{"id":29198,"date":"2023-10-19T13:46:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T20:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=29198"},"modified":"2023-10-19T13:52:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T20:52:41","slug":"this-tiktok-user-makes-videos-of-vacant-retail-his-video-of-sf-went-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/10\/19\/this-tiktok-user-makes-videos-of-vacant-retail-his-video-of-sf-went-viral\/","title":{"rendered":"This TikTok user makes videos of vacant retail. His video of SF went viral."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/author\/tessa-mclean\/\">Tessa McLean<\/a> Updated&nbsp;Oct 18, 2023 9:06 a.m.  (SFGate.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-43.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-43.png 960w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-43-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-43-150x100.png 150w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-43-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/image-43-225x150.png 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>FILE &#8211; Aerial view of San Francisco.heyengel\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each&nbsp;<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cody90210\">TikTok video<\/a>&nbsp;starts the same. There\u2019s a sweeping shot of an iconic landmark that places you in a city or neighborhood. Then comes clip after clip of vacant storefronts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cody Casillas has posted nearly 50 videos just like this on the social media platform, but none has garnered more views than his video of vacant downtown shops in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has 2.8 million views as of this writing and it helped spur&nbsp;Casillas into turning his account into what he calls a certain type of \u201cnostalgia content,\u201d where he documents once-bustling commercial strips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-tiktok wp-block-embed-tiktok\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"tiktok-embed\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cody90210\/video\/7285062490898058542\" data-video-id=\"7285062490898058542\" data-embed-from=\"oembed\" style=\"max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;\" > <section> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"@cody90210\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cody90210?refer=embed\">@cody90210<\/a> <p><\/p> <a target=\"_blank\" title=\"\u266c Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/music\/Everybody-Wants-To-Rule-The-World-6930662576540649473?refer=embed\">\u266c Everybody Wants To Rule The World &#8211; Tears For Fears<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It all started in early September when the 30-year-old fashion merchandiser was visiting a formerly busy commercial district in Santa Monica near where he lives in Los Angeles. He filmed a video to show his friends how dire things looked for retail, overlaying names of the shops that closed as his camera scanned empty restaurants and stores. The video, which was only his second video on the account, quickly garnered more than 100,000 views. So he made another one. The second, an overview of papered-over windows and \u201cfor lease\u201d signs in the Beverly Hills shopping district, quickly racked up more than 700,000 views.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that video got a mention by the&nbsp;<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/09\/05\/beverly-hills-boutiques-and-high-end-stores-shuttered\/\">New York Post<\/a>, he knew he had something he could run with. \u201cI thought, this is a thing,\u201d Casillas said. \u201cI just kept going. I travel a lot for work so while I\u2019m [in different cities] I go and see what\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His videos now include neighborhoods and towns in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego and Arizona and he said he has plenty of footage he still needs to compile into new videos. Each video takes a few hours to make, including the research to figure out which stores closed at each address. Once a video is posted, he tries to monitor the comments the best he can, as they often can get combative and wade into users\u2019 political views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt first I was trying to manage the comments, but at a certain point it grows and grows and I can\u2019t keep up,\u201d&nbsp;Casillas said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If he\u2019s responding to comments too rapidly, TikTok will stop allowing him to comment temporarily while they review the activity, he said. He understands that the social media platform has to monitor the platform, but it\u2019s \u201ca little frustrating I can\u2019t respond to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Casillas said he thinks the&nbsp;<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/local\/article\/san-francisco-died-again-18306715.php\">depressed downtown San Francisco video<\/a>&nbsp;went viral because it\u2019s the&nbsp;<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/local\/article\/san-francisco-doom-loop-imprecise-thinkpieces-18106896.php\">most scrutinized city in the media<\/a>&nbsp;right now, even though it\u2019s clear most retail sectors are struggling. He pays particular attention to retail as his job is in the luxury fashion industry and he believes the rise in vacancies is due to a lot of factors \u2014 smash and grab crime, high rents, a lack of policies to help small businesses and the rise in online shopping. Still, he\u2019s not posting the videos with pessimism. \u201cI heard in the \u201880s it was similar and it all came back and I have hope in that regard,\u201d he said. \u201cIt&#8217;s saddest to see a lot of these small businesses [closed].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for the music, he said he tries his best to \u201cmatch the vibe of the neighborhood\u201d and often asks for help from a friend. He said \u201cthrowback songs\u201d pair with the nostalgia element best, and he knows TikTok\u2019s algorithm also favors more popular songs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By&nbsp;Tessa McLean Updated&nbsp;Oct 18, 2023 9:06 a.m. (SFGate.com) FILE &#8211; Aerial view of San Francisco.heyengel\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto Each&nbsp;TikTok video&nbsp;starts the same. There\u2019s a sweeping shot of an iconic landmark that places you in a city or neighborhood. Then comes clip after clip of vacant storefronts.&nbsp; Cody Casillas has posted nearly 50&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/10\/19\/this-tiktok-user-makes-videos-of-vacant-retail-his-video-of-sf-went-viral\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29198"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29205,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29198\/revisions\/29205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}