Fillmore District, San Francisco, California
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- For other uses of Fillmore, see Fillmore
The Fillmore District, also called The Fillmore or The Lower Fillmore, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Though its boundaries are not well-defined, it is usually considered to be the subset of the Western Addition neighborhood bordered by Fillmore Street on the west, Van Ness Avenue on the east, approximately Geary Boulevard on the north, and approximately Grove Street on the south. Sometimes the western boundary is extended to Divisadero Street north of Golden Gate Avenue. The neighborhood is in San Francisco's fifth district, and is served by several Muni bus lines including the 38, 31, 5, and 22.
The Fillmore was the site of a massive and controversial Urban renewal project begun in the 1950s, the last vestiges of which are still ongoing. It has an ethnically and economically diverse population, and is the historical center of African-American culture in San Francisco. Today, despite the persistence of poverty and violent crime, the Fillmore is seeing increased residential and commercial development. In particular the area is reviving as a center of music, with a branch of Oakland-based jazz club Yoshi's and a jazz history museum expected to open in 2007, joining existing venues such as the Boom Boom Room, Rassalla's, the Sheba Lounge, and the well-known Fillmore Auditorium.
[edit] History
In the 1800s, the Fillmore was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, with vegetable farms surrounding the developed area around Fillmore Street. Many Japanese immigrants also came to the Fillmore around the turn of the century. After the 1906 earthquake Fillmore Street, which had largely avoided heavy damage, temporarily became a major commercial center as the city's downtown rebuilt.
In 1942, during World War II, President Roosevelt signed an executive order to relocate all people of Japanese origin to internment camps. The vacant homes in the Fillmore attracted African American industrial workers, musicians, and artists. Soon many nighclubs were opened, bringing major musical icons to the neighborhood including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. The neighborhood struggled economically, however, and many of its Victorian houses fell into disrepair.
As a result of this, in 1948 the Fillmore was designated a redevelopment area. The city's Redevelopment Agency, led by Justin Herman, demolished most of the neighborhood's existing homes and businesses over the course of the next decade. In their place developers built large, mostly low-rise housing developments, along with some mixed-use buildings concentrated around Fillmore Street. Many of these developments included subsidized units for low-income residents. The project took longer than expected, however, with some plots remaining vacant until well into the 21st century. While the residents of the original homes were, in theory, entitled to return to the neighborhood, many did not do so. As a result of the project's displacement of residents and businesses, its mixed (and arguably discriminatory) economic impact, and its architecture (now seen as outmoded), the redevelopment of the Fillmore is considered by many to have been unsuccessful and regrettable.
As surrounding neighborhoods have gentrified, however, some effects have been felt in the Fillmore. While lower Fillmore Street is still dominated by chain establishments now disfavored by most San Franciscans, restaurants and jazz clubs are beginning to reappear. Some of the neighborhood's subsidized housing projects have been rebuilt along more modern lines, and some market-rate housing is also being built and refurbished.
[edit] External links
- [PBS documentary on redevelopment of the Fillmore]
- [San Francisco Redevelopment Agency Western Addition A-1 area]
- [What's Really Wrong with the Lower Fillmore]
