Fillmore District History

African American Art & Cultural Center in the Fillmore District; (c) Soul Of America

San Francisco’s historically Black district was shared with Japanese-Americans until the latter were forced out during their racially-motivated 1942 internment of World War II. There was plenty of resistance to African-Americans moving anywhere but here and Bayview-Hunters Point, next to a Naval shipyard.

With a vacuum created by Japanese-American internment, the African-American middle class, eager to expand into Victorian homes, strengthened their presence in the social and business core of the Fillmore District.

Roughly bordered by Octavia, Divisidero, Bush, and Duboce Streets, the Fillmore became the “Harlem West” in the 1940s. Jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and R&B performers like Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Temptations, and Aretha Franklin performed at the Fillmore Auditorium.

Cadillacs and Lincolns would line up dropping off celebrities and those wanting to be seen with stars at the corner of Fillmore Street and Geary Blvd. Then the heavy hand of city redevelopment intervened.

The restored Fillmore Auditorium at Geary Blvd; (c) Soul Of America

By the numbers, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRDA) led by Justin Herman was ugly and racially motivated. The predominantly black Fillmore District was declared blighted in 1948 and expanded to 60 square blocks by 1956.

So unlike other parts of town where landowners and businesses could get improvement loans, commercial bankers were reluctant to invest in the Fillmore. Starved of improvement capital, seedy Fillmore businesses sprung up next to vibrant ones to further tarnish the area’s reputation.

By 1960, most of present-day Japantown was razed. Instead of spending the $50 million of federal, state & city funds for family home and business redevelopment, The SFRDA employed imminent domain law, forcing landowners to sell at depressed prices.

This horrific process destroyed 883 businesses and 2500 Victorian houses and moved out 4,700 African American families.

By 1964, much of the historically Black Fillmore District had undergone large-scale demolition. In a portion of the cleared land, high-rise and low-rise public housing was built.

Predictably, the black middle class scattered to other parts of town. Others left for larger houses in Oakland Hills and Berkeley. By 1968, when the Fair Housing Act became national law, remaining middle-class families leaving for the suburbs became a flood.

Poorer families stayed in the Fillmore residential projects or moved to Bayview-Hunters Point in the southeastern tip of San Francisco. Once vibrant black businesses shuttered along Fillmore Street south of Geary Boulevard.

Pagoda temple of Japantown along Geary Blvd; (c) Soul Of America

One thing the SFRDA got right was to open the Japanese Cultural & Trade Center in 1968 between Laguna and Fillmore and Geary and Post. Over the years, it re-anchored Japanese culture and housing redevelopment in the northern part of the community.

By the 1970s, housing prices in San Francisco shot up. Higher prices presented a choice between gentrification for the Fillmore District south of Geary Boulevard or some other redevelopment approach that succeeded elsewhere. Other cities, notably Baltimore, employed an imaginative redevelopment program that attracted $1 of private money for every 1 dollar of public money invested.

Rewind the tape. Imagine $50 million in federal, state & city funds coupled with $50 million of private investment in the 1970s. That works out to an average of $30,000 in low-interest loans for 3,383 businesses and Victorian houses that could have been rebuilt when prices were cheap, instead of building public housing.

A large park area could have been created as well. Black middle-class could have joined the last remaining black middle-class residents. Of course, other cultures would also have moved in over time, but it would have happened organically to preserve the rich heritage of the district, just as Italian heritage is preserved in North Beach despite integration.

San Francisco would have had another strong tourism district, better schools in the area, and a lower crime rate. Instead, it missed a second opportunity for a sustainable Fillmore District revival.

Yoshi’s JazzClub was located in Fillmore Heritage Center, San Francisco; (c) Soul Of America

Willie Brown, San Francisco’s first black mayor (1995-2003), called in a lot of chips to help revive a Fillmore Entertainment District. Sparked by the re-opening of the Fillmore Auditorium, Rasselas Jazz Club, Sheba’s Piano Lounge, and 1300 Fillmore and Yoshi’s.

A partial revival has occurred but did not spark a massive return by the Black middle class. The area still needs capital for Black-owned businesses and homeowners. Consequently, several promising Black-owned businesses have come and gone in the last 20 years.

The good news is that Black-owned businesses keep returning. How the story ends is one for debate.

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