The Tenderloin is, to put it mildly, a lot. It’s one of the most densely populated parts of the city, but has a fraction of the public space found in other districts. It’s one of the poorest. It’s home to one of the largest concentration of immigrants in San Francisco, and one of the highest concentrations of children.
In early February, photographer and San Francisco State University student Gustavo Hernandez began taking portraits of people he met walking through the Tenderloin. What he found was a neighborhood full of old-timers and newcomers. Some people move there because they love it. Others do so because they don’t have a whole lot of other options.
Everyone, though, has something to say about it.
Gracie Filiva
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“It’s really stressful,” said Filiva, who has lived in the Tenderloin for two years. “The drug crisis and the mental-health issues for the people on the streets affects the whole community.”
“I feel like any change is temporary. A lot of things are just getting shuffled around the city, or shipped out of the city. There’s no true change.”
Andrew Hightower
Andrew Hightower has lived in the Tenderloin for three years, and for him the biggest change has been construction.
His son lives in the Bayview, a neighborhood Hightower loves and visits as often as he can, partly because his son doesn’t like the Tenderloin one bit, and refuses to visit.
When asked how he would like to see the Tenderloin change, Hightower kept his response brief: “Carefully,” he said.
Marvin DeBow
Marvin DeBow has lived in the Tenderloin for about 10 years. “I thought the crack era was bad, but this is worse,” DeBow said. “People are dying now; falling out dead the first time they use.”
DeBow was skeptical about solutions. “You’re never going to house everybody. There’s too many people, and it’s too small here,” he said. “People make good money and still live in the Tenderloin, but they have to watch their backs at night.”
Despite the challenges, DeBow said San Francisco remains a unique place. “Frisco is like television. You just watch everything go on,” he said. “But they’re too lenient here. People do things, and there’s no consequence. If they didn’t get services here, a lot of people would leave.”
Callie Torres
As Callie Torres began living openly as a trans woman, walking around North Beach, her former neighborhood, became less and less comfortable. “Moving to the TL gave me the opportunity to be among other Black and Brown people, people who are queer and trans,” she said. “I feel safe, definitely the safest I’ve ever felt.”
“I’d like to see more money pumped into the neighborhood; programming like Urban Alchemy and communal programs that acknowledge and find solutions for the level of pain management that exists in the community,” she said. Despite the challenges of the Tenderloin, Torres said she would “absolutely” raise a family there.
“I actually just had this conversation with one of the people in my building. She’s a crisis responder and a nurse. She’s a white cis woman living in the Tenderloin and responding to drug overdoses and deaths associated with drug use. And we reached the conclusion that it’s all about mental health.”
Torres sees a lot of drug use in the Tenderloin, but, “the problem isn’t the drugs; it’s the root causes, which have to do with an individual’s mental health and how they choose to manage their pain,” she said. “We’re all people. Addiction is a disease, and it doesn’t discriminate. So whenever I walk the neighborhood, I remind myself: That’s a person too, and that could just as easily be me.”
Kirk Nelson
Kirk Nelson has spent six years walking through the Tenderloin, and says that, during that time, he has noticed a growing sense of desperation. He would not raise a child there.
“No, no, no. I mean, I wouldn’t even raise a child in San Francisco, but yeah, definitely not in the TL,” he said.
Nelson hopes more resources will be made available to unhoused residents.
“I’d like to see these people have a place to sleep that’s not on the street,” he said. “And of course, these shower programs are great, but maybe a few more of those would be nice.”
Ashley Carter
Ashley Carter has lived in the Tenderloin for two years. It’s a tough place to move to with a kid, she said. “She ain’t never seen nobody laying out on the street, so she’s gonna look at it. It’s disgusting, but hey, it is what it is. This is San Francisco for you.”
Marcus Rice
Marcus Rice has lived in the Tenderloin since starting law school last fall. When asked if he would raise a family in the Tenderloin, Rice was hesitant. “I don’t think so, unless I was really desperate for the cheapest housing around.”
“I would like to have safer streets. I would like to have less drug use,” he said. “If it comes down to a question of enforcement, I think that’s really tough. We already have a lot of cops on the streets; I hear the sirens all night. I don’t really know the solutions. I wish I did.”
Derek Markovich
Derek Markovich, who was out “just shooting around, getting some exercise.” moved to the Tenderloin a year ago.
“I like the homeless services it has, which is what drew me out here.”
That said, he added, “It seems like people are getting more and more frustrated every day.”
