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San Francisco- Fillmore - Large Studio – Converted 3 Car Garage with Free Internet (mission district)- Studio has an open floor plan with linoleum flooring and measures 21’ x 19’4”, approximately 406 square feet. Kitchen includes a refrigerator and a gas range. View More Listings -->
Fillmore Information
The Fillmore District, also called The Fillmore or The Lower Fillmore, is a
neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Though its boundaries are not
well-defined, it is usually considered to be the subset of the Western Addition
neighborhood bordered by Fillmore Street on the west, Van Ness Avenue on the
east, approximately Geary Boulevard on the north, and approximately Grove Street
on the south. Sometimes the western boundary is extended to Divisadero Street
north of Golden Gate Avenue. The neighborhood is in San Francisco's fifth
district, and is served by several Muni bus lines including the 38, 31, 5, and
22.
The Fillmore was the site of a massive and controversial Urban renewal project
begun in the 1950's, the last vestiges of which are still ongoing. It has an
ethnically and economically diverse population, and is the historical center of
African-American culture in San Francisco. Today, despite the persistence of
poverty and violent crime, the Fillmore is seeing increased residential and
commercial development. In particular the area is reviving as a center of music,
with Oakland jazz club Yoshi's and a jazz history museum expected to open in
2007, joining existing venues such as the Boom Boom Room, Rassalla's, the Sheba
Lounge, and the well-known Fillmore Auditorium.
In the 1800's, 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.
In 1942, during World War II, President Roosevelt signed an executive order to
relocate all people of Japanese origin to internment camps. The vacant homes in
the Fillmore attracted African-American industrial workers, musicians, and
artists. Soon many nightclubs were opened, bringing major musical icons to the
neighborhood including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. The
neighborhood struggled economically, however, and many of its Victorian homes
fell into disrepair.
As a result of this, 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 architecture (now seen as
outmoded), the redevelopment of the Fillmore is considered by many to have been
unsuccessful and regrettable.
As surrounding neighborhoods have gentrified, however, some effects have been
felt in the Fillmore. While lower Fillmore Street is still dominated by chain
establishments now disfavored by most San Franciscans, restaurants and jazz
clubs are beginning to reappear. Some of the neighborhood's subsidized housing
projects have been rebuilt along more modern lines, and some market-rate housing
is also being built and refurbished.