F I R S TP R E V221NEXTLAST

Vegan Narc, The Tenderloin
Like every major city, San Francisco has a neighborhood that it's not proud of. The Tenderloin, a small area north of the Civic Center, is best known for prostitution, drug addicts, liquor stores, adult theaters, and rundown SRO hotels that charge by the week or night. The area got its nickname in the early 1900s when police working this tough district got paid a higher wage and could thus afford a better cut of meat. Today, for those daring enough to search, the neighborhood offers some unexpectedly exciting finds and hints of a brighter future. Much of this promise comes from newly-arrived Cambodia and Vietnam families that have moved in over the last few years and their efforts to build homes and a community in an area most everyone else had written off. The once garbage-filled Macaulay Park has been transformed into a place children can play and new theaters, shops, and live music venues have also begun to appear. A recent influx of very good and inexpensive Indian restaurants in the area have given the neighborhood the new nickname, "The Tandoor-loin."
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