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Macaulay Park, The Tenderloin
Things are tough for a child growing up in the Tenderloin. The dirty streets are filled with drug addicts and intoxicated people and even the rare playground, like Macaulay Park above, is located across the street from the New Century, a strip club. The Tenderloin, a historic area full of preserved hotels from the early 20th century, remains the city's center of crime, drug sales, prostitution, sex shops, and liquor stores. All that despite being located only a few blocks from San Francisco's prestigious real estate districts of Nob Hill, Union Square, and the Civic Center.
What makes the situation in the Tenderloin even worse is that the district has one of the city's highest concentrations of children as well as homeless, elderly, and disabled populations. The dot-com boom of the '90s started a short-lived gentrification movement in the Tenderloin but the scatterings of bohemian art galleries, clubs, and ethnic restaurants have done little to change the squalor of the area. It's sad to say, but despite all the hard work of local government, private, and faith-based groups, perhaps it is inevitable for all major cities have an area near downtown like our Tenderloin.
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MAP G-13 ]
4 Comments:
This playground and the one at Civic Center Plaza make me sad. I've also noticed the sign saying something to the effect of "Adults allowed only when accompanied by children", which I first saw here, are now on our playgrounds in the Sunset.
The Twain quote is very congruous with thoughts I've been having the past few days. I grew up in S.F. and never thought of it as child-unfriendly. I went everywhere, often alone on MUNI. Now that I'm teaching my son to love S.F. I'm finding that people really hate kids. I know not everyone likes kids, heck, when I'm out alone I don't seek out little ones, but... Maybe the '70's were different? I was thinking about the City's history and how few kids, or women for that matter, were here during the Gold Rush.
I respect how you highlight all aspects of the Bay Area, even if they are sometimes difficult to face.
Yes, I think these sorts of neighborhoods are sadly inevitable, for many reasons.
I had the sad occasion to take two small French girls (aged 5 and 7) to play and picnic at the Civic Center playground before we went to the Asian Art Museum a few months ago. I was so embarrassed and nervous, trying to answer their questions about the people surrounding that playground, some of whom were nothing a child should ever witness, even for a moment.
I felt like I had taken a little bit of their childhoods away.
That other playground is in an even worse place. Very sad.
I lived in the Tenderloin 20 some years ago for a brief period of time. There always was prostitution, drugs, crime, but the feel of the neighborhood was completely different. Back then, there was also a fun, vibrant element to it. I don't quite know how to describe it. The neighborhood just doesn't feel like that anymore, and I'm a completely different person, so maybe that's part of it.
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