About

This blog is dedicated to covering issues that effect one of San Francisco’s most notorious neighborhoods: The Tenderloin. Under a dark visage of boarded up businesses, and tanked by the plummeting economy, a ‘hood rich with its own food, music, and art scene has survived as a beacon of what truly makes San Francisco tick.

Despite being one of the most poverty stricken neighborhoods in the city, the Tenderloin is host to some of the city’s best food, theaters, night- and strip-clubs, including the famous O’farrell Theater, legendary hang-out of Hunter S. Thompson. Art museums clutter the streets, sometimes their $6,000 price tags falling in stark contrast to the liquor stores and homeless people in their shadow. Yet, true artistic beauty can be found in community art houses, storefronts and in alleyways, some commissioned as part of beautification projects, others illegally decorated by the tradition of talented local and international graffiti artists including Banksy and Shepard Fairey.

Arguably the main attraction of the Tenderloin is the people. In the TL, there is no deficit of interesting characters to discover. Each day I experience the Tenderloin and its people, I feel closer to understanding the past of a community being hurdled into the future.

Who’s the man woman behind the curtain?

Nina Frazier, a journalist acquiring my degree in journalism from SFSU and living in the Tenderloin. You can follow me on Twitter @ninafrazier, or visit my photography blog to see more of my work and what I’m interested in.

**PLEASE NOTE**The photos on this website are the express property of Nina Frazier and this website. No images can be taken to be used elsewhere or for personal reasons without the permission of the author. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.