| Fillmore District | |
|---|---|
| — Neighborhood of San Francisco — | |
| The famed Yoshi's Restaurant on Fillmore Street. | |
| Nickname(s): The Fillmore, The Moe, Fillmoe, Filthy Moe, The Mighty Westside, Harlem of the West | |
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Fillmore District
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| Coordinates: | |
| Government | |
| • Board of Supervisors | Ross Mirkarimi |
| • State Assembly | Tom Ammiano (D) |
| • State Senate | Mark Leno (D) |
| • U.S. House | Nancy Pelosi (D) |
| Area[1] | |
| • Total | 1.2 km2 (0.463 sq mi) |
| • Land | 1.2 km2 (0.463 sq mi) |
| Population (2008) | |
| • Total | 12,934 |
| • Density | 10,779.6/km2 (27,919/sq mi) |
| [2] | |
| ZIP Code | 94102, 94109, 94115, 94117 |
| Area code(s) | 415 |
| [3] | |
The Fillmore District, also called The Fillmore, The Fill, The Moe, or Fillmoe, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California.
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Though its boundaries are not well-defined, it is usually considered to be the subset of the Western Addition neighborhood and is roughly bordered by Van Ness Avenue on the east, Divisadero Street on the west, Geary Boulevard on the north, and Grove Street on the south. These delineations are approximate and there are certain irregularities in the geographic shape of the neighborhood; for instance, the Westside Housing Projects are generally considered to be part of the Fillmore District, even though they are located a block west of Divisadero and a block north of Geary. The community also extends south of Grove St. at several points. Fillmore Street, from which the district gets its name, is the main north-south thoroughfare running through the center of the district. The area east of Fillmore St. is locally referred to as Downtown Fillmore, while the area to the west of Fillmore is known by many locals as Uptown Fillmore. Some definitions, particularly older ones, include Hayes Valley, Japantown, and what is now known as North of Panhandle as part of the district and extend the western border further. However, redevelopment — for example, that which followed the Loma Prieta earthquake and the collapse of the Central Freeway — has made these areas more independent and distinct. In addition, the area centered around Fillmore Street to the north of Geary had long been uniformly known as Upper Fillmore, but rising property values in the 1980s and 1990s severely weakened its ties to the largely working-class Fillmore District. Instead, it became increasingly tied to the extremely wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood to the north. This change in socio-economic identity has caused the Upper Fillmore to be commonly called "Lower Pacific Heights" in recent times, especially by its non-native residents. Overall, most locals agree that the Fillmore has been steadily shrinking for several decades. The Fillmore is almost entirely in San Francisco's fifth supervisorial district, with a small sliver on the district's eastern edge in District 3.[4] The neighborhood, thanks to its central location, is served by several Muni bus lines including the 22, 21, 24, 38, 31, 43, 47, 49, 6, 71 and 5.
In the 1800s, the Fillmore was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, with vegetable farms surrounding the developed area around Fillmore Street. Many Japanese immigrants also came to the Fillmore around the turn of the century. After the 1906 earthquake Fillmore Street, which had largely avoided heavy damage, temporarily became a major commercial center as the city's downtown rebuilt. During the 1910s to 1930s, sections of the neighborhood, particularly around Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard became home to thousands of Japanese immigrants as that area became part of Japantown.
In 1942, during World War II, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which relocated all interned people of Japanese origin to internment camps throughout western United States. The vacant homes in the Fillmore attracted African Americans migrating northward to work in the shipyards, as part of the Great Migration, as well as musicians, and artists. Soon, many nightclubs (the likes of Leola Kings Bird Cage, Wesley Johnson's Texas PlayHouse, Shelton's Blue Mirror, and Jacks of Sutter) were opened, bringing major musical icons to the neighborhood including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. However, the neighborhood struggled economically, as sections of the neighborhood became blighted.
As a result of the urban decay, in 1948 the Fillmore was designated a redevelopment area. The city's Redevelopment Agency, led by Justin Herman, demolished most of the neighborhood's existing homes and businesses over the course of the next decade. In their place, developers built large, mostly low-rise housing developments, along with some mixed-use buildings concentrated around Fillmore Street. Many of these developments included subsidized units for low-income residents. The project took longer than expected, however, with some plots remaining vacant until well into the 21st century. While the residents of the original homes were, in theory, entitled to return to the neighborhood, many did not do so.
As a result of the project's displacement of residents and businesses, its mixed and arguably discriminatory economic impact, and its design (featuring mid-century renewal concepts such as superblocks and strict separation of uses), the redevelopment of the Fillmore is considered by most to have been unsuccessful and regrettable. Post-redevelopment, encroaching gentrification and the physical decay of cheaply-constructed housing complexes have led to a neighborhood of stark contrasts between rich and poor.
In the 1990s-2000s, the neighborhood underwent another wave of urban renewal and gentrification in the form of a new "Jazz District" along Fillmore Street with mostly upscale Jazz-themed restaurants, and proposed condominium construction.
Fillmore Street, the neighborhood's main commercial strip, reflects the Fillmore's diversity: family-owned neighborhood-serving retail mixes with chain stores, jazz clubs, and ethnic restaurants of many varieties. Some of the stores, restaurants, and clubs lost to redevelopment are memorialized by plaques on the sidewalk.
Two prominent music venues are located in the neighborhood: the historic Fillmore Auditorium, and the San Francisco branch of Yoshi's jazz club. An exhibit featuring jazz in the Fillmore can be found in the lobby of the Fillmore Heritage Center.
Another attraction that draws in many people from all over the world is The Fillmore Center, high rise apartment homes, provide housing to many. A farmer's market is held at the Fillmore Center Plaza on Saturdays during the summer months, and there is a branch of the San Francisco public library located at Geary and Scott.
http://www.sfgov.org/images/redistricting/plan1/DIS_5PREPLAN1.JPG
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