which is on my mother’s side. So, I kind of live my lifestyle is basically a mellow one in which I just go about livin a certain way of life and doin things that I’m supposed to do as a Jew, or Israelite; um, you know, photography, servin people, takin pictures of their personality so they can see their good side; that’s just like you commented that this lady is beautiful (he points to an eight by ten glossy of a color portrait he printed up on the hotel computer); but if you saw her outside, you would, you would not, you probably might scorn her. Because, I made her look beautiful; well, she, she’s beautiful, but I was able to bring that out in the photography. Uh, you know: but she looked like she was a slob, outside on the street; she’s mentally de-ruh…uh, you know, mentally ill; and she’s always salivarin all over her face, all over her…body. Uh, and she’s on drugs. But you can’t see that in this picture; what you see is her real self, her beauty, and that’s what I brought out; that’s what I like to do, is bring out the beauty; and when I’m here in the Tenderloin, that’s what I do too. I like to bring out the beauty within people here in the Tenderloin, the good side! Despite whatever else they do, there’s something about them that’s more them than these things they do, and it’s usually good.

Denise Austin
Case Worker
Location of interview: Iroquois Hotel
Interviewed by at Harris

I use to live here in the t.l.for about 2 1/2 yrs. I no longer live here. Before that I was homeless. I use to live in Texas. I heard about San Francisco,from some one. I was told how easy it was to get on G A. I did that for a while until I got a job working with homeless people. I have been working now for 6 yrs .My advice to anyone wanting to change, and wanting to better themselves….Get involved with community projects. You should associate yourself with the different agencies that are available to you. From that you become knowledgeable from all the different resources, and life will get better for you. It doesn’t matter what it is you will see a difference in your life.

Bobby Palmer
Maintenance Trainee
Location owntown Y.M.C.A
Interviewed by Pat Harris

My name is Bobby Palmer and I moved to the Iroquois Apts in 1995. I needed my own place and cheap rent, don’t forget the cheap rent! And I had a chance to be to myself, you know. My own spot, my own key….I was clean and sober when I got there and after 2 years I started indulging . Every body in the building was doing it. You know it was cool back in the day. Then I realized ,this is becoming a habit . It was going on 2 yrs. I was tired man. I am doing better now. I am in the maintenance training program, and I have a part-time job. It didn’t take me no time to start to get clean. Once I made it up in my mind, I pursued it. That’s the type of person I am.

I have goals to move on up out of here and take my rightful place on this planet you know. I have a 16 yr old daughter that I have reunited with, and I am taking care of. During my addiction I dropped out of her life. I am grateful to her for letting me back in.

I want to move out of state where the property is cheaper, and my parents own some property down south. I am ready to roll!

”Keep your eyes on the prize , and know what you want to do”. You have to have a plan ya know? Follow it . You know what I am saying. Never put too much on yourself. Be realistic, and do a little at a time. As much time as it takes to get into something, remember it will be just as long to get out of it!

Ralph Patton
Desk Clerk
Location of Interview: Pacific Bay Inn Hotel
Interviewed by John Duke

I’ve lived in the Tenderloin for about six years; it seems like the Tenderloin has gotten quite nice. It was, well, it’s more crowded, it just seems like, on the sidewalks; that’s pretty much it. Other than that, it’s cleaner, it’s nice there, it’s still good, we still have our theatre…but I have to speak on the part about what I mean about it being crowded: So, when I come home from work here around midnight, and, in front of my building, it’s like, um, people just hang out, outside the building; it bothers me because on one issue, I gotta walk through them; the other issue is that they really shouldn’t have to be out there; if they, if it’s for some reason, like they’re homeless people, and they’re just moving them from one block to the next block to the next block, I think they should probably find…housing for these people, instead of just trying to push ‘em around from one neighborhood to the next neighborhood, you know? Because, first, they were, like down the street by the park; then they put in the police station, and that moved ‘em up by Glide; and I guess Glide had some kinda pull on being able to push people too, because now they’re like up here on the demarcation point between the Tenderloin and not-the-Tenderloin. So, that’s the one thing that’s bothering me, so as I walk through the Tenderloin, I see more people out in the streets hanging out at night time, and that kinda bugs me.

Oh, that it’s became more of a melting pot. That is, more diverse people in the Tenderloin than there used to be. There used to be like maybe just oh um two particular races, and now we’re seeing plenty more races, with the adding of the Indian, Pakistan…race, I guess; and, uh, that’s the one thing I’ve noticed more than anything else; and they seem to be quite nice.

James Powell
Vocational Specialist
Location of Interview: Tenderloin YMCA
Interviewed by: Joseph Bolden

“I have been working in Human Services since I was 14 years old. I started in the Boys Clubs at the front desk and worked my way up to Assistant Director. I’ve worked in other homeless programs as a Vocational Counselor. It is the kind of work I enjoy doing, it is the kind of work that I feel I am making a difference.”

Bert
Location of Interview: Tenderloin YMCA
Interviewed by: Emmett House

I live at the Lyric. It is OK. The counselors, they alright, they try to help. I can’t mention they’re names. I was stayin’ in a shelter for awhile, it took me awwhile to get into the Lyric, two or three years. I kept turning it down because I didn’t want to live in the area, but finally I moved in.

You have to think about what you are doing before you walk outside. You can’t go outside and be talking crazy to people. I walk outside a lot though.

Abraham Lincoln (Alias)
Unemployed
Location of interview:
Interviewed by: John Duke

Uh, I’d say in the last ten years, the neighborhood that I live in, the main changes that I’ve seen is, uh, they’ve moved all the whores out, and all the crack dealers moved in.

There was one guy on the street, that you could smell him a block away; that’s interesting, you know, to see the cops come over and drag ‘im off, because of the businesses that cater to tourists can’t have him around because you can literally smell him a block away. He doesn’t like to take his pants off when he uses the bathroom, you see. And, um, and, uh, it used to be there was a lot of other good lookin’ women walkin’ up and down the street, sellin their bodies; and now, it’s like, a half a dozen crack dealers and all these rag tag people who look like they got one foot on a banana peel and the other in a grave.

Meisha Thompson
Occupation: Receptionist
Location of Interview: Tenderloin YMCA
Interviewed by: Emmett House

I applied for housing, and Deobrah Brooks, the Intake Coordinator at Community Housing Partnership liked me I was talking to her and she told me about jobs they had in the program. I applied for the position of Desk Clerk and a couple of months later they called me. In February it will have been a year.

It is a different environment because the people who are around, homeless, people on drugs, its different, there is more of that here than any other part of the city. It is like their own little town.

I am from nowhere but I stay in Bayview-Hunter’s Point.

Reuben Wolff
Psychotherapist
Location of interview
Interviewed by: John Duke

I’ve been helping people in the Tenderloin for approximately seven years.

Well, during the time I worked at the Tenderloin Clinic, um, the primary diagnoses that we saw there were dual diagnoses, which means “two,” obviously: which were often, um, schizophrenic, with alcohol or drug abuse; uh, bipolar disorder with alcohol or drug abuse; uh, a lot of major depression; and, those were the primary, ah, problems that the individuals had that were, came to the clinic. However, the biggest problem is the lack of support from the family, and from the community (to some extent); and poverty…uh…it was a very big issue.

Jesse Brown
Senator Hotel Resident
Retired Security Officer
Location Of Interview: 280 Turk

Actually, in the last twelve years, I’ve seen a lot of changes. I’ve seen a lot of business come and go; and I’ve seen a lot of the, uh, people change, of comin and goin. The crime seems to have gotten a little, a little bit worse, with the drug crime, and that. And there seems to be more dangerous out there, to be walking down the sidewalk without being accosted by a drug dealer. So, you know, that’s kind a, there’s been a lot of changes; I think it’s kinda gotten a little bit more rougher and dangerous out there. So, that’s about it

Michael Lee
Unemployed
Location of Interview: Tenderloin YMCA
Interviewed by: Joseph Bolden

“I live in one of the SHEC buildings and I have been since October 1999. I don’t know, now I’m looking for a job, I need a job because right now I’m on SSI. SSI really is not doing it for me now, I’d really like to go back to work.”

Dave Thompson
Pacific Bay Inn Desk Clerk
Location of Interview: Pacific Bay Inn
Interviewed by: John Duke

Being a Desk Clerk is very interesting. Because, like I say, I been working here for a year, OK, a little bit more than a year, now, and, it’s, a real, a eye opening experience, and, the people here, like I said, diversity, you know, because of the drugs and whatnot that are here, and the people, you have different walks of life; and different attitudes, and what can I say, OH! and it’s just, it’s just really something to behold; you have to really see it then, to really talk about it, and to believe it! Because with the dope smoking you have people out smoke crack cocaine like they’re smoking cigarettes, like people just walkin around nonchalantly; and they run back and forth from the police, it’s really something to behold. And, uh, other than that, there’s some good people out there; it’s just that they get caught up into the drug life, and other personal things in their life; and then you have those who are just out preying on others. But, being a desk clerk has been a real eye-opening experience. “Good Morning. Good Morning; have a nice day. Mm hm, you too!” And, to sum it up, like I said, it’s just a eye-opening life experience for me at this time in my life, at fifty-five years old.

Danielle
Maintenance Work Crew Trainee
Location owntown Y.M.C.A
Interviewed by Pat Harris

Well I am a resident at the Dudley Hotel, and I am also in the maintenance training program I have been living there two yrs now, and I really don’t like it. Actually, I don’t like the location. I have been living in S.F. 10 yrs. I was homeless for five of those ten yrs. Then I entered a program. I am in a training program now. I enjoy work like that. I am really interested in electrician training. I would like to pursue that further. I have to finish 16 weeks of training ,and hopefully I will be placed on a job. I hope to be out of S.F., living in a beautiful house, with a good job. Maybe they will give me back my kids.

Mary Ann
Pacific Bay Inn Desk Clerk
Location of Interview: Pacific Bay Inn
Interviewed by: John Duke

As a desk clerk in the daytime, it’s very hard work. It’s because I’m dealing not only for the tenant in our building, at the same time with the guest, and the employee. But, I’m really happy to work here in Pacific Bay Inn; I’ve been working here for this organization for seven years, because I found the real word of the community. The real meaning of the community where I work. This the current tide of population, for example, when you are formerly homeless, or you just got out of the rehab, or you are still, uh, just fresh sober from alcohol; so, it’s hard for some people in this community to be strong. But some of them are trying their best to be strong. Some of them are weak. But I am really glad that I work here as a desk clerk, and a lead desk clerk at Pacific Bay Inn; people here, that lives here, treat me nice, respect, and I can’t complain no more for that; sometimes the problem that I encounter here are not the tenant, but the guest that are coming in to visit. Sometime they just want to sneak in; they are not patient enough to wait. We have a policy that they need to wait and to look for somebody to go up there and to let the tenant know that they have a visitor down at the front desk. Sometimes they are not sober, and they insist to visit some of our tenant in our building and we have a right not to let them go in, to let in. It’s very hard to be a desk clerk; and you need to be strong, to be patient, open-minded; to be able to be comfortable to be a desk clerk, especially in working in this population.

Barry Gordon
Truck Driver
Location of interview: Iroquois Hotel
Interviewed by: Pat Harris

I’ve been living here approx. 5 yrs. I really like it here. Its better than some of the other places i have been in. Especially Los Angeles. I came to T.L. because of cheaper housing. So far my housing situation is good. I also have a good job as a truck driver. I really like my job ,even though the traffic and jaywalkers are crazy. my goal is to get a better job, and a bigger house. something with my own bedroom, kitchen, living room and bathroom. my advice to someone homeless is to stay away from shady people and shady places. There are people that will give you a hand up. Associate yourself with positive people. You know, people that are doing things for themselves. They can show you the way. until you learn the ropes.

Cookie (alias)
Unemployed
Location: Eddy Street Apartments
Interviewed by: Donald Thomas Jr.

I’ve been here, let’s see I have moved back…moved back to the Windsor, I don’t know. I’ve been let’s see at the Windsor five years, I’ve was at the Hamlin four years, and now I’ve been in this studio apartment for four years. So that’s how long I’ve been here! OK!? I’m originally from down south, and um I was raised in Oakland, and I came here to San Francisco, cause they have the best benefits, that’s how I got here! Like I say well what I like about the tenderloin, that’s San Francisco to me! It’s the benefits you know, they give more than anybody! Than anyplace!! You know! And you have a lot of convenience.

I don’t know about the rent, they done and jacked mine up! Um my good memories are, being around decent people. Now lot of these people done passed, and that’s all, there ain’t nothing else decent around here for me, except for myself. A lot of killings. A lot of killings! A lot of shootings, a lot of robbings. A lot of stabbings, you know the store! SAM! He was very good, and when he got shot, that really did it! That was real bad!

There’s a lot of bull mess with different people starting things, insinuating ,and don’t even know what flavor it be you know. People can say whatever they want. They are just being envious! Don’t ask me why! Cause I don’t know! I don’t do the things they do, I don’t associate in their mix! I always be by myself. That’s to keep bullshit down.

Missionary Yem
Unemployed
Location of Interview: Tenderloin YMCA
Interviewed by: Joseph Bolden
I live in Pacific Bay Inn for 6 years. I started moving out from the homeless shelter into the PBI routine. PBI is nasty! Management, they know how to take their vacations! Not me I’ve been working too too hard, no vacation too hard. The sweatshop is opening, I’ve been working all these years like a good old boy.

Ray-Ray,
Unemployed
Golden Gate Avenue and Jones
Interviewed by John Duke
I see a lot of things that’s uncalled for, like drug users, homelessness; there’s a ways for people to communicate and try to get people off the streets the best that you can. I don’t feel comfortable when there seein people out here doin drugs; I don’t do drugs. I don’t have nothing else to say. They don’t have nothing else to do but pass the time. Mostly, they do chiva.

Joanna,
Teller, Northeast Federal Community Credit Union
Ellis at Jones Street
Interviewed by John Duke
Hi. We’ve been a member of the Tenderloin for about five years; we moved from Taylor Street to Jones, right across the street from the Tenderloin Police Station; and basically we’ve seen the same type of people here on Jones Street as we did on Taylor Street. We are the only financial institution in the Tenderloin; there are several that circle the Tenderloin, but we are actually in the thick of things.

Mimi,
Owner, Manor House Restaurant
Interviewed by John Duke
It change a lot; see, now, you look outside the street, you cannot see any drug dealer, outside the street; very nice and clean; but few years ago, you could n…I could not even barely to open my door; they all blocked the door, you know, selling dope. I had to call the police three or four times almost, you know, every day; but now, I don’t need to. After the police station opened, the whole area has changed; it improved a lot. So, now it’s very good; you can see outside, nice and clean; the people come here, they feel safe.