Western Addition: A Basic History - Revision history

Ccarlsson: added category

2023-01-12T20:46:43Z

added category

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:46, 12 January 2023
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	[[Western Addition: Mid-1990s \|Prev. Document]] [[Japanese Immigration \|Next Document]]		[[Western Addition: Mid-1990s \|Prev. Document]] [[Japanese Immigration \|Next Document]]

	[[category:Western Addition]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1850s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:redevelopment]] [[category:Jewish]] [[category:1900s]] [[category:Japanese]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:racism]] [[category:labor]]		[[category:Western Addition]] [[category:1920s]] [[category:1850s]] [[category:1960s]] [[category:1950s]] [[category:redevelopment]] [[category:Jewish]] [[category:1900s]] [[category:Japanese]] [[category:African-American]] [[category:racism]] [[category:labor]] [[category:Book Excerpts]]

Lisaruth: Fillmore Auditorium erroneously called the Fillmore West Auditorium in caption, changed

2018-09-11T22:52:42Z

Fillmore Auditorium erroneously called the Fillmore West Auditorium in caption, changed

Ccarlsson at 00:06, 21 February 2017

2017-02-21T00:06:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:06, 20 February 2017
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	The old, racially mixed neighborhood around Japantown was trashed. The Geary Expressway, designed in part to carry commuters to department stores on Masonic that no longer exist, was not only an ugly gash, it became a Berlin Wall separating blacks and Japanese Americans. The corporate Japan Center gutted Japantown. With the exception of old people, few Japanese Americans live in Japantown today.		The old, racially mixed neighborhood around Japantown was trashed. The Geary Expressway, designed in part to carry commuters to department stores on Masonic that no longer exist, was not only an ugly gash, it became a Berlin Wall separating blacks and Japanese Americans. The corporate Japan Center gutted Japantown. With the exception of old people, few Japanese Americans live in Japantown today.

	[[Image:Fillmore-center 0184.jpg\|~~330px~~\|left]]		[[Image:Fillmore-center 0184.jpg\|310px\|left]]

	'''New Fillmore Center at O'Farrell and Fillmore, 2013''		'''(left) New Fillmore Center at O'Farrell and Fillmore, 2013'''

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

	[[Image:Yoshis-on-fillmore-2013 0185.jpg\|~~330px~~\|right]]		[[Image:Yoshis-on-fillmore-2013 0185.jpg\|310px\|right]]

	'''Yoshi's on Fillmore, 2013'''		'''(right) Yoshi's on Fillmore, 2013'''

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

Ccarlsson at 00:04, 21 February 2017

2017-02-21T00:04:33Z

Show changes

Lisaruth: added link to moving victorians page in a couple spots

2013-12-10T22:05:45Z

added link to moving victorians page in a couple spots

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:05, 10 December 2013
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	Some years after I moved out of the neighborhood, I happened to find myself on Fillmore between Post and Sutter. I remember being subliminally aware that there was something odd about the east side of the street. Its feng shui was wrong. In particular, there was something weird about a row of five stately Victorians. But I couldn’t put my finger on it.		Some years after I moved out of the neighborhood, I happened to find myself on Fillmore between Post and Sutter. I remember being subliminally aware that there was something odd about the east side of the street. Its feng shui was wrong. In particular, there was something weird about a row of five stately Victorians. But I couldn’t put my finger on it.

	It took me a few decades, but I finally learned why that block felt off. Those five Victorians were not built there. They were saved from the wrecking ball, raised up from their original sites, and plunked down on Fillmore. The block felt weird because the setbacks were too deep.		It took me a few decades, but I finally learned why that block felt off. Those five Victorians were not built there. They were [[Moving Victorians in the Fillmore \| saved from the wrecking ball]], raised up from their original sites, and plunked down on Fillmore. The block felt weird because the setbacks were too deep.

	It is appropriate that this line of Victorians stands out. For one of its buildings has a history so rich and strange that an entire book could be written about it. The house at 1712 Fillmore is San Francisco’s version of Joyce’s 7 Eccles Street. It is a universe on a 27 1/2-by-93-foot lot.		It is appropriate that this line of Victorians stands out. For one of its buildings has a history so rich and strange that an entire book could be written about it. The house at 1712 Fillmore is San Francisco’s version of Joyce’s 7 Eccles Street. It is a universe on a 27 1/2-by-93-foot lot.
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	[[Image:1976-Victorian-on-stilts-being-moved-Dave-Glass.jpg]]		[[Image:1976-Victorian-on-stilts-being-moved-Dave-Glass.jpg]]

	'''Moving Victorians in the Western Addition, 1976.''		'''[[Moving Victorians in the Fillmore \| Moving Victorians]] in the Western Addition, 1976.'''

	''Photo: Dave Glass''		''Photo: Dave Glass''

Ccarlsson at 18:15, 10 December 2013

2013-12-10T18:15:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:15, 10 December 2013
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	''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2013.''		''Photo: Chris Carlsson, 2013.''

	We talked briefly about the redevelopment fiasco. Johnson’s contempt was glacial. “The store was in various locations during redevelopment,” she said. “It was at Fillmore and Turk. Then we moved to Leavenworth and Golden Gate. There was a community groundswell to bring our store back to the neighborhood. Our family bought this building after it was moved. It had stood empty for seven years. They butchered it when they moved it. They messed up the plumbing, stole all the Victorian details, the fireplaces. We’ve been here since 1981. We’re the only black business that returned to the Fillmore.”		[[Image:Haunted-house-vertical 0177.jpg\|230px\|right\|thumb\|1712 Fillmore, formerly home of Jimbo's Bop City at 1690 Post; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']] We talked briefly about the redevelopment fiasco. Johnson’s contempt was glacial. “The store was in various locations during redevelopment,” she said. “It was at Fillmore and Turk. Then we moved to Leavenworth and Golden Gate. There was a community groundswell to bring our store back to the neighborhood. Our family bought this building after it was moved. It had stood empty for seven years. They butchered it when they moved it. They messed up the plumbing, stole all the Victorian details, the fireplaces. We’ve been here since 1981. We’re the only black business that returned to the Fillmore.”

	I asked Johnson where the famous back room that hosted the after-hours club was. She walked around to a table of books that stood in the center of the long, narrow room. “All of this was the back room,” she said. “The restaurant in front was an add-on.” She picked up a copy of ''Harlem of the West'', the book with the amazing photograph of John Coltrane on the cover. “This picture was taken right here,” she said. “Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?” We stood there for a moment, seeing the ghosts.		I asked Johnson where the famous back room that hosted the after-hours club was. She walked around to a table of books that stood in the center of the long, narrow room. “All of this was the back room,” she said. “The restaurant in front was an add-on.” She picked up a copy of ''Harlem of the West'', the book with the amazing photograph of John Coltrane on the cover. “This picture was taken right here,” she said. “Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?” We stood there for a moment, seeing the ghosts.
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	I said goodbye to Johnson and walked out onto the street. It was still a scattershot scene. A Burger King and a senior housing place stood across the road. A handsome Indian restaurant was catty-corner from a Goodwill store.		I said goodbye to Johnson and walked out onto the street. It was still a scattershot scene. A Burger King and a senior housing place stood across the road. A handsome Indian restaurant was catty-corner from a Goodwill store.

	~~[[Image:Haunted-house-vertical 0177.jpg\|300px\|right\|thumb\|1712 Fillmore, formerly home of Jimbo's Bop City at 1690 Post; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']~~ I turned and looked back at the old purple building. It had been through most of San Francisco’s history: The lighthearted 1890s. The great earthquake and fire. The Little United Nations days when kids of all colors went to the same schools and lived on the same street. The decades when it was the Nippon Drugstore, run by a well- dressed man named Hatsuto—later James—Yamada. The Vout City interlude-orooni. The 15 years when it was Jimbo’s Bop City, a legendary jazz club run by a black man who used to walk a little Japanese American girl across the street to find her mother. The years when everything around it was torn down. The day it was jacked up and moved. The years it stood empty. And the 32 years it has been a bookstore, owned by a family who remember what needs to be remembered.		I turned and looked back at the old purple building. It had been through most of San Francisco’s history: The lighthearted 1890s. The great earthquake and fire. The Little United Nations days when kids of all colors went to the same schools and lived on the same street. The decades when it was the Nippon Drugstore, run by a well- dressed man named Hatsuto—later James—Yamada. The Vout City interlude-orooni. The 15 years when it was Jimbo’s Bop City, a legendary jazz club run by a black man who used to walk a little Japanese American girl across the street to find her mother. The years when everything around it was torn down. The day it was jacked up and moved. The years it stood empty. And the 32 years it has been a bookstore, owned by a family who remember what needs to be remembered.

	I walked over to Geary. People hurried down the sidewalk. The traffic roared underneath. Like a great river, the city flowed indifferently on.		I walked over to Geary. People hurried down the sidewalk. The traffic roared underneath. Like a great river, the city flowed indifferently on.

Ccarlsson at 06:51, 10 December 2013

2013-12-10T06:51:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:51, 9 December 2013
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	The old, racially mixed neighborhood around Japantown was trashed. The Geary Expressway, designed in part to carry commuters to department stores on Masonic that no longer exist, was not only an ugly gash, it became a Berlin Wall separating blacks and Japanese Americans. The corporate Japan Center gutted Japantown. With the exception of old people, few Japanese Americans live in Japantown today.		The old, racially mixed neighborhood around Japantown was trashed. The Geary Expressway, designed in part to carry commuters to department stores on Masonic that no longer exist, was not only an ugly gash, it became a Berlin Wall separating blacks and Japanese Americans. The corporate Japan Center gutted Japantown. With the exception of old people, few Japanese Americans live in Japantown today.

			[[Image:Fillmore-center 0184.jpg\|330px\|left\|thumb\|New Fillmore Center at O'Farrell and Fillmore, 2013; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']] [[Image:Yoshis-on-fillmore-2013 0185.jpg\|330px\|right\|thumb\|Yoshi's on Fillmore, 2013; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']]

	What happened to Fillmore Street was worse. The heart and soul of black San Francisco was torn out. The loss only exacerbated a crisis fueled by unemployment. The demise of the shipyards and the disappearance of construction jobs forced blacks to look for work in service and tourism, where all too often they faced discrimination. “It’s the same old loaded dice for a Negro in San Francisco,” said a Fillmore resident. “They just sugar ’em up a little.” As for the big housing projects built in the 1960s, they proved to be far more efficient petri dishes for growing crime and social pathologies than the crumbling old Victorians they replaced.		What happened to Fillmore Street was worse. The heart and soul of black San Francisco was torn out. The loss only exacerbated a crisis fueled by unemployment. The demise of the shipyards and the disappearance of construction jobs forced blacks to look for work in service and tourism, where all too often they faced discrimination. “It’s the same old loaded dice for a Negro in San Francisco,” said a Fillmore resident. “They just sugar ’em up a little.” As for the big housing projects built in the 1960s, they proved to be far more efficient petri dishes for growing crime and social pathologies than the crumbling old Victorians they replaced.
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	The phrase could apply both to a neighborhood and a community. There are fewer and fewer blacks in San Francisco. Late one summer night in 2011 I walked the entire length of Fillmore, from Geary to Haight. I saw only one black person.		The phrase could apply both to a neighborhood and a community. There are fewer and fewer blacks in San Francisco. Late one summer night in 2011 I walked the entire length of Fillmore, from Geary to Haight. I saw only one black person.

	~~[[Image:Yoshis-on-fillmore-2013 0185.jpg\|360px\|left\|thumb\|Yoshi's on Fillmore, 2013; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']]~~ Trying to make amends for the past, in 1995 the city created the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District in the heart of the old Fillmore. In a well-meaning attempt to revitalize the area, the city poured $15 million into loans to launch four jazz-themed restaurants and clubs, including a swanky San Francisco branch of the great Oakland jazz club Yoshi’s. But it hasn’t worked. All four businesses have had to repeatedly go back to the city for more money. They’re too expensive for the black residents of the area and not enough nonresidents are coming in. The peculiar, sterile vibe of this stretch of Fillmore, with its high-rises and empty public spaces, doesn’t help. But the real reason the “jazz district” is a failure is simple: Jazz isn’t popular. Yoshi’s was losing so much money it had to start booking non-jazz acts. The whole enterprise reeks of artificiality and museum culture and guilt.		Trying to make amends for the past, in 1995 the city created the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District in the heart of the old Fillmore. In a well-meaning attempt to revitalize the area, the city poured $15 million into loans to launch four jazz-themed restaurants and clubs, including a swanky San Francisco branch of the great Oakland jazz club Yoshi’s. But it hasn’t worked. All four businesses have had to repeatedly go back to the city for more money. They’re too expensive for the black residents of the area and not enough nonresidents are coming in. The peculiar, sterile vibe of this stretch of Fillmore, with its high-rises and empty public spaces, doesn’t help. But the real reason the “jazz district” is a failure is simple: Jazz isn’t popular. Yoshi’s was losing so much money it had to start booking non-jazz acts. The whole enterprise reeks of artificiality and museum culture and guilt.

	As the Victorians crashed to the ground across the Western Addition, [[Architectural Preservation\|architectural preservationists]] and historians began cataloging them. A number of the most significant buildings [[Moving Victorians in the Fillmore\|were saved]], but most were destroyed.		As the Victorians crashed to the ground across the Western Addition, [[Architectural Preservation\|architectural preservationists]] and historians began cataloging them. A number of the most significant buildings [[Moving Victorians in the Fillmore\|were saved]], but most were destroyed.

Ccarlsson at 06:47, 10 December 2013

2013-12-10T06:47:34Z

@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 Sullivan himself met an unhappy fate. In August 1966 he was found dead near Fifth and Bluxome Streets, shot in the heart. The case was never solved.
 The ghosts of Vout City and Bop City haunt San Francisco, evoking a fabled time and neighborhood that will never return. But those legendary clubs were themselves haunted by a ghost—the ghost of Nippon Drugs, the business that had occupied the building for decades.
@@ Line 170: / Line 182: @@
 James Baldwin famously said, “Urban renewal is Negro removal.” In his study of the Western Addition debacle, Jordan Klein correctly argues that it is too simplistic to reduce the entire complex movement to that motive. But as he also correctly notes, “in the Western Addition . . . urban renewal was ‘Negro Removal’ by design.”
 On June 3, 1948, despite resistance from black and Japanese American residents, the Board of Supervisors declared the Western Addition a blighted area and designated it for redevelopment. The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency was duly created in 1948, but for 10 years it did almost nothing. Then, in 1959, Justin Herman took charge. He was the man who was most responsible for urban renewal—and, ultimately, Negro removal—in San Francisco.

Ccarlsson at 06:45, 10 December 2013

2013-12-10T06:45:52Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:45, 9 December 2013
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	Herman’s words turned out to be prophetic. There was no adequate housing for the poor, because the planning for it was fatally fl awed from the beginning. Klein lists the five critical mistakes. First, the destruction of housing units was not phased: Thousands of units were demolished, and new housing not built for years. As a result, by the time housing was available, the community had scattered. Second, the redevelopment plans relied on invalid, overly optimistic predictions of turnover and vacancy. Third, the income of the displaced people was overstated. Fourth, the planning ignored segregation and racial covenants. Fifth, it relied on SROs as replacement housing, but no one wanted to live in SROs.		Herman’s words turned out to be prophetic. There was no adequate housing for the poor, because the planning for it was fatally fl awed from the beginning. Klein lists the five critical mistakes. First, the destruction of housing units was not phased: Thousands of units were demolished, and new housing not built for years. As a result, by the time housing was available, the community had scattered. Second, the redevelopment plans relied on invalid, overly optimistic predictions of turnover and vacancy. Third, the income of the displaced people was overstated. Fourth, the planning ignored segregation and racial covenants. Fifth, it relied on SROs as replacement housing, but no one wanted to live in SROs.

			[[Image:Fillmore-Center-behind-Fillmore-West-from-Post-st-2013 0181.jpg]]

			'''Fillmore Center looms behind (south) of the old Fillmore West auditorium at Fillmore and Geary, 2013.'''

			''Photo: Chris Carlsson''

	Facing the destruction of their community, the residents of the Western Addition organized. In 1967 a coalition of progressive ministers and community leaders, including black leaders like Hannibal Williams and Japanese American ones like Yori Wada, formed the [[WACO Attacks Redevelopment\|Western Addition Community Organization (WACO)]] to try to save their neighborhood. They picketed the SFRA, organized, and blocked bulldozers. WACO won some legal battles, managed to delay redevelopment, and got additional housing built, but it was too late. The battle was lost.		Facing the destruction of their community, the residents of the Western Addition organized. In 1967 a coalition of progressive ministers and community leaders, including black leaders like Hannibal Williams and Japanese American ones like Yori Wada, formed the [[WACO Attacks Redevelopment\|Western Addition Community Organization (WACO)]] to try to save their neighborhood. They picketed the SFRA, organized, and blocked bulldozers. WACO won some legal battles, managed to delay redevelopment, and got additional housing built, but it was too late. The battle was lost.
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	The phrase could apply both to a neighborhood and a community. There are fewer and fewer blacks in San Francisco. Late one summer night in 2011 I walked the entire length of Fillmore, from Geary to Haight. I saw only one black person.		The phrase could apply both to a neighborhood and a community. There are fewer and fewer blacks in San Francisco. Late one summer night in 2011 I walked the entire length of Fillmore, from Geary to Haight. I saw only one black person.

	~~[[Image:Fillmore-Center-behind-Fillmore-West-from-Post-st-2013 0181.jpg]]~~

	~~'''Fillmore Center looms behind (south) of the old Fillmore West auditorium at Fillmore and Geary, 2013.'''~~

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

	[[Image:Yoshis-on-fillmore-2013 0185.jpg\|360px\|left\|thumb\|Yoshi's on Fillmore, 2013; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']] Trying to make amends for the past, in 1995 the city created the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District in the heart of the old Fillmore. In a well-meaning attempt to revitalize the area, the city poured $15 million into loans to launch four jazz-themed restaurants and clubs, including a swanky San Francisco branch of the great Oakland jazz club Yoshi’s. But it hasn’t worked. All four businesses have had to repeatedly go back to the city for more money. They’re too expensive for the black residents of the area and not enough nonresidents are coming in. The peculiar, sterile vibe of this stretch of Fillmore, with its high-rises and empty public spaces, doesn’t help. But the real reason the “jazz district” is a failure is simple: Jazz isn’t popular. Yoshi’s was losing so much money it had to start booking non-jazz acts. The whole enterprise reeks of artificiality and museum culture and guilt.		[[Image:Yoshis-on-fillmore-2013 0185.jpg\|360px\|left\|thumb\|Yoshi's on Fillmore, 2013; ''Photo: Chris Carlsson'']] Trying to make amends for the past, in 1995 the city created the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District in the heart of the old Fillmore. In a well-meaning attempt to revitalize the area, the city poured $15 million into loans to launch four jazz-themed restaurants and clubs, including a swanky San Francisco branch of the great Oakland jazz club Yoshi’s. But it hasn’t worked. All four businesses have had to repeatedly go back to the city for more money. They’re too expensive for the black residents of the area and not enough nonresidents are coming in. The peculiar, sterile vibe of this stretch of Fillmore, with its high-rises and empty public spaces, doesn’t help. But the real reason the “jazz district” is a failure is simple: Jazz isn’t popular. Yoshi’s was losing so much money it had to start booking non-jazz acts. The whole enterprise reeks of artificiality and museum culture and guilt.

Ccarlsson at 06:43, 10 December 2013

2013-12-10T06:43:25Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:43, 9 December 2013
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	Our block was mostly black and pretty run-down. We used to walk down to Kim’s Market at Pine and Fillmore (now a Kiehl’s, which sells $50 bottles of shampoo) to buy our daily $2 ration of sausages, carrots, and potatoes. If you turned right on Fillmore, in a block you would come to California Street, the city’s great north-south dividing line. California was and is the unofficial border of Pacific Heights, the swankiest neighborhood in town. Turn left and you would quickly end up in the unswankiest neighborhood in town.		Our block was mostly black and pretty run-down. We used to walk down to Kim’s Market at Pine and Fillmore (now a Kiehl’s, which sells $50 bottles of shampoo) to buy our daily $2 ration of sausages, carrots, and potatoes. If you turned right on Fillmore, in a block you would come to California Street, the city’s great north-south dividing line. California was and is the unofficial border of Pacific Heights, the swankiest neighborhood in town. Turn left and you would quickly end up in the unswankiest neighborhood in town.

			Past Kim’s Market, as you walked toward Bush, the block was a grab bag, with a venerable Japanese restaurant rubbing shoulders with a jumping jazz and R&B joint called Minnie’s Can-Do Club. In the block after Bush, things started to become disheveled, a no-man’s-land traversed by Japanese, blacks, and a few confused tourists looking for Japantown. Once you crossed the ugly, multi-lane Geary Expressway, you were in the heart of black San Francisco.

	[[Image:WA Lee's Liquor Store-1656-58 Fillmore St.jpg]]		[[Image:WA Lee's Liquor Store-1656-58 Fillmore St.jpg]]
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	''Photo: SFNative''		''Photo: SFNative''

	Past Kim’s Market, as you walked toward Bush, the block was a grab bag, with a venerable Japanese restaurant rubbing shoulders with a jumping jazz and R&B joint called Minnie’s Can-Do Club. In the block after Bush, things started to become disheveled, a no-man’s-land traversed by Japanese, blacks, and a few confused tourists looking for Japantown. Once you crossed the ugly, multi-lane Geary Expressway, you were in the heart of black San Francisco.

	Some years after I moved out of the neighborhood, I happened to find myself on Fillmore between Post and Sutter. I remember being subliminally aware that there was something odd about the east side of the street. Its feng shui was wrong. In particular, there was something weird about a row of five stately Victorians. But I couldn’t put my finger on it.		Some years after I moved out of the neighborhood, I happened to find myself on Fillmore between Post and Sutter. I remember being subliminally aware that there was something odd about the east side of the street. Its feng shui was wrong. In particular, there was something weird about a row of five stately Victorians. But I couldn’t put my finger on it.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:52, 11 September 2018
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	'''1737 Webster Street, c. 1974'''		'''1737 Webster Street, c. 1974'''

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

	We didn’t know it at the time, but our building was a weird precursor to the Summer of Love. In 1965, that stretch of Pine Street had been a pre-Haight hippie scene, with half a dozen houses filled with longhairs and dealers. The downstairs unit had been home to the legendary hippie newspaper the Oracle. Across the street, at 2111 Pine, a rooming house once stood; some of the itinerant musicians there played in a vanished after-hours jazz club three blocks away called [[Jimbo's Bop City\|Bop City]]. The rooming house was managed by a guy named Bill Ham, who invented psychedelic light shows.		We didn’t know it at the time, but our building was a weird precursor to the Summer of Love. In 1965, that stretch of Pine Street had been a pre-Haight hippie scene, with half a dozen houses filled with longhairs and dealers. The downstairs unit had been home to the legendary hippie newspaper the Oracle. Across the street, at 2111 Pine, a rooming house once stood; some of the itinerant musicians there played in a vanished after-hours jazz club three blocks away called [[Jimbo's Bop City\|Bop City]]. The rooming house was managed by a guy named Bill Ham, who invented psychedelic light shows.
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	'''Post and Laguna Streets, 1927'''		'''Post and Laguna Streets, 1927'''

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

	The first Japanese in San Francisco lived in South Park and on Dupont (Grant) in Chinatown. Like many other ethnic groups, they moved to the Western Addition after 1906. The willingness of the neighborhood’s landlords, many of them Jewish, to rent to Japanese did not sit well with many whites: In 1907, the ''Chronicle'' ran a scare piece about the Japanese “invasion” of the Western Addition titled “A Greater San Francisco or a Lesser Nagasaki— Which?”		The first Japanese in San Francisco lived in South Park and on Dupont (Grant) in Chinatown. Like many other ethnic groups, they moved to the Western Addition after 1906. The willingness of the neighborhood’s landlords, many of them Jewish, to rent to Japanese did not sit well with many whites: In 1907, the ''Chronicle'' ran a scare piece about the Japanese “invasion” of the Western Addition titled “A Greater San Francisco or a Lesser Nagasaki— Which?”
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	'''Building inspectors examine dwellings in the Western Addition, 1947'''		'''Building inspectors examine dwellings in the Western Addition, 1947'''

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

	The old neighborhood was gone, and overnight its new inhabitants made it their own. And the neighborhood they created, before the city destroyed it, was one of the most jumping places on the planet. It was called the Fillmore, a.k.a. the Harlem of the West. Or just the ’Mo.		The old neighborhood was gone, and overnight its new inhabitants made it their own. And the neighborhood they created, before the city destroyed it, was one of the most jumping places on the planet. It was called the Fillmore, a.k.a. the Harlem of the West. Or just the ’Mo.
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	'''Dilapidated apartment buildings in the Western Addition, 1953'''		'''Dilapidated apartment buildings in the Western Addition, 1953'''

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

	It is difficult to get a clear picture of the relationship between blacks and Japanese-Americans after the war. Research is scanty, and neither group is interested in reopening any old wounds that may still exist. After her family moved to Japantown, the young Maya Angelou was struck by the fact that the Japanese seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving not even a memory. “No member of my family and none of the family friends ever mentioned the absent Japanese,” she wrote. “It was as if they had never owned or lived in the houses we inhabited.” Keenly aware of the irony of one victimized people taking the place of another, Angelou wrote, “A person unaware of all the factors that make up oppression might have expected sympathy or even support from the Negro newcomers for the dislodged Japanese.” Blacks did not feel such sympathy, Angelou believed, for all-too- human reasons: They were doing well, and because the Japanese weren’t whites, they didn’t have to fear or even consider them.		It is difficult to get a clear picture of the relationship between blacks and Japanese-Americans after the war. Research is scanty, and neither group is interested in reopening any old wounds that may still exist. After her family moved to Japantown, the young Maya Angelou was struck by the fact that the Japanese seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving not even a memory. “No member of my family and none of the family friends ever mentioned the absent Japanese,” she wrote. “It was as if they had never owned or lived in the houses we inhabited.” Keenly aware of the irony of one victimized people taking the place of another, Angelou wrote, “A person unaware of all the factors that make up oppression might have expected sympathy or even support from the Negro newcomers for the dislodged Japanese.” Blacks did not feel such sympathy, Angelou believed, for all-too- human reasons: They were doing well, and because the Japanese weren’t whites, they didn’t have to fear or even consider them.
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	'''Aerial view of the Western Addition A-1 redevelopment zone in 1954.'''		'''Aerial view of the Western Addition A-1 redevelopment zone in 1954.'''

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

	There matters stood for a year. Then the flood of black shipyard workers into Japantown caught the attention of the authorities. In June 1943 the extreme overcrowding of the neighborhood led a city commission to investigate conditions. Its findings were alarming. In its story about the dire situation there, the ''Chronicle'' interviewed Robert Flippen, the respected black director of the just-built Westside Courts project, at Bush and Baker. Due to racist policies, they were the only wartime housing projects in San Francisco open to blacks. Flippen told the ''Chronicle'', “I know of one place where 15 people live in one room—cook, eat and sleep there. They have no toilet facilities. For that purpose, they go to a filling station or out into the street. These 15 are 4 families. They sleep in shifts . . . They are willing to live in anything and a certain kind of landlord knows it.”		There matters stood for a year. Then the flood of black shipyard workers into Japantown caught the attention of the authorities. In June 1943 the extreme overcrowding of the neighborhood led a city commission to investigate conditions. Its findings were alarming. In its story about the dire situation there, the ''Chronicle'' interviewed Robert Flippen, the respected black director of the just-built Westside Courts project, at Bush and Baker. Due to racist policies, they were the only wartime housing projects in San Francisco open to blacks. Flippen told the ''Chronicle'', “I know of one place where 15 people live in one room—cook, eat and sleep there. They have no toilet facilities. For that purpose, they go to a filling station or out into the street. These 15 are 4 families. They sleep in shifts . . . They are willing to live in anything and a certain kind of landlord knows it.”
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	'''Justin Herman, Don Ralya, Roger Boas, Sherman Miller and Joseph L. Eichler at the opening of the Laguna Eichler building in the Western Addition, 1963'''		'''Justin Herman, Don Ralya, Roger Boas, Sherman Miller and Joseph L. Eichler at the opening of the Laguna Eichler building in the Western Addition, 1963'''

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

	Tactfully, no ominous black hoodlums are pictured in the report—in fact, no black people are depicted at all. But the city had no plan to include minorities in the “new city of space and living green.” Noting that few of the “colored and foreign-born families” could afford to live in the new neighborhood, Scott asked the city to ensure they would be adequately housed in “future projects.” The key word, and the one that revealed the limits of 1947 liberalism, was “future.”		Tactfully, no ominous black hoodlums are pictured in the report—in fact, no black people are depicted at all. But the city had no plan to include minorities in the “new city of space and living green.” Noting that few of the “colored and foreign-born families” could afford to live in the new neighborhood, Scott asked the city to ensure they would be adequately housed in “future projects.” The key word, and the one that revealed the limits of 1947 liberalism, was “future.”
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	'''Construction underway on Geary Blvd., June 30, 1960.'''		'''Construction underway on Geary Blvd., June 30, 1960.'''

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

	[[Image:Geary-Expressway-at-Fillmore-looking-east-2013 0165.jpg]]		[[Image:Geary-Expressway-at-Fillmore-looking-east-2013 0165.jpg]]
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	[[Image:Fillmore-Center-behind-Fillmore-West-from-Post-st-2013 0181.jpg]]		[[Image:Fillmore-Center-behind-Fillmore-West-from-Post-st-2013 0181.jpg]]

	'''Fillmore Center looms behind (south) of the old Fillmore ~~West auditorium~~ at Fillmore and Geary, 2013.'''		'''Fillmore Center looms behind (south) of the old Fillmore Auditorium at Fillmore and Geary, 2013.'''

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