The Other SF Pt. 2: The Southeast

[Nineties Flava]

In case you missed the first part of the series:

The Other San Francisco Pt. 1: The Real South SF


Keeping with the theme from the first part of exploring parts of SF that do not pop into the average person's head when they think of the City, I decided to venture into what is arguably the most ignored section of the 7x7 peninsula: The southeast. The most well-known (and notorious) neighborhood in this overlooked section of San Francisco is Bayview-Hunters Point, AKA the part of town where they call it Frisco. Locally (and accurately), it is known as the ghetto of San Francisco. Historically, black residents were channeled into the area in the 1950's when the city began to reroute them from the Fillmore (which was poised to be redeveloped) to newly-constructed public housing in the largely undeveloped outskirts of the city by the port, which is where a lot of the black population worked during WWII. In the sixty years that followed, joblessness, disrepair (particularly in the projects), drug crime and even nuclear radiation from the port's former military history have plagued the neighborhood.

Even so, though, Southeast SF is still clearly part of San Francisco, and a beautiful area at that. It has some of the best topography in the entire city, and the fact that most of its blocks are rowhouses gives it an entirely different feel from that of the northern end of the city.

Interestingly, I noticed Occupy SF trying to rally support in the area... is this indicative of the larger movement trying to gain the support of the working class?

I covered about 1/3 of the BVHP area in this thread. I did not get to Hunter's Point at all and I only went as far south as Williams Street.

Welcome to Frisco...


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And last but not least, a clue for where my next thread in SF will be...



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Thanks for viewing my thread. All feedback is appreciated and will be returned.

[xzmattzx]

Interesting. I got to know Hunters Point well after going to a game at Monster Park last year and walking around for an hour looking for our prepaid tailgate.

[Expat]

Thanks for taking us to another place I have never seen. Great photographs.

[Danny]

Great pictures, Nineties Flava!

Thank you for showing us this area of San Francisco. It´s nice.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

[ifeeldope9779]

One of the nicest ghettos iv seen. Wish I had been able to explore more of the southern areas of SF when I was out there. I will have to put this on my checklist next visit.

[tech12]

Nice pictures of a part of SF that is rarely seen by visitors.

Originally Posted by ifeeldope9779

One of the nicest ghettos iv seen. Wish I had been able to explore more of the southern areas of SF when I was out there. I will have to put this on my checklist next visit.

Trust me, it's not THAT nice, seeing as there's plenty of poverty and drug/gang violence stuff going on, a relative lack of amenities, not to mention pollution from the old navy shipyard (the cancer rate in this neighborhood is 3 times as high as the average in SF, and there are higher rates of asthma as well). These pictures don't really do the bad side of the hood justice, as they focus mostly on the more working and middle class areas and better maintained parts of the hood, and not the truly bad and impoverished areas (which you would not want to step foot in without reason, as an outsider, and especially with a camera)...There's a gaggle of dilapidated public housing projects and old semi-abandoned industrial areas that weren't covered. But yeah, even then, it certainly does not look look like a Camden or a North Philly, or something.

That said, the hood is better than it used to be as well, in terms of crime/poverty/neglect. Over the past few years the city has been trying hard to push gentrification down there, it seems, and has built a light rail line going there, as well as some extra effort in things like police presence, fining people who don't paint over graffiti on their property, sending out the DPW trucks on the daily to pick up trash/dumped junk, have done advertising campaigns throughout the city saying how great the Bayview is, etc. I've even seen some questionable editing on the Bayview/Hunters Point wikipedia page, when it comes to crime rates there (as in, people ignoring crime stats and trying to make it sound much safer than it is...I'm gonna guess a real estate agent was to blame for that one).

edit: I'll also add that the gentrification of the hood is not mostly by wealthy white people, as is often assumed when the term "gentrification" is used...most newcomers to the Bayview/Hunters Point are Asian and Latino who are middle class/working class, though there are a few wealthier yuppie types thrown in as well.

[montréaliste]

Visited SF in 1990 and loved it. It is fulla character and charm. Love them there hills. Une des merveilles du monde ni plus ni moins...

[Nineties Flava]

Originally Posted by tech12

Nice pictures of a part of SF that is rarely seen by visitors.



Trust me, it's not THAT nice, seeing as there's plenty of poverty and drug/gang violence stuff going on, a relative lack of amenities, not to mention pollution from the old navy shipyard (the cancer rate in this neighborhood is 3 times as high as the average in SF, and there are higher rates of asthma as well). These pictures don't really do the bad side of the hood justice, as they focus mostly on the more working and middle class areas and better maintained parts of the hood, and not the truly bad and impoverished areas (which you would not want to step foot in without reason, as an outsider, and especially with a camera)...There's a gaggle of dilapidated public housing projects and old semi-abandoned industrial areas that weren't covered. But yeah, even then, it certainly does not look look like a Camden or a North Philly, or something.

That said, the hood is better than it used to be as well, in terms of crime/poverty/neglect. Over the past few years the city has been trying hard to push gentrification down there, it seems, and has built a light rail line going there, as well as some extra effort in things like police presence, fining people who don't paint over graffiti on their property, sending out the DPW trucks on the daily to pick up trash/dumped junk, have done advertising campaigns throughout the city saying how great the Bayview is, etc. I've even seen some questionable editing on the Bayview/Hunters Point wikipedia page, when it comes to crime rates there (as in, people ignoring crime stats and trying to make it sound much safer than it is...I'm gonna guess a real estate agent was to blame for that one).

edit: I'll also add that the gentrification of the hood is not mostly by wealthy white people, as is often assumed when the term "gentrification" is used...most newcomers to the Bayview/Hunters Point are Asian and Latino who are middle class/working class, though there are a few wealthier yuppie types thrown in as well.

Cosign what Tech12 said. Like I said in the thread preamble I didn't include Hunters Point (the projects), and sadly that's because it's truly dangerous for outsiders. My chances of walking through there with a camera unnoticed and unscathed are frankly too slim for me to take the risk, and they have a whole set of turf politics (color codes, baseball caps & sports clothing, etc.) that I would not pick up on which could easily be the difference between me becoming a target and not being bothered... I'd stick out like a sore thumb. That is one of two areas in the Bay Area I outright avoid, the other being North Richmond. You only hang there if you live there.

[Thundertubs]

Neat tour. Good to see some lesser-seen parts of SF.

[Centropolis]

Very cool, a world I've never seen.

[CyberEric]

Thanks for the photos, good to see the Bayview and Sunnyside portrayed.

[stepper77]

Great thread. I rarely ventured to this part of the city in the three years I lived there. Nice to see some progress. I hope the extension of the light rail has helped the area. Thanks!

[giovanni sasso]

righteous spread, flava. i've definitely never seen this part of town. candlestick park's down this way, innit?

[Nineties Flava]

Thanks everyone for all the comments.

@giovanni yup.

[ColDayMan]

Haven't been there in years. Thanks for that!

[Nineties Flava]

Bumped

[Austinlee]

This must be the poor "entry level" housing of San Francisco. Every house in this photo thread starts at a paltry $2 million and goes up from there.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Nineties Flava

Cosign what Tech12 said. Like I said in the thread preamble I didn't include Hunters Point (the projects), and sadly that's because it's truly dangerous for outsiders. My chances of walking through there with a camera unnoticed and unscathed are frankly too slim for me to take the risk, and they have a whole set of turf politics (color codes, baseball caps & sports clothing, etc.) that I would not pick up on which could easily be the difference between me becoming a target and not being bothered... I'd stick out like a sore thumb. That is one of two areas in the Bay Area I outright avoid, the other being North Richmond. You only hang there if you live there.

I recommended you go down to Carmel, get yourself a clinteastwood, and take as many pictures as you want; galore. I told you so.

[ShadowMaster]

I am glad you showed us this piece of San Fran. The area don't look bad at all. Another job well done friend!

[giallo]

Thick tour. Really nice, crisp images.

No worries about not stepping to Hunters Point. These guys will fill the void for now.

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