Fillmore District, San Francisco

Though its boundaries are not clearly defined, the Fillmore is usually considered to be a 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 Street 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 on 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. ==History==

The Fillmore district was created in the 1880s to provide new space for the city to grow in an effort to address overcrowding. After the 1906 earthquake Fillmore Street, which had largely avoided heavy damage, temporarily became a major commercial center as the city's downtown rebuilt and began a period where the district where migrant groups from Jews to Japanese and then African-Americans predominated. Redevelopment programs in the 1960s led to displacement and loss of the district's jazz and cultural scene. Japanese immigration and internment A significant Japanese population has existed since the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906. The Japanese created a Japantown that still exists close to its original location today. In 1906, there were approximately 5,000 Japanese who lived within that section of town, making them the largest minority of the Fillmore district for a significant period of time. Like many of the ethnic groups in San Francisco, the Japanese faced discrimination. The type of discrimination a Japanese person could expect to face was slightly different than the discrimination an African American would face. Many Americans perceived the Japanese as foreigners and as citizens of another country. It was a widely held belief that the Japanese in San Francisco and the Fillmore were still loyal to Japan even though many were 2nd or 3rd generation American citizens. The landmark Supreme Court case Ozawa v. United States ruling exemplified this type of racism when it confirmed the legal status of Japanese immigrants as "aliens ineligible to citizenship". This systemic racism towards the Japanese would eventually fuel the decision for the Issuing of executive order 9066 by president Franklin Roosevelt and the internment of all Japanese citizens. African-American community Although some African Americans were present in the Fillmore District after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, it would not be until WWII that the Fillmore District and San Francisco as a whole began to have a large African-American population. Between the years of 1940 and 1950, the African American population of San Francisco grew from 4,836 to 43,460, from 0.5% to 4.5% of the city's total population. Additionally, many African Americans had left the south in the Great Migration in order to escape Jim Crow laws. flourishing there. In addition, the trend of African American migration to the city and the district continued at a fast pace until it reached a peak of about 13 percent in the 1970s. As of 2001, only 4% of the "Certificates of Preference" issued to businesses forced out by the RDA had been redeemed. Urban renewal 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. Financial role After the collapse of Market Street during the 1906 earthquake, many of the commercial businesses and financial institutions moved to the Fillmore District. Since then, the Fillmore has played a vital role in the economy of San Francisco. However, after most of Market Street was rebuilt, many businesses moved back and the Financial District once again eclipsed the Fillmore district in terms of economic importance. They reversed course — temporarily — due to public pressure, but on December 11, 2024 announced that the store would be closing on or around February 7, 2025.Safeway had already agreed to sell the underlying land to Align Real Estate, which had indicated that it planned to build a mixed-use development on the site. ==Landmarks and features==

Fillmore Street, the neighborhood's main commercial strip, reflects 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. There is a branch of the San Francisco public library located at Geary and Scott. Fillmore Auditorium The historic Fillmore Auditorium is located in the neighborhood at the corner of Geary Boulevard and Fillmore Street. A major national concert venue famous as the focus point of the psychedelic music scene during the 1960s, it was home to early concerts by Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead among others. Jazz and blues In the 1940s and 1950s, it was known as the "Harlem of the West" and attracted many leading jazz performers including Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and the "Bird" (Charlie Parker). Fillmore Street and nearby areas was filled with nightclubs. Jimbo's Bop City, at 1690 Post Street in what is now Japantown, was a nightclub frequented by noted jazz musicians of the 1940s and 1950s and is reported to be the only venue to host Parker and Armstrong together at the same time. One of the oldest jazz performers in the Bay Area currently living, Frank R. Fisher, performed in Fillmore District in the 40s and 50s. During the redevelopment of the neighborhood, the building that once housed Bop City was moved from its location on Post Street two blocks to the west to 1712 Fillmore Street, where it now houses an Afrocentric bookstore, Marcus Bookstore. As part of efforts in the 1990s to revitalize the Fillmore district, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency created the Historic Fillmore Jazz Preservation District to encourage the development of entertainment and commercial businesses in this historical area. A Jazz Heritage Center was created within a major new apartment and commercial development, the Fillmore Heritage Center, which housed the San Francisco branch of Yoshi's jazz club. Many nightclubs (Leola Kings Bird Cage, Wesley Johnson's Texas PlayHouse, Shelton's Blue Mirror, and Jacks of Sutter) existed on the Fillmore, bringing major musical icons to the neighborhood including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. Markets and festivals A Farmers' Market is held at the Fillmore Center Plaza on Saturday mornings, year round. The market features local jazz musicians as well as California-grown produce. The Fillmore Street Jazz Festival is held annually in July. The Fillmore Fridays Outdoor Music and Cinema Series is held Friday evenings between August and October. The Juneteenth Festival (Emancipation of Enslaved African Americans) is held every June 19. Public transit The neighborhood, thanks to its central location, is served by several Muni bus lines including the 22, 21, 24, 38, 31, 43, 47, 49, and 5. The Peoples Temple In 1971, the Peoples Temple, a new religious organization, established its headquarters at 1859 Geary Boulevard, situated on the edge of the Fillmore district. Led by Jim Jones, the church began spreading its message of apostolic socialism and racial integration to the Fillmore district. This resonated well with the residents, who viewed Jones as a promising figure amidst the challenging conditions that followed urban renewal in the area. In Neighborhoods: The Hidden Cities of San Francisco, The Fillmore Charles Collins, a former Fillmore resident, says "[Jones] came into a community that needed to have a sense of belonging. For people who needed to come together. People who were broken." Reverend Hannibal Williams, a former community organizer in the Fillmore, says, "people were desperate for solutions. People needed something to follow. Jim Jones was a solution. He was something to follow." In 1974, Jim Jones made the decision to relocate the Peoples Temple to Guyana, believing it to be the ideal setting to establish the socialist racially integrated mission he envisioned. He also hoped to escape mounting pressures from negative publicity and ongoing investigations by the media in San Francisco. Through his persuasive tactics, Jones managed to convince many Fillmore residents to join him. After a year of constructing the commune, Jones led his followers in a tragic event that would forever be known as the Jonestown massacre. 918 individuals lost their lives, with a significant portion hailing from the Fillmore district. The former San Francisco headquarters of the Peoples Temple is now occupied by a United States Post Office building. == See also ==