Depression Brings 'Hoboes' to Bayview - Revision history

Ccarlsson at 18:41, 25 July 2011

2011-07-25T18:41:29Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:41, 25 July 2011
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	We often wondered if there was a mark somewhere on our property because these calls were not infrequent. Comparing today with how it was then with today's attitude towards strangers it is extraordinary that there was no fear.. Never did it occur to us that one of these strangers might do us harm and no harm was ever done.		We often wondered if there was a mark somewhere on our property because these calls were not infrequent. Comparing today with how it was then with today's attitude towards strangers it is extraordinary that there was no fear.. Never did it occur to us that one of these strangers might do us harm and no harm was ever done.


	~~[[Image:bayvwhp$harbor-housing-project.jpg]]~~

	~~'''A different kind of poverty prevails in the Harbor Public Housing Project above Carroll Avenue in this 1996 photo.'''~~

	~~''Photo: Chris Carlsson''~~


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	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:~~1990s~~]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:1930s]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:1930s]]

Ccarlsson at 06:47, 25 July 2011

2011-07-25T06:47:06Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:47, 24 July 2011
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	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] ~~[[category:1910s]]~~ [[category:1990s~~]] [[category:Roads~~]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:1930s]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:1930s]]

Ccarlsson: moved Hunters Point Boulevard to Depression Brings 'Hoboes' to Bayview

2011-07-25T06:45:33Z

moved Hunters Point Boulevard to Depression Brings 'Hoboes' to Bayview

← Older revision	Revision as of 23:45, 24 July 2011
(No difference)

Ccarlsson at 06:44, 25 July 2011

2011-07-25T06:44:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:44, 24 July 2011
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	'''<font face = ~~arial light~~> <font color = maroon> <font size = 3>~~Unfinished History~~</font></font> </font>'''		'''<font face = Papyrus> <font color = maroon> <font size = 4>"I was there..."</font></font> </font>'''

	~~[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-grading-1917.jpg]]~~		''By Ruth Eshow Upton''

	~~'''Hunters Point Boulevard in 1917'''~~		(Originally titled "Hoboes")

	~~''photo~~: ~~Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA''~~		[[Image:Water pipes used as shelter by jobless people 1932 AAK-0435.jpg]]

	~~[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-1917~~.~~jpg]]~~		'''These water pipes were used as shelter by jobless people in 1932.'''

	'''~~Hunters Point Boulevard looking towards~~ the neighborhood in ~~1917~~'''		''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''

			The stock market crash in 1929 changed the face of the country, turning thousands of men into desperate paupers, forced to take to the road in the hope of finding work. They hopped freight cars on the run. They called themselves “hoboes,” a classification quite apart from “tramp,” as an ex-hobo explained to me many years later. Wherever they got off, either by choice or as a result of being thrown out by the railroad cops, they scrabbled for work. If they were unlucky they knocked at doors asking for food.

			The Southern Pacific Railroad yards were about a mile from our house. It was where trains were shunted and where hoboes could get on and off the cars. The tracks disappeared under an overpass at Paul Avenue and reappeared in Visitacion Valley. It was a natural site for the hobo camps, not far from a neighborhood of modest houses. From there they could knock on doors without fear of being driven away. We often were the object of a visit from a man looking for a meal.

			[[Image:Feeding unemployed Rich and Clara Sts 1932 AAF-0599.jpg]]

			'''1932 soup kitchen in South of Market, at Rich & Clara Streets.'''

			''Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library''

			Our family was typical of the neighborhood: an immigrant family among other immigrants from Italy, France, Greece, Mexico, Russia, and in my parents’ case, from Turkey and Persia. We all lived in our own detached homes. Though actual cash was in short supply everyone ate well, depending on their ethnic cuisine. In our house my mother with five children to feed made sure to have plenty of food to go around. Many of the dishes—stews, stuffed grape leaves, tomatoes, bell peppers—required ground lamb which was done manually, in a metal grinder clamped to the table. Beans were plentiful and always pilav and yogurt. Fresh vegetables—sweet corn, zucchini, tomatoes,lettuce were supplied by local farmers who brought them around to the neighborhoods in their trucks. So whenever we answered the door to find a shabbily-clad man, sometimes bearded, asking if there was any food to spare, my mother was ready. A dish heaped with whatever was on the stove, together with bread, cutlery and a napkin, was given to one of us with instructions to hand over the food and leave him, to eat in privacy.

			He ate outside, on the wide front porch, using the flat,wide rail as a table; he was never invited into the house, First, my father wasn’t home during the dinner hour; it was unheard of for a even a male friend of the family to visit when he wasn’t there. Then it was tacitly understood that the hobo would not be comfortable under the fixed scrutiny of the eyes of five curious children. And he might feel obligated to identify himself and explain how he came to be a hobo.

			After he finished eating he would ring the doorbell and return the plate with profuse thanks and compliments for my mother. Then he’d leave. He never asked for money and none was offered. The underlying unexpressed feeling was that it would put him in the position of begging. Asking for food was not begging. It was a human being’s obligation to feed a hungry person. And, on our part, there was a deep feeling of satisfaction on having been able to satisfy someone’s hunger.

			We often wondered if there was a mark somewhere on our property because these calls were not infrequent. Comparing today with how it was then with today's attitude towards strangers it is extraordinary that there was no fear.. Never did it occur to us that one of these strangers might do us harm and no harm was ever done.

	~~''photo: Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA''~~

	[[Image:bayvwhp$harbor-housing-project.jpg]]		[[Image:bayvwhp$harbor-housing-project.jpg]]

	'''~~The~~ Harbor Public Housing Project above ~~Hunters Point Boulevard~~ in 1996'''		'''A different kind of poverty prevails in the Harbor Public Housing Project above Carroll Avenue in this 1996 photo.'''

	''~~photo~~: Chris Carlsson''		''Photo: Chris Carlsson''


	[[~~3rd_Street~~ \| Prev. Document]] [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard \| Next Document]]		[[1920s Melting Pot in Bayview \| Prev. Document]] [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard \| Next Document]]


	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]] [[category:1930s]]

Ccarlsson at 06:50, 11 September 2010

2010-09-11T06:50:08Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:50, 10 September 2010
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	[[3rd_Street \| Prev. Document]] [[~~Hunters~~ Point ~~Images~~ \| Next Document]]		[[3rd_Street \| Prev. Document]] [[Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard \| Next Document]]


	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]]

Ccarlsson: PC

2008-12-31T02:32:42Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:32, 30 December 2008
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			'''<font face = arial light> <font color = maroon> <font size = 3>Unfinished History</font></font> </font>'''

	[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-grading-1917.jpg]]		[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-grading-1917.jpg]]

Ccarlsson at 22:20, 24 August 2008

2008-08-24T22:20:46Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:20, 24 August 2008
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	[[3rd_Street \| Prev. Document]] [[~~Harbor Projects~~ \| Next Document]]		[[3rd_Street \| Prev. Document]] [[Hunters Point Images \| Next Document]]


	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]]

Lisaruth: added category

2008-08-17T04:31:49Z

added category

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:31, 16 August 2008
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	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]] [[category:Roads]] [[category:Housing]]

Lisaruth at 23:10, 15 August 2008

2008-08-15T23:10:04Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:10, 15 August 2008
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	''photo: Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA''		''photo: Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA''

			[[Image:bayvwhp$harbor-housing-project.jpg]]

			'''The Harbor Public Housing Project above Hunters Point Boulevard in 1996'''

			''photo: Chris Carlsson''


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	[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]] [[category:1990s]]

Lisaruth: addition of categories, photo credits

2008-08-15T23:06:11Z

addition of categories, photo credits

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:06, 15 August 2008
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	[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-grading-1917.jpg]]		[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-grading-1917.jpg]]

	'''Hunters ~~Pt. Blvd.,~~ 1917'''		'''Hunters Point Boulevard in 1917'''

	''''''		''photo: Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA''

	~~== Two photographs of Hunters Point Boulevard,~~ 1917. ==		[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-1917.jpg]]

	~~[[Image:bayvwhp$hp-blvd-~~1917~~.jpg]]~~		'''Hunters Point Boulevard looking towards the neighborhood in 1917'''

	~~Hunters Point Boulevard 1917 looking towards the neighborhood.~~		''photo: Gaar Collection, San Francisco, CA''

	~~Contributors to this page include:~~

	~~''Gaar Collection,San Francisco,CA - Publisher or Photographer ''~~		[[3rd_Street \| Prev. Document]] [[Harbor Projects \| Next Document]]

	~~Gaar Collection,San Francisco,CA - Publisher or Photographer~~

	[[~~3rd_Street Prev. Document~~]] [[~~Harbor Projects Next Document~~]]		[[category:Bayview/Hunter's Point]] [[category:1910s]]