So I saw the headline Venerable Valencia turns into hipster magnet paired with this photo of the author, and I was like, oh snap, I’m gonna poke fun at this clueless old dude. But then I actually read the thing, and it turns out, he nails it: Valencia has a a lot of history, and folks remember it fondly, but times are changing — as times tend to — and there’s not a whole lot wrong with that.
So kudos, Carl Nolte. You really captured how fucking awesome Valencia Street is these days. Now, if hack headline writers would quit with the H-word already…
(via BuboBlog, who commented, “[N]ever once mentions trough urinals. Talk about missing the story!”)
With apologies to hack headline writers. Takes one to know one.
I did like how he called Range, the Range.
Curious, I wonder how it’s _not_ gentrification? Even in the short time I’ve lived in the Bay I’ve seen Valencia go farther and farther to being the farm league for Pacific Heights. While there’s a lot of people doing cool things, there’s also a lot of the old “douchebag, fratboy” mentality that goes on there – day or night. And to pretend as if those who are moving in aren’t “rich” is insane – has the author checked Craigslist lately? Rents there are insane.
Bottom line: We’re seeing people of color pushed out by young white kids. Seems to be the essence of gentrification.
Well, the Dog Patch is next, since the lesbians have been moving there in recent times – and we all know hipsters follow the lesbians.
“Boogaloos for breakfast and brunch, restaurants and bars like the Range, the Phoenix, Indian places” you know those Indian places…
Probably two tidbits of irony are that I JUST moved away from this oh-so-hip corner AND my grandmother (an SF native, used to go to Lucca’s BACK IN THE DAY), clipped out this article for me.
(you know, i dont think “hipster” is a dirty word. proud to be an aging hipster!)
actually, dogpatch is done. check the prices – since you seem to have your finger on that pulse – it was done 3 years ago when the rail was nearing completion. it skipped the hipster period…went straight from oddball outlier to to mainstream. there’s no hipster / indie businesses going in there. all upscale (serpentine, etc), plus the giant UC developments. and far fewer (if any) rentals – barring empty condos that may turn that way.
that said, i assume by “next” you mean the next pre-gentrified hipster hood?
“next” might be 6th street. it’s got enough SROs & crackheads & bums on it to rival the mission. but with proximity to downtown and a lot more potentially development – friendly real estate and the CJC…all those bums will likely end up in the mission. it will also probably be the first hood to actually reduce SROs, given proximity to tourist dollars, once Daly is termed out. you heard it here first. but again, no rentals except up in the loin.
truth is, what’s “next” isnt going to be in SF proper. it’s going to be east bay. i dont spend enough time on that side of the bay to call it hood by hood over there, but its the only logical place.
i think you should consider that “people of color pushed out by young white kids” has been happening in the mission since the late 80s at least.
there’s no way the mission would be the way it is unless that happened. it would be like fruitvale in oakland…strictly latino. and you (or emily) wouldnt live here.
so to start bellyaching about it now, just because you’re at the end of the wave and not the beginning, and see yourself being costed out of a hood that is 20 YEARS PAST ITS CHEAP PERIOD, is a little shortsighted and self centered.
the minute youthful artists & punks & “lesbians” (whatever the fuck that means in your post) & other creative culture class folks discover a cheap hood where they can afford to pursue a non-mainstream vocation – and open up coffee shops & vintage stores & cool bars – it’s the end for “people of color” as the dominant demographic.
because these new groups are trendoid populations and travel in herds…more & more of them flock there. and since many of them are educated kids from middle class (at least) backgrounds….the hood changes as they get more mainstream jobs.
folks that bitch & moan about the cost of living in the mission – my humble opinion – are poseurs. the mission isn’t a cheap neighborhood anymore. it isn’t a “haven for artists” anymore. it hasn’t been for a long long time.
my suggestion is to either suck it up – along with the rest of us – or go find an new fucking haven. that’s what folks did when we invaded the mission 20 FUCKING YEARS AGO.
Actually I know some arty white young people that share a warehouse space in Fruitvale.
Another bit of wisdom from Grandma was the fallacy that the Mission wasn’t white before. She says from Valencia Street up to what is now called Noe Valley (and to her, THAT is a strange named district), was all working-class Irish. So to say that gentrification is only young white displacing POCs, is not entirely accurate.
She also says there used to be a LOT of “Tamale Ladies” who’d come up from Mission street and east and go to all the Irish pubs selling tamales…
It just seems like since SF is full of transients and very few natives, we lost sight of the actual history of the place and it keeps getting re-written by folks who have been here MAYBE 10 years…
maybe fruitvale is “next” then.
is there a hipster enclave in south sf?
it is interesting to note – and remember – that the mission was once a primarily irish & italian hood. it’s also interesting to note – and remember – that these groups were not considered “white” by the standards of mainstream anglo gentry of the time
these were working-class folks for the most part….and they suffered many of the racist indignities suffered by other folks today (say, latino folks, for example). of course it was much more allowed and out-front back then, but it wasnt that different.
(sf & the bay area in general has a long history of “whitey only” type happenstance. “no jews in Piedmont” is another famous one.)
my understanding is that as irish & italian folks assimilated into mainstream society, in the 40s & 50s, is when the latino community really took hold in the mission. and then in the 60s – 70s it was a huge influx from all over latin america, given the great turmoil there during that time.
all tat said, i have a lot of friends who are of mexican descent…and their families have lived in the bay area since way before then….back into the 30s.
brock…
guess it depends on your definition. i dont think there’s enough appropriate services (bars, restaurants, clothing stores, music venues, tattoo parlors, handlebar mustache waxing boutiques, ironic beard grooming salons – sorry i just can’t help it, etc) to suport a thriving “hipster” community like we know it in SF.
that said i do know folks that have moved to SSF or DC or San Bruno, and are aging hipster types…or recovering hipsters maybe…creative jobs in many cases, long term fiscal goals, kids. driven there by the want to be homeowners.
and they all come to hang out at my house and park in my driveway when they go to bars!
I do think people spend way too much time obsessing about whether a neighborhood is “done” or is “gentrifying”. The Mission is still a very vibrant place with a diverse mix of people and lots of interesting stuff to see and do. It has been constantly evolving for over 100 years at least and will continue to do so. So enjoy the ride and worry less about the labels.
Wow, this from Mr. Graffiti-Is-A-Blight? I like it.
zinzin-
I actually left SF to live and work in Oakland, myself.
truth is, what’s “next” isnt going to be in SF proper. it’s going to be east bay. i dont spend enough time on that side of the bay to call it hood by hood over there, but its the only logical place.
Maybe I’m just helping the next wave move over here, my friend did just open up a vinyl-only record store.
i think you should consider that “people of color pushed out by young white kids” has been happening in the mission since the late 80s at least.
Totally true, but does that somehow wipe away the fact that it’s still a case of gentrification? Just because it’s been going on “a long time” doesn’t make it any less sad.
Obviously overstating the “damage” done isn’t constructive either. Neighborhoods change and people move. It’s just that in this case it really seems to be part of the larger “Whitening” (capital W) of San Francisco.
I think that younger people need to move into more neighborhoods to keep the churn and reinvigoration of the city happening – it just seems that in San Francisco that it comes with loss of a lot of the culture that came before it, honestly.
And, to poke a bit of fun, it’s obvious that you’re an aging hipster, given that “you already did it 20 FUCKING YEARS AGO.”
And honestly, people have been attempting the Whitening of West Oakland, but that’s not happening – too much entrenched politics there.
The Mission is still a very vibrant place with a diverse mix of people and lots of interesting stuff to see and do. It has been constantly evolving for over 100 years at least and will continue to do so. So enjoy the ride and worry less about the labels.
THAT is the best thing i have seen written on this blog.
interesting, zinzin, i’ve actually spent quite a bit of time in fruitvale. in fact, before i got my own place in sf i stayed right off foothill blvd near high st.
and remember, we can’t enjoy the ride if the train jumps the track.