Thursday's Fabulous Fillmore District

Before the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, The Fillmore District of San Francisco was a sleepy little bedroom community, but after 1906 its population swelled.  As it was only six blocks from the fire line, it became the closest functioning neighborhood to the destroyed central core of the city.  

The Heart of the Fillmore District

Already home to a sizable Jewish and Japanese population, its ethnic diversity increased exponentially with the influx of earthquake transplants over the next decade.  Almost overnight, the neighborhood became the most culturally diverse part of San Francisco.

With the historic pockmark of Japanese internment during WWII, thousands of homes were suddenly, and forcibly, vacated. Coincidentally enough, the war effort created a demand for thousands of workers, which were mostly filled by black men migrating from the from the south.

With the influx of many black Americans, came southern black culture.  There were so many soul food restaurants and jazz clubs, that the neighborhood became known as the Harlem of the West.

It was said that on any given night, you could go from one nightclub to another, and see jazz greats such as Billie Holiday, Charlie “Bird” Parker, and John Coltrane.

Jazz was such an integral part of the neighborhood, and John Coltrane’s music was so profound to some, they believe it transcended corporal existence. A small group of devotes were compelled to create the John Coltrane African Orthodox Church Global Spiritual Community.

Known simply as the Church of John Coltrane, in essence they believe John Coltrane was a vessel for god, who speaks to earthly beings through the jazz legend’s music. Don’t laugh, they are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

During the urban renewal frenzy of the 1950s and 1960s, The Fillmore District was Ground Zero for this malevolent policy.  Over 2500 Victorian homes alone were demolished and replaced with soulless Soviet-style apartment blocks, but before the neighborhood was decimated it had a vibrant history and culturally diverse population.

Geary Blvd. is one of San Francisco’s major thoroughfares, which bisects the city. But during the urban renewal programs of the 1950s and 1960s, the street was widened to twice its width through the Fillmore District, and only the Fillmore District. It then returned to its regular size in the suburbs of the city. Widening the street also required the removal of hundreds of homes.

After Fillmore residents sued Justin Herman, the Planning Director at the time, the destruction stopped by a neighborhood mishmash of Hippies revolutionaries, and concerned citizens.

In the late 1960s, the neighborhood’s past was just cleaved and its future uncertain.  This chaotic dichotomy opened the door for unscrupulous exploiters, one of whom was Jim Jones, founder of the People’s Temple and the more infamous Jonestown Cult. 

Even more infamous was the the death of almost a thousand people when in a paranoid fit, Jim Jones moved his flock to Guyana in South America and murdered the community he himself built. From this horrific event came the term, “Drinking the Kool-Aide.” Ironically the People’s Temple was torn down and replaced a post office.

When I moved to the city to go to college in the late 1980s, I found remnants of its too-recent, glorious past.  There was Leon's Barbecue, whose interior probably had not changed since the 1960s. 

The Fillmore was legendary for its copious amounts of music venues. The only ones remaining are John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room and the Fillmore Auditorium. 

On a quiet night, it was not beyond the realm of reason to find the blues master himself riffing on stage, which he did frequently until his death at the age of 83 in 2001.  I mean, it was his club.

The other great remaining music venue, the legendary Fillmore Auditorium, was where every musician you have ever liked over the last 60 years got their big break.

Everyone from San Francisco legends the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, to Metallica, to Green Day can thank the Fillmore Auditorium for their big break.  The Fillmore Auditorium ’s collection of psychedelic posters on the second floor is probably the best you will find outside of a private collection.

Despite the gutting of its history and culture, the neighborhood’s uniqueness still hangs in there. The community can still boast the many street festivals and events occurring year round, drawing people from around the city and the world beyond.

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