San Francisco - Alison Bing [49]
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CIVIC CENTER & THE TENDERLOIN
Drinking; Eating; Shopping; Sleeping
At the beginning of the 20th century, San Francisco aspired to become the Paris of the Pacific, with the beaux-arts Civic Center as its pride and glory. One earthquake, a fire, an ill-conceived fountain and a ton of gold leaf later, San Francisco is still pretty far off the mark – for better and for worse. On the plus side, the grand plaza lined with peculiar gnarled trees that stubbornly refuse to bloom has turned out to be the ideal spot for massive antiwar demonstrations, skirt-twirling Cinco de Mayo fiestas and Pride parades far too raucous for Par-ee (however gay it may claim to be). Meanwhile, many of the city’s finest chefs operate restaurants in the neighborhood, catering to crowds chattering with the thrill of great performances at Davies Symphony Hall, the War Memorial Opera House and Herbst Theater. On the downside, the aforementioned fountain is often mistaken for the open-air urinal it resembles, and the shopping carts of the indigent in front of City Hall stand as a seemingly permanent rebuke to the dot-com windfall squandered on the gleaming gold dome, c 1999.
For all San Francisco’s European aspirations, the city is sorely lacking European public services. Hence the overburdened Tenderloin, one of the few areas in town (and indeed the state of California) to provide a full range of nonprofit services for the city’s homeless families, impoverished elderly, disabled veterans, recovering substance abusers and others in need. The upscale lounge-bars that have landed here of late seem oddly placed, since the Tenderloin sidewalk scene is a rather ominous cautionary tale for casual girls-night-out cocktails. There are some brighter spots on the horizon, in particular the nonprofit Luggage Store Gallery, which brightens dark alleys with murals by former artists who emerged from these city streets. An excellent farmers market in otherwise desolate United Nations Plaza brings a much-needed fresh outlook to the neighborhood twice weekly.
Some Vietnamese families who were first relocated to the Tenderloin after the Vietnam War have put down roots here and run such legendary local restaurants as Pagolac, Saigon Sandwich Shop and Tu Lan. City Hall has optimistically attempted to repackage Larkin St as ‘Little Saigon.’ While we love the new gateway to Little Saigon at Eddy and Larkin Sts – two matching granite-and-marble columns on either side of the street, topped with winged dragons – the moniker still seems something of a slight to Saigon, given the neighborhood’s down-and-out vibe. Nonetheless, scrappy community nonprofits and tiny Tet (Vietnamese lunar new year) celebrations show that community can crop up in the unlikeliest places.
Ultimately, many of the neighborhood’s best features aren’t Parisian at all. The light-drenched San Francisco Main Library is stocked with an eclectic selection of books in multiple languages beloved by San Francisco’s polyglot residents. The former main library building was transformed by popular vote and popular Italian architect Gae Aulenti into a spectacular Asian Art Museum (below) worthy of a city that faces Asia, not Europe.
Civic Center stretches from Franklin St, where the Symphony, Opera House and War Memorial buildings begin, eastward past the United Nations Plaza and the red-light marquees of Market St to 6th St, aka San Francisco’s Skid Row. Grit ends and glam begins east of Mason St, and SoMa kicks in around Folsom St west of 5th St.
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top picks
CIVIC CENTER & THE TENDERLOIN
SF Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall
Asian Art Museum (left)
SF Opera at War Memorial Opera House
Opposition politics at City Hall
Luggage Store Gallery
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ASIAN ART MUSEUM Map
415-581-3500; www.asianart.org; 200 Larkin St; adult/child under 12yr/student & child 13-17yr/senior $12/free/7/8, 1st Sun of month free, after 5pm Thu $5; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun,