Sixth Street

I wrote about 6th Street, sort of, when I mentioned Tu Lan. But I didn’t realize that the street was undergoing some kind of transformation. At least, that’s the claim of this metroblog, which asserts that along the street “fresh faced suburban bred 20-somethings careen intoxicatedly in and out of clubs looking to partake in some sort of overpriced quasi-glam nightlife activities whilst dozens of ever present ne’er do’ells, derelicts and addicts of various sorts bob about, some actually laying sprawled on the concrete.”

The junkies and lost souls had not escaped my notice, but I was unaware of the existence of hip clubs and nightspots on the street. Even though they have been popping up for a decade, apparently. More from the blog:

Long the city’s most dreaded skid row, for the past half decade or so a new breed of 6th St entrepreneurs has been trying to cash in on an area even the cops are afraid to hang out in. The city’s official half assed attempts at “beautification” are beyond laughable, seemingly the main noticeable aspect being banners proclaiming 6th Street is being beautified via “Urban Solutions”, a taxpayer funded non profit boondoggling arm of the ubiquitous and almost always asinine autocracy known as the SF Redevelopment Agency. Local activist Randy Shaw’s BeyondChron website noted in 2005 that one “need only look at how the Agency failed to eliminate blight on Sixth Street despite spending over $100 million.” According to the SF Chronicle $6 to $7 million was spent recently just on extending sidewalks an extra foot and a half , which i guess was meant to give crackheads & clubgoers, and wheelchair wielding whiners more room to congregate and sell stolen property?

Meanwhile the 6th street clubs & loft developers feed on a frenzied fatuousness & and ignore the detritus and decay around them …

← Previous post

Next post →

2 Comments

  1. There’s also a lot of urban development at the far end of 6th St. – either beginning or in the planning stages. I’m part of a group called the “North Mission Neighborhood Association” and we have seen the beginnings of efforts to push the less savory denizens of 6th St. toward 16th and Valencia and environs. The 20-somethings that go down there are probably similar to the whites who went to Harlem back in the 20’s and 30’s when it was full of nightclubs and bands. They get the thrill of transgression while they are young enough to outrun a lot of the people in the area.