NO. 131
Published One for the ages by the CENTRAL CITY san francisco – Manor House studY CENTER March becomes history 2 013 Mimi and team retire A CBD as TNDC scrambles AWAITS to find a new eatery CITY HALL by Tom Ca rt e r SPECIAL chapter in Tenderloin his- Central Market san francisco tory ended sadly March 1 when plan needs OK A the low-cost Manor House restau- rant and its beloved manager, Mimi Yee, called it quits after 17 years of unparal- Page 2 ORAL HISTORY leled service to the city’s poorest neigh- borhood. The closure left hundreds of pov- erty-level customers — some of them damp-eyed — wondering if anyone who follows could equal Mimi, yet feeling lucky to have had it so good for so long. Mimi and her husband John Yee, chief cook, were retiring because of his health, she told surprised customers over recent weeks. Plus she herself was “very tired,” she said, having been on her feet, moving constantly more than 10 hours a day, six days a week since 1996. Then she did the restaurant’s shopping on Saturdays when the Jones Street eatery was closed. “I’m tired,” Mimi said the day before Manor House closed. She’s in her early 50s, her husband in his early 60s. “I’m not burned out, but if I don’t do it now, I will get burned out. And I want to do this be- fore something happens.” She plans to go to school to improve her English. koci the Among her six employees, her “team,” were her sisters May and Shirley, also artist well-known to Manor’s regulars. The last day, Thursday, Feb. 28, found a stream of well-wishers saying how much Bold, evocative they will miss her, and others who hadn’t known of the closure and were shocked, paintings for dazed, even distressed. $3.28 Photos by Bill Carlson “What am I going to do?” one man The 1978 view from Frank Koci’s apartment was a sea of cars and empty space where flats, demanded at the counter, sounding an- small apartment buildings and businesses were razed for the Yerba Buena Center development Page 5 gry. “And what’s my brother going to do? that hastened the end of the old neighborhood and the beginning of the new. Inset: Frank Koci Does he know?” Tenderloin Capt. Joe Garrity barreled through the door at 12:20 p.m. with an armful of roses, giving one bouquet to May and another to Mimi. He chatted with a few customers and was gone in Obits five minutes. Later, District 6 Supervisor Before it was SoMa Jane Kim’s staff showed up. Manor hours were 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Noted advocate The transformation serving breakfasts and lunch all day. Mimi Neighborhood did not want to be open after 5 p.m. be- for legal grass; cause she feared the neighborhood after of South of Market dark, she has said. Camelot Hotel The Board of Supervisors will ac- ‘royalty’ — artist in 1978 knowledge her contribution to the Ten- ORAL derloin in March, during International Women’s Month, an aide in Kim’s office Page 7 minces no words HISTORY PROJECT said. he work of San Francisco Beat-era art- Don Falk, executive director of TNDC, sion. There’s nothing there now — the city ist Frank Koci, born in 1904 in Czecho- which owns the Antonia Manor hotel, the tore everything out, but it took them three slovakia, “represented a remarkable building where Manor House occupies T years after I moved before they started knock- union of naivete and canny sophistication,” ing things down. And it took me a long time ➤ C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 3 wrote Thomas Albright, reviewer and author investigating to find this place in Clementina of Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 1945- Towers. You have to buy your own furniture 80. Before he turned to painting, the young here, but I had the money to buy it, not like Koci, new to America, worked as a merchant some of those bums who go from check to seaman, cowboy, farmhand, silent film and check, drinking it up, and then there are the theater extra. He was still actively paint- misers and drunkards with a couple of reli- ing when Oral History Project staffer Isabel gious fanatics thrown in, and also several Maldonado interviewed him in August 1978 pretty nice people. You’d be surprised how at his Clementina Street apartment. A South many practically geniuses you find on the of Market resident, he had watched as Yerba skids in San Francisco. Buena Center construction got under way, displacing thousands of residents and hun- Tell us about coming to San Francisco. dreds of businesses, most permanently. Early I came to this country when I was 17 and on, the neighborhood was called South of the spent my first two years in Shiner, Texas, Slot because of the Market Street cable cars. where I learned how to milk cows for $30 When they were long gone, then it became a month. Then I moved to Los Angeles and South of Market. And, in the Eighties, in a nod that’s where I got a few of these X-rated mov- to New York City’s SoHo district, people in ie jobs and worked for Charlie Chaplin, a San Francisco started calling the area SoMa. great guy to work for, and all that — I get a lit- Photo by Tom Carter Frank Koci died in 1983. tle tired of rehashing that in interviews. When I came up to San Francisco in 1923, I really Mimi Yee, who elevated Manor House What’s it like living South of Market didn’t live anywhere, just bummed around. service to new heights, gets roses as just these days? But I do remember South of Market then, desserts from Tenderloin Capt. Joe Garrity Seven years ago, I was living at the Westches- all small, ramshackle, broken-down rooming ter on Third Street between Market and Mis- on her last day, Feb. 28. ➤ C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 4 Manor House — TL landmark eatery — closes
Central Market CBD ➤ C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1
a large storefront, making him Mimi’s landlord, sent his sentiments to The Ex- plan awaits city OK tra via email from the East Coast where of 15%, said CBD Executive Director he was on business. by Jonat h a n New m a n Daniel Hurtado. Only 23 — 10% — of “Mimi is an exceptional person, and the responses came from existing dis- that is obvious to anyone who steps eeding the negative results trict members, with 20 solidly in favor inside Manor House,” Falk wrote. “It is from an areawide survey, Cen- of expansion, he said. truly a community gathering place, not tral Market CBD has abandoned But resistance in the proposed ex- only because the food is affordable to H Tenderloin residents, but also because its 2012 plan to increase its turf six-fold pansion area, notably on the western and triple its budget to $1.6 million — end of Natoma Street and along the she serves it with love. Her warm and recast its hoped-for future more 10th and 11th Street corridors running charm has created a unique Tenderloin modestly. south from Market, where two owners institution, and I’m proud that TNDC Now, the district wants to expand of a combined 23 properties opted out, played a key role in supporting it.” southward to Minna Street and west doomed the bigger benefit district. Last year, Mimi won TNDC’s Kelly all the way to South Van Ness Avenue, Bob Harms owns and manages nine Cullen Community Service award for down Sixth Street to Folsom, include properties in that area through his pri- her long tenure of providing low-cost sections of Tehama and Clementina vately held company, Ares Commercial meals that average $3 for a big break- west of Fifth Street, taking in many fam- Properties. He answered the survey, let- fast and $5 for a balanced lunch that’s ily-size apartment buildings and medi- ting the CBD know he was not in favor often more than one person can eat. um-scale condos. of expansion. But she didn’t appear at the nighttime Photos by Mark Doneza The result is a decidedly more “I’m a small landlord and I try to awards ceremony at the Hilton Hotel a residential benefits district than the keep my rents low and my tenants hap- few blocks away, reluctant to go out at all-commercial cast to the current CBD. py. I don’t want to have to pass these night. The award was later delivered to Study Center celebrates Last April, the CBD’s Steering Com- extra assessments off on my tenants,” her at the restaurant. mittee decided to explore expanding he told The Extra. “Keeping the streets TNDC’s commercial management the district in a do-or-die bid to grow clean and dealing with graffiti — that’s agent, Ventura Partners, said it is look- its 40-year milestone beyond its Market Street corridor that what the city should be doing. I mean ing for another restaurant operation to now runs only from Fifth to Ninth that’s why we pay the property taxes, take over: “Our goal is to find a food-re- Street. Simply renewing the current isn’t it?” lated community use within the same boundaries would have given the dis- Stanley Saitowitz, who owns four spirit of Mimi’s Manor House Restau- Photos by Lenny Limjoco 2008 of service to community trict another seven years of life. But rant.” A spokesman said a nonprofit properties on Natoma Street, was all in Mimi’s sister, May Ling, takes an order in 2008, when Manor House was featured in The Extra. once it decided to expand, it needs two favor of expansion. “I would love to par- with a job-training program was a pos- positive votes by prospective property ticipate. I think it’s a great idea people sibility, too. an Francisco Study Center, it, has evolved over many years. It was owners in the expanded area or the taking care of their own community. TNDC had given the China-born publisher of Central City Extra, cel- Manor House when Bill and Althea Yee, CBD will go out of business May 31. I’m sorry that we won’t be included,” Mimi a rent break for her promise to ebrated its 40th anniversary Feb. Mimi’s aunt, operated it before 1996. S The first vote will be on a petition he said. furnish low-cost meals. She often went 27 at the Stern Grove Clubhouse. Marvis Phillips, community activ- favored by owners holding properties The survey results, particularly the a step beyond and allowed tabs for cer- The festive sounds of Latin jazz ist, has eaten at Manor more than 30 with a combined 30% of assessments negative responses from owners with tain customers. band, Bluezona, greeted the arriving years and remembers the old version (plus $1) in the newly drawn district. multiple properties, resulted in rethink- partygoers, who eventually filled the vividly as a dingy, hole-in-the-wall Skid If the petition passes, District 6 Super- ing the expansion, so the map boundar- ‘NAME YOUR PRICE’ Victorian. Row restaurant with blacked-over win- visor Jane Kim will request the supes’ ies were redrawn more modestly, said “Don (Falk) wanted me to stay,” A staff-made feast included lumpia, dows, “solemn,” he says. Bill cooked, Government Oversight Committee to Jim Chappell of MJM Management, the Mimi said. “He said, ‘Name your price.’ ” prawns, two kinds of pancit, chips with Althea waited tables and someone else sanction an official ballot to create the CBD’s consultant on the expansion. She smiles. ”He offered no rent. I didn’t three dips, green salad, artichoke fritta- washed dishes. new district. The ballot — the second “The survey showed that owners know if he was kidding. He said he was ta, ribs, wings and lots, lots more with “But it was lunch and dinner,” Phil- vote in the process — must pass by a along Howard Street didn’t always feel serious. He has been very good to me. tres leche cake and tiny cream puffs for lips says. “They opened at 11 a.m. and majority of those voting and that ma- connected to Market Street. They see But I said no. dessert. closed at 5:30. Dinners were about $4. jority must represent at least 50% of the their area as more South of Market,” he “I started from nothing 17 years But it was a night to honor Study They had noodle and vegetable soup assessments. The ballot voting opens said. “So, we want the existing CBD to ago,” she reflected, staring blankly, Center’s “Dozen for the Decades,’’ board five days a week, chowder on Fridays and closes in a 45-day period. expand with planned continuity and a caught in a flood of thoughts and emo- and staff members, all still active, who and were closed on Saturdays. No If the votes come in, the new CBD sense of neighborhood. tions she kept close. “I just don’t have have made significant contributions to breakfast. will encompass nearly 750 properties “Owners on Tehama and Clementi- the words. I really appreciate everyone the agency since its beginning in March “Bill had a television propped up in — largely the result of including mul- na and along Sixth Street are firmly be- … I want to keep the relationships. 1972 as a resource for neighborhood the kitchen and when you came in he’d ticondo buildings like Mission Street’s hind the expansion. They want to see “People say I helped lots of people, organizations. Honorees were: tell you to go sit in a corner and leave Soma Grand. The overall area served by a return of community services, which but they helped me — we had to help Stas Margaronis, founder and board him alone because he was watching a the district will triple in size and gener- disappeared when redevelopment end- each other. You respect them for them member, businessman game and betting on it. Someone else ate $1.4 million in assessments. ed. It’s important. Whatever happens to respect me for that long time.” watching with him, he thought was bad Elizabeth Denebeim, secretary-treasur- The draft expansion plan is being on Sixth affects Market,” he said. How will she keep the relation- luck. er, former S.F. school board president reviewed by the Office of Economic Central Market CBD provides com- ships? “It was a good place to eat. I ate din- Marjorie Beggs, senior writer/editor and Workforce Development, city attor- munity guides, street and sidewalk She looks blank again. ner there every day about 4.” ney and Supervisor Kim. All have had cleaning, including graffiti removal, and “I don’t know,” she says. “No way to John Burks, president, chairman The Formica counter was in the Mimi takes a break from front of house work to pose with her husband, John, for the plan since mid-February. programs designed to aid economic do it.” emeritus S.F. State Journalism Depart- middle then, the kitchen in front in a The CBD can’t send the plan to development. The services provided Mimi went out of her way over the a 2008 Extra “Jones Street gem” profile. ment corner against what are now windows. property owners to approve or reject and how often depend on the type of years to get along with a rough and un- Richard Livingston, vice president, Druggies didn’t deal inside but own restaurant came up from a relative Agency to preserve the hotel’s 134 until the draft becomes final after City property and its location within the dis- predictable crowd. Her patience was EXITTheater managing director hung around outside, sometimes caus- and she took it, figuring the Tenderloin units as affordable housing, a 100% Hall signs off on it. Neither the mayor, trict. Market Street and Sixth Street will as famous as her firmness in adhering ing problems on the sidewalk. wasn’t all that different from the ave- Section 8 building housing seniors and Reiko Homma-True, board member, city attorney nor District 6 supervisor get more community guides and street to her principles and to basic business Althea Yee was talkative and her nues. persons with disabilities. TNDC shut former S.F. Community Mental Health has told The Extra when the review cleaning than the less-heavily traveled practices, such as chasing down the English was good. She knew all the gos- She wanted to quit after the first it down to upgrade and reopened in Services director of the draft will be completed, though Tehama and Clementina streets. sidewalk after people who had skipped Top: Libby Denebeim, secretary-trea sip and neighborhood developments. month. 2004. In that time, Manor was closed M. Roy Crew, director, Office of Self CBD officials expect to mail the peti- Not all CBDs provide the same ser- out without paying. She was deter- surer of the Study Center board, is pre “Everyone loved Althea,” Phillips says. “It’s hard to explain how hard it almost a year for a face-lift. Help tion by March 6. vices. Across Market Street, for example, mined not to fail, to do the right thing “She liked being complimented, too. was in the beginning,” she said in 2008. “When we renovated, we moved sented her award by Executive Director A previous expansion plan was the North of Market/Tenderloin CBD and go the extra mile. Here’s what one Fancher Larson, senior advocate, S.F. And you never left hungry.” “I didn’t know how to handle these the kitchen in order to create windows Geoff Link. Libby was president of Study more grandiose. provides more tree-planting, needle person said in a Yelp review of Manor Mental Health Clients’ Rights Advo- people. They don’t know me, and they along the Jones Street wall, bringing Center’s 35-member Community Advi In August, Central Market mailed and syringe pickup and graffiti remov- House three years ago: cates give me hard time. I didn’t know about ‘eyes to the street,’ ” Falk wrote. “It was sory Board in 1973. Above, President 1,452 surveys to property owners, the al, but no community guides, a service “I am a money manager for former- GOOD FOR A LIGHT TOUCH , board member, au- the things they did — why they do to enhance safety and allow ample light Ben Fong-Torres John Burks sits in with the band for a majority with holdings south of Ste- nixed by then-District 6 Supervisor ly homeless adults with mental health She didn’t keep tabs, but was good thor and broadcaster these things? I was very scared. I want- into an otherwise dank and dark space. few hot licks during the party. venson Street to the southern side of Chris Daly when the CBD was formed. histories. I frequently write checks to for a light touch. “Toward the end of the ed to quit. But I couldn’t.” We also offered her below-market rent James McWilliams, board member, Howard Street, and 220 responded — Mimi on behalf of my lower-function- month if I was short I could always get Her school of hard knocks includ- in return for Mimi’s agreement to con- advocate at S.F. Mental Health Clients’ “an extraordinary high response” rate ing clients so they can eat at her estab- a $5 loan,” Phillips says. “She was that Rights Advocates lishment. Not only does she keep a tab way with a lot of people.” ed rude, threatening customers, some tinue serving low-cost food.” AND give my clients meals on credit, When Althea died in December demanding credit and leaving her with The years since have been good Edgar Mercado, board member, Warm a mound of unpaid bills that nearly ru- as the Manor reputation spread, even Line supervisor, Office of Self Help CENTRAL CITY Phone: (415) 626-1650 Design Consultant: Don McCartney she also contacts case managers in the 1995, Bill, in his 60s, didn’t want to con- tinue without her. After 25 years of the ined her, addicts using the bathroom to into the East Bay where Tenderloin Fax: (415) 626-7276 Distribution: Mark Hedin community when she is concerned Tina Tong Yee, board member, former over someone’s choice of diet. Manor, he handed the baton to Mimi shoot up, dealers working at the door residents sometimes move, or have Email: centralcityextra@ Editorial Advisory Committee: David director of Cultural Competency and “And if I want a client’s tab to be and went back to China to live. (one day she had to call the cops four relatives there who visit. It has scored Client Relations, S.F. Community Be- studycenter.org Baker, Michael Nulty, Debbie Larkin, san francisco spread out over the months, she will as- In a feature on Manor House in the times), and then the smaller stuff, like fairly high on its Department of Health havioral Health Services Editor & Publisher: Geoffrey Link Nicholas Rosenberg, Brad Paul, Tariq losing five pairs of salt and pepper inspections, usually in the high 80s, but NEWS IS A COMMUNITY SERVICE Alazraie sist me in budgeting the tab, designing July 2008 Extra, Mimi said the place Also honored were Tom Carter, Senior Writer/Editor: Marjorie Beggs a personal menu for the client’s budget, was so filthy when she took it over that shakers a day to theft. never nailing three 90s in a row to get Central City Extra community reporter, Central City Extra is published monthly Community Reporter: Tom Carter and monitoring the diet. Yes, she will it took three people one week to get it “I learned later why people were in DPH’s excellence certificate to display. who retired at the end of January, and by San Francisco Study Center Inc., a Reporters: Jonathan Newman, Mark arrange meetings between myself, the clean. She had other, more serious prob- the bathroom so long,” she said. “Before, Her attitude remained consistent: Geoff Link, executive director, who has private nonprofit serving the com Hedin, Brian Rinker, Ed Bowers Central City Extra is a member of the client, the case manager and herself to lems, though. I never knew. I never thought about it. If customers were nice, she was nice, munity since 1972. The Extra was San Francisco Neighborhood Designer: Lise Stampfli I don’t know how I did it and paid all she says. When they weren’t, she was been at the Study Center for 39 years. initiated through grants from the S.F. Newspaper Publishers Associ set an agreement. This is WAY beyond She had been a waitress for 10 Two days after the party, San Fran- Hotel Tax Fund and the Richard and PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark Doneza ation, Society of Professional what restaurant owners do!” years at the Bashful Bull restaurant on the bills. It’s not easy to survive in San direct, laying down the ground rules, cisco Study Center turned 41. Rhoda Goldman Fund. The contents are Journalists, Northern California Noriega near 19th Avenue — where the Francisco.” seldom raising her voice but keeping it Contributors: John Burks, Chapter, and San Francisco Mimi had more than two dozen copyrighted by the San Francisco Study — Geoff Link Diamond Dave Peninsula Press Club such customers. customers were nice — while her hus- Fortune smiled in December 2000 strong, showing command, running her Center, 944 Market Street, Suite 701, band worked at various Chinese restau- when TNDC acquired the Antonia Man- restaurant.And Mimi raised the bar. San Francisco, CA 94102. Unofficially “Mimi’s,” or the “peo- ple’s restaurant,” as some have called rants. Then the opportunity to have her or with the help of the Redevelopment
2 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013 3 Beat artist Koci recalls early days before it was SoMa
➤ C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 1 houses with at least three or four boot- leggers on every block. Every pool hall, every skid row had its characters. They were recognized for their eccentricity or fighting ability or how much wine they could drink or how many times they’d been in jail. I came here with a shirt and a pair of pants, and it was so goddamn cold here, you know, a typical San Francisco summer. I looked for work, but I only picked up a day’s work here and there, mostly as a day laborer where you wait for the truck driver to come over when he needs extra help. Or I’d get a day or two on banana boats, the boats that came in at what we call Shit Creek [Is- lais Creek] — yeah, that’s where they pulled the switch. And the life of the working man was the shits. Excuse the language. Then I left San Francisco again. You always leave. I started out to become a hobo and I finally succeeded. I bummed across the country working, but I was a hobo — a guy that travels and picks up work here and there. Ho- bos even had an organization and the hobo paper.
Were there a lot of people South of Market when you came in ’23? Yeah, lots of people. San Francisco is where you either come to finish off — Photo by Bill Carlson 1978 the end of the route — or to begin. I re- Frank Koci in front of Clementina Towers in South of Market, where he lived on member over on Howard Street, where the seventh floor in a $225-a-month apartment — complete with a balcony. there’s nothing standing now, there were 39 restaurants on one block.
Did they cater to low-income people? Boy, this language. If anyone back then “When I came up to San Francisco in 1923, had asked, “Do you cater to low-income people?” they’d have said, “What the I really didn’t live anywhere, just bummed hell does that mean?” Look, this was a These paintings are from the collection of place of cheap restaurants where you could get four eggs and a fried potato, around. But I do remember South of Market John Burks who supplied the photos, titles and two pieces of toast and some coffee for 10¢ or 15¢. During the Depression, it then, all small, ramshackle, broken-down interpretive captions. All are signed “Koci,” none is got even cheaper. On the corner over dated. They almost certainly were painted in South there was the Niagara Hotel, run by rooming houses with at least three or four Germans. It had a saloon, probably a of Market during the late Fifties and early Sixties. bootlegger and maybe a bookie there, too. And there was an employment of- bootleggers on every block.” fice on the corner. Frank Koci, South of Market Beat artist (1904–1983) hotos by ohn urks There were about 10 employment P J B offices around here, but mostly they’d Koci — a Beat marching to his own bold beat Clockwise from upper left: ship you out to jobs away from San gave me a big bowl of minestrone soup They’ve been down there, right there Francisco. When you’d come out here, PICNIC and all the French bread I could eat and on that corner since January 18, but you’d find there weren’t any jobs any- — sold his paintings cheap to pay the rent Sunlight streams across picnic table in for- wouldn’t let me pay. I said, “This is my this corner has nothing to do with Yer- how, so they’d ship you wherever est. Who sits? (a) Doctor, plutocrat, nurse? town.” ba Buena. The workmen just enjoy the by oh n u r ks they’d like, to lumber camps and ranch- J B (b) Son, corpse, assassin? (c) Assassin, dad, tearing down. They’re the most sadistic es. Guys would use it as free transpor- mom? What next? bunch of city employees. They work tation. Then, in wintertime, this place And now? Anything wrong with San he guy at the cash register looks like Popeye’s pissed-off older born Frantisek (Frank) Koci, an ex-merchant seaman, ex-actor, ex-cowboy who 24 x 24 inches, oil on plywood two shifts. At 6 p.m., they change shifts would fill up with lumberjacks and Francisco? brother. He speaks in a Count Dracula accent so gruff, so thick, I assume washed upon The City’s shores determined to become an artist. This South There’s nothin’ wrong with San Francis- when the ninnies go home — all the it’s a joke until I discover it isn’t. Popeye presides at a North Beach of Market denizen, whose early paintings did sell for as little as $3.28 and $5, whistle punks [water boys],mule skin- T REVOLT guys with their insurance papers and ners and ranch hands and people who co. You move 4,000 miles east to New gallery a few doors down from City Lights Bookstore, serving up salty insights would live to see his work featured in several galleries and museums, selling Two top-hat guys enter a mottled, motley their portfolio baskets, running around work in camps or Hetch Hetchy in Hampshire and you get the same things, concerning Beatnik art and Beat philosophy to gawking tourists. for thousands. street throng. Will Big Baldy and the Long to catch the train. After they clear out, Southern California. Around November, the same hot dogs, the same pizza par- Popeye’s rant is multidirectional — he speaks against God, against the To this day, there are said to be competing collectors who have stashed Faces let them pass? Who owns this street? the boys come back and work from they’d all flock here and take all these lors, the same punks on the street. feds, WWI and WWII, always returning to the deplorable quality of the art he away hundreds of Kocis hoping to reap zillions, should a Koci Revival ever 26 x 7 inches, oil on crate cheap rooms. They had silver dollars in Some people think we got magic here 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. I had a half pound of is selling and the fools who buy it. “But anyway,” he cackles, “it’s cheap; we occur. No sign of such a revival has yet appeared. their pockets and they’d rattle them. — the little cable cars will shoot you cotton in my ears and my radio and don’t commit extortion, just theft.” The pricetags run $3.28, $12.99, $4.44, At his peak, Koci painted as fast as he could. His small South of Market television going it was so loud. And SELF They’d see a guy real hungry and they’d up to the stars — but the morning fog $5, priced according to the size of each painting, cheap even by early Sixties’ apartment was jammed with dozens of partially completed paintings. He raid- Self-portrait of the artist as an old man? now we have another thing: the rock- get their jollies shaking their pockets in will kill you it’s so cold. Hollywood has standards. ed dumpsters all over town, seeking anything he could paint on: plywood, His naked lover flees. The shadowy citizen n-roll music. They have a place across front of him — well, it’s the nature of its movie stars and back East they have “Vot are you doing looking at dat monstrosity?” Popeye shouts from across tiles, crating, siding. He had no choice but to work cheap. Nobody was going over his right shoulder — ready, waiting, the street where they teach that stuff. the beast. the prize fighters and here we got the the room. “Utter shit.” Next painting: “Keep moving, don’t look! Idiot, idiot! Dat to pay $250 for an individual painting by an unknown Beat artist. But they’d next? I’m surprised they teach it — it comes gripmen on the cable cars. But wrong? painting iss insult to art!” happily lay out $7.29 for a piece of Beatnik art commemorating their trip to 15 x 18 inches, oil on siding How did Los Angeles compare to San Living here, South of Market, the most natural to monkeys. The minute these Only when my gaze falls upon a work signed “Koci” does he shut up. These the coast. Francisco at that time? agonizing part is the noise — it’s just boys over there find out that the short Kocis are, to my eye, remarkable and totally unlike anything else in sight: hints All Koci had to do was sell 30 such paintings to cover that month’s rent. hairs like me are goin’ to bed, they open REPLAY When you were broke in Los Angeles, part of the scenery and they keep push- of Rousseau, Matisse, Roualt, screwy angularities in the dense, cartoonish trac- In broad terms, you can describe Koci’s paintings as a series of “peoples- She stares death in the eye. On her mind, up, and go on to midnight. Once, when you could hit every restaurant and they ing and pushing, doing it since I moved ings, vivid splotches of sunshine, lots of people. All kinds of people — peas- capes,” wherein people are shown having relationships (some fleeting, some her lover. At her side, her mate. Referee there wasn’t too much complaining, wouldn’t give you anything. I came in. ants, pimps, killers, bishops, big money guys, dried-up crones, juicy nurses enduring) with fellow humans. A better term is probably “preludes” — where- studies replay before making the call. they went until 7 a.m. People stay here here and the first restaurant I went — all headed for cosmic collision. in each painting sets the stage for something momentous that will occur in 16 x 16 inches, oil on plywood to, Gough Bay City Grill, they said, “Sit What is the noise? Does it have to for a while and they say, “How can you After a few visits, I make the connection: “Popeye” is in fact Koci … Czech- the very next frame. In the best Kocis, the tension is palpable. do with clearing the land for Yerba down, son.” The guy who called me son ➤ C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e 7 was two years younger than me, but he Buena Center?
4 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013 5 of his favorite music was ZZ Top and the Grateful Dead. He was a dedicated OBITUARIES newspaper reader, and his favorite TV show was The Simpsons. Boeddeker Park — now and then RANDI GIVENS “His mother, who is still alive and lives out of state, was ‘his best phone Advocate for legal pot friend.’ They talked on the phone while watching Wheel of Fortune together.” Randi Givens lived at the Ritz Hotel Mr. Givens also is survived by two for two decades and had many visitors brothers and two sisters. Cara Givens over the years, but, according to social has made an extensive family tree, worker Heather Venisse, he “didn’t so- charting back 28 sets of grandparents cialize much” with fellow residents. and fact-checking a possible relation- That’s why his memorial was so lightly ship to Catherine Parr, the last of the attended by neighbors — only Thanapa six wives of King Henry VIII of England. Simphanth and Otto Duffy showed up Antrillo says that one of Mr. Givens’ for his Feb. 21 sendoff. grandmothers was a full-blooded Amer- “I really liked him,” said Simphanth, ican Indian, probably Cherokee. who had lived near Mr. Givens on the Courtesy Cara Givens “My father has just been accepted Photo by Bill Carlson first floor. “He was nice to me and he for interment, as a veteran, in the Na- had a nice heart. I remember that he Randi Givens Koci perfects his shot on the pool tional Cemetery in Sacramento,” Cara used to go food shopping and bring table at Clementina Towers. “Every pool Givens wrote in an email, “and some of things back to his room — then he got hall, every Skid Row had its characters,” his room the day before he died. Leav- his ashes will be scattered at sea, per so skinny and sick. I miss him a lot.” Koci remembers of South of Market in ing the hotel, she told Venisse that he his request.” Despite the small turnout, Mr. Giv- had said he wanted to die “at home” — At the memorial, she told how grate- 1923.“They were recognized for their ens’ life emerged as extraordinarily full, at the Ritz — not in the hospital. When eccentricity or fighting ability or how ful she was for the time she had to spend Courtesy Camelot Hotel productive and active, filled with loving Antrillo came to see him the next day, with her father during his last years: “His much wine they could drink or how family, political colleagues, and intellec- Arnold Stringfellow he was lying in bed and was gone. death was a long, drawn-out process, many times they’d been in jail.” tual and artistic accomplishments. He Antrillo read a poem a co-work- but now I feel a huge sense of relief died Feb. 6 in his room at the Ritz. He er had given her, “Miss Me — But Let — I feel positive about my grieving.” one” to comprehend the mourner’s “ge- was 71 years old. Me Go,” and passed around a photo of — Marjorie Beggs nius.” He was crushed by the loss. “I’ve lived here at the Ritz 17 years, Mr. Givens playing billiards with Willie The desk clerk said one night she almost as long as Randi,” said Duffy. “He Mosconi, the famed billiards profession- told Mr. Stringfellow she couldn’t go to Beat artist was quiet, kept to himself and never al from the 1940s through the 1960s. ARNOLD W. STRINGFELLOW the bathroom and leave the desk unat- smiled much. But here’s what I liked That was the other great love of Mr. tended because the front door lock was ‘Royalty’ at the Camelot about him: He was a left-winger and a Givens’ life. A crackerjack bar pool play- broken, a security problem. He told her Photo by Tom Carter real activist.” er, he won trophies and awards, and in When Arnold Wayne Stringfellow to go anyway, he’d stand by. When she Frank Koci Mr. Givens was passionate about walked through the lobby sporting his returned he was putting the finishing legalizing marijuana for adults, wrote handsome suede jacket of brown and touches on the lock he had just fixed. blogs and letters to editors, spoke tan squares, lavishing a toothless grin, Another time he wanted to make minces publicly about his beliefs and was eu- probably on his way to hang out at Aunt deviled eggs for the hotel’s Halloween logized in West Coast Leaf, a quarterly Charlie’s Lounge across the street, he lit party because he said everyone would newsletter that calls itself “The Canna- up the space around him like a roman be crazy about them. He was going to no words bis Newspaper of Record.” candle. You couldn’t help but smile. buy the eggs himself, but management “Randi’s and my political paths nev- That’s what his fellow residents wouldn’t hear of it and sprung for ➤ C o n t i n u e d f r o m p a g e 4 er crossed,” said Duffy, whose activism among the 15 mourners — including them. Sure enough, they were gobbled is strictly local while Mr. Givens’ was na- his regular doctor from S.F. General — up in no time. stand it?” I say, “Well, what are you gon- tional. “I’m a moderate progressive and said about the slight little man with the “I never saw him mad,” said one na do?” This kind of place somewhere he was farther left, and we even had a big bright aura. He had enhanced the tenant. “A wonderful man, a beautiful else costs $250. I pay $225, and I get huge argument about that decades ago, quality of life with his sunny personal- man. He changed my life.” this balcony, too. but we made up and I admired him.” ity and ability to fix mechanical things “He gave the best hugs,” another They keep tearing stuff down. There Duffy noted a “pattern” he sees de- for them during the 10 years he lived at said. was the last Chinese laundry here. The veloping in SROs and its aging popula- the Camelot Hotel. Little was said about Mr. Stringfel- owner held out and got $6,000. I have tion. So the hotel’s community room low’s background. He was one of the a friend, an artist, who was the last per- “People here are getting on in life Courtesy of Givens Family swelled with love for Mr. Stringfellow Camelot’s first residents after it was son on the block at Howard and Third. and you think they’ll never die, that at his Jan. 24 memorial. He was so easy renovated in 2002 and later became a He refused to move but he finally gave they’ll go on and on,” Duffy said. “Randi Givens’ 1979 marquetry image of to be around, truly “connected” with Direct Access to Housing hotel of the in and signed a contract. They gave him hadn’t looked healthy for a long time, rock-n-roll great Jimi Hendrix is made everyone and gave so much of himself, Department of Public Health. $6,000. He put the money down on a though he went on and on.” of walnut and avocado wood veneers. they said. It was believed he had once worked house in the Mission. That night they Duffy looked around the small “I can’t speak because I’ll start in electronics. He told someone he had wrecked his place. I got $2,500. third-floor kitchen where the memorial 2004 published a seminal study of the crying,” said one disheveled man who met his partner — whoever it was — was held, waving an arm at the clean form, The Eight Ball Bible: A Guide to headed for a seat in back, turning away in the exact spot the Camelot occupied What did you do with it? but clearly unused room with no food, Bar Table Play. The 283-page volume from the table on which there was a when it was a bar years ago. And he Put it in the bank. What else to do with no pots and pans, no eating utensils is filled with such details as, “Instead of bouquet and Mr. Stringfellow’s picture. loved to talk about the 1960s, people it? A poor man puts money in the bank in sight. On a Formica table were only stopping on a draw shot (full ball hit) Another table had vegan donuts, cup- said. and then waits until he dies and then temporary signs of life — and death — and then drawing back, an overweight cakes and bagels for later and a stack Jeff Schoenfeld, director of Camelot the state takes it away. I’m spending my a bouquet of spring flowers, a few can- cue ball slides thru a bit before coming of informational sheets on “Recovering support services, said he had been in money for essential things, like my own dles and Mr. Givens’ picture. back because the object ball cannot from trauma and loss.” touch with Mr. Stringfellow’s sister in art. “This place isn’t great,” Duffy said, absorb all of the cue ball’s momentum Even the SRO staff choked up. Alabama. She was surprised by the call. Photo by Lenny Limpoco “but the Ritz gave Randi a home and a (Diagram A).” The book has 460 illustra- “A beautiful man, full of love,” said She thought her brother had died 10 When did you start to paint? place to live and work from.” Boeddeker Park, a fortress that was once the launching pad for a children’s track team, fell into virtual disuse tions and is still in print. Tony Baldwin, general manager, fight- years ago, he said. Schoenfeld had col- I started painting when I worked at CBC Immediately after Duffy excused “He also shot videos about billiards ing back tears, “a smile on his face I’ll lected tenants’ comments to send her. Studios in Los Angeles. I was a janitor in recent years, open only 15 hours a week because of Rec and Park budget cuts. Now, it is swept away. A $6 himself to get over to City Hall for a and wrote for Pool & Billiards Maga- always remember, a positive cat, and They said he was kind and loving and there, but I had the opportunity to get million renovation will create a new park and fancy glass clubhouse by mid-2014. The question looms as to how hearing, two women joined the mourn- zine,” Cara Givens told The Extra in an the way he interacted in touching ev- “lit up the room” and made all things into the place where they painted all will it be staffed for greater use. The top view from the fifth floor of the Windsor Hotel on Eddy Street, was taken in ers. email, “and he learned how to edit his eryone.” Baldwin called him Camelot electronic better. kinds of sets for shows like “Queen for Janice Antrillo introduced herself as February. The “then” view was shot from the same location in December 2010. videos — he was very interested in “royalty.” “He was not just beautiful but fasci- a Day” and Art Linkletter. I started using Mr. Givens’ partner “off and on for 40 computers and the tech world.” Mr. Stringfellow’s case worker, Lin- nating the way he moved and enjoyed the paints in my spare time and had my years,” and their adult daughter, Cara Mr. Givens, born in Missouri, was an da Duncan, said she was in the hall by life,” Schoenfeld said. first show in Hollywood — I made $4. I Givens. Both saw Mr. Givens regularly, airline mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, his fifth-floor room on Jan. 8. Usually, Mr. Stringfellow often rambled be- told a critic I’d show him my best work, their relationships with him affection- came to San Francisco in the ’60s, at- disco music emanated from it, but that fore making a point, but Schoenfeld but he said, “I’ve seen your best ones ate to the end, though not always easy. THE TENDERLOIN tended the College of San Mateo, drove day all was quiet except for his labored said it taught him to have the patience and they’re the worst ones I ever saw “He was such a good guy and a a cab, hung out in divy bars with pool breathing that she could hear. to listen, a virtue that Mr. Stringfellow in my life. With you, it’s the opposite of magnetic personality, a great dad and tables in the central city. “He was struggling to breathe,” she showed unfailingly with others. throwing pearls before swine.” I says to friend,” Antrillo said. “If he got into tiffs AT ITS MOST TENDER He and Antrillo met at the Board- said. “I asked to come in, then sent him “He was a character of the Tender- him, “That’s good. I like real good criti- a lot of the time, it was because he had ing House, the ’70s nightclub hot spot to (St. Francis) hospital. He never said a loin. And there’s a hole in our hearts. I cism.” Then, I took all my paintings and a moral compass. “It’s never over while one person remembers you.’’ on Bush Street off Taylor that featured word after that — I visited him — and don’t know how we can be the same burned the hell out of them. Worst in “He was a strong advocate of Prop. a parade of comers — Patti Smith, Tom he died a week later.” without his love. I never thought of the world? Best in the world? Who’s the 215 [medical marijuana initiative], and “Today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the present.’’ Waits, Neil Young, The Tubes, Bette Mid- She believed he died of natural this place as a sanctuary until I worked critic? Picasso said that if you want to marijuana helped him with his pain.” ler and many more. causes. The medical examiner said the here. Arnold was not the strongest, but learn painting, learn from children be- She grinned, remembering fun times “Then we were licensed street art- cause of death wouldn’t be known for I adored the man. cause they’re uninhibited, haven’t been “All of us have a lot of grief in the Tenderloin.’’ together in the past, long car rides and ists in San Francisco,” Antrillo told The three months after his Jan. 21 autopsy. “I hope he knew his life mattered.” brainwashed. Look at people like Miró “so much to do and not enough time.” Extra later. “I sold my beadwork and he Mr. Stringfellow was 64. Mr. Stringfellow often bought — they draw something like what a kid He had a pacemaker and had had “Death in the Tenderloin,’’ from Study Center Press, offers a slice of life sold his marquetry” — the ancient art Ironically, Mr. Stringfellow was Grandma’s Cookies in the vending ma- draws. It’s identical except dozens of a hernia operation, Cara Givens said of of producing images by inlaying vari- nicknamed “the Unabomber,” one man chine. Allison Ulrich, the assistant gen- critics get together and say it’s great. from the heart of San Francisco. The stories of 99 people who died in the her father’s many “near-death experi- ous wood veneers. said, because he was “always working eral manager, kidded that he was get- neighborhood, selected from the obituaries published in Central City Extra. ences” and increasing frailty, especial- Cara Givens filled in other details of on something electronic” in his im- ting grandmother love. This is the seventh in a series ly in the last two years, when she was her family’s life. Her parents, she said, maculately clean and ordered room. At Oh yes, she said he would reply, “’I of photos and excerpts, edited by his caretaker: “He’d been in bad health lived apart but were life partners and Aunt Charlie’s, though, they called him can’t live without it.’” Marjorie Beggs, from the Neighbor- 140 pages. since I was a teenager, and we didn’t friends as defined by Jehovah’sW itness- “Peaches,” Duncan said. Rev. Glenda Hope, who conduct- hood Oral History Project interviews $29.95 color know how long he would live. But as es. “My dad was a believer in their mes- Another mourner was “jealous,” he ed the memorial, concluded by saying: that the Study Center conducted in $17.95 black only far as we know, he passed peacefully in sage of faith, although he wasn’t a mem- said, of Mr. Stringfellow’s ability to un- “Let’s all live so people will say about 1977-78 under a CETA contract. Plus sales tax and $6 shipping his sleep.” ber of the organized religion. He and I derstand other people so well, “the only us what was said about Arnold.” www.studycenter.org (415) 626-1650 Antrillo had visited Mr. Givens in went to the movies regularly. Some — Tom Carter Special discount for Tenderloin residents, merchants and organizations.
6 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013 7 COMMUNITYSPECIAL EVENTS HEALTH CALENDAR AND MENTAL HEALTH Gene Friend Recreation Center Advisory Board, 3rd Thursday of month, 5 p.m. Works to pro- Recology rate hike meeting, Thu., March 21, 4 CBHS Consumer Council, 3rd Monday of month, tect SoMa resources for all residents. Gene Friend Rec p.m. City Hall, Rm. 421 1. First of DPW’s informational 5-7 p.m., 1380 Howard St., room 537, 255-3695. Center, 270 Sixth St. Info: Tim Figueras, 554-9532. workshops with public comment on Recology’s request Consumer advisers from self-help groups and mental to increase rates for collecting and disposing of trash, health consumer advocates. Public welcome. North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District. Full board meets 3rd Monday at 4 p.m.. Call recyclables and compostables by more than 23%. Info: Healthcare Action Team, 2nd Wednesday of 292-4812 for location or check nom-tlcbd.org. sfdpw.org/refuserates month, 1010 Mission St., Bayanihan Community Cen- Launch party to unveil Epicenter-SF.org, new ter, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Focus on increasing supportive SoMa Community Stabilization Fund Advisory calendar and directory Website to promote mid-Market home services, expanded eligibility for home care, Committee, 3rd Thursday of month, 5:30 p.m., 1 arts, culture, community events, dining and nightlife. improved discharge planning. Light lunch. Call James South Van Ness, 2nd floor. Info: Claudine del Rosario, March 28, 5-7 p.m., Kunst-Stoff Arts, One Grove Chionsini, 703-0188 x304. 701-5580. St. The project, a collaboration between the Central Mental Health Board, 2nd Wednesday of the Tenderloin Futures Collaborative, 3rd Wednesday Market, Civic Center and North of Market/Tenderloin month, 6:30-8:30 p.m., City Hall, room 278. CBHS ad- of the month, 11 a.m.-noon, Tenderloin Police CBDs, is supported by the Office of Economic and visory committee, open to the public. Call: 255-3474. Community Room, 301 Eddy. Presentations on issues Workforce Development and the S.F. Arts Commission. of interest to neighborhood residents, nonprofits and RSVP at [email protected] SAFETY businesses. Info: 928-6209. SoMa Police Community Relations Forum, 4th Tenderloin Neighborhood Association, 2nd Lecture at the Main Library celebrates Monday of each month, 6-7:30 p.m. Location varies. Friday of month, 842 Geary St., 5 p.m. Nonprofit ART EVENTS the history of the S.F. Arts Commission. To receive monthly email info: 538-8100 x202. focuses on health and wellness activities to promote WritersCorps Live at the Contemporary Jewish neighborly interactions. Info: tenderloinneighbor- Tenderloin Police Station Community Meeting, Museum, March 7, 6:30-7:30 p.m., 736 Mission [email protected]. neighborhood safety. March meeting will be held St. Free. An evening of intergenerational readings end-only mini-festival of three dramatic readings of Monday, March 18, 6 p.m., police station Community featuring WritersCorp students, teaching artists, and three backstage comedies by three San Francisco Room, 301 Eddy St, with Supervisor Jane Kim and SENIORS AND DISABLED writer Tamim Ansary (West of Kabul, East of New York playwrights. $10. No reservations required. Info: staff speaking to the community. April resumes regular Mayor’s Disability Council, 3rd Friday of month, and Games Without Rules). Info: sfartscommission. theexit.org/web/behind/#more-228. schedule: last Tuesday of month. Call Susa Black, 1-3 p.m., City Hall, room 400. Call: 554-6789. Open org/WC/writerscorps-live-at-the-cjm-march-7/ Free lecture by Susan Wels, author of San Fran- 345-7300. Neighborhood safety. to the public. Eugene Ionesco’s The Chairs, Cutting Ball’s cisco: Arts for the City — Civic Art and Urban Change, Senior Action Network, general meeting, 2nd productions, through March 31, at EXIT on Taylor, 277 1932-2012 (Heyday books), Thu., April 4, 6:30 p.m., NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENT Thursday of month, 9 a.m.-noon, Universal Unitarian Taylor St. The play follows an elderly couple who pass Main Library, Latino Room. The book celebrates mo- Church, 1187 Franklin St. Monthly programs, 965 their time in an abandoned seaside building playing ments in the S.F. Arts Commission’s 80-year history Alliance for a Better District 6, 2nd Tuesday of Mission St. #700: Senior Housing Action Committee, private games and telling each other half-remembered of shaping the city’s cultural and physical landscape. each month, 6 p.m., 230 Eddy St. Contact Michael 3rd Wednesday, 1:30 p.m. Call for health program and stories. Info: theexit.org/web/the-chairs/#more-122. Info: sfpl.org. Nulty, 820-1560 or [email protected], a districtwide improvement association. Senior University: 546-1333 and www.sfsan.org. Concerts at the Cadillac, 380 Eddy St., free concert Central Market Community Benefit District, series. Sat., March 16, 12:30-1:30 p.m.: CAVALISA, DISTRICT 6 SUPERVISOR with Cava Menzies, piano and vocals, and Lisa COMMUNITY: board meets 2nd Tuesday of month, Hotel Whitcomb, , chair of Rules Committee, member of Forkish, lead vocals. Fri., March 22, 12:30-1:30 p.m., REGULAR SCHEDULE 1231 Market St., 3 p.m. Info: 882-3088, http://cen- Jane Kim Budget & Finance Committee and chair of Transbay Glimpse Trio Lite, Mike Sopko, guitar, and Hamir HOUSING tral-market.org. Joint Forces Authority. Atwal, drums. Info: cadillachotel.org. Tenant Associations Coalition of San Francis- Friends of Boeddeker Park, 2nd Wednesday this Legislative aides: April Veneracion, Sunny Angulo Behind the Curtain, March 28, 29, 30, 8 p.m., EXIT co, 1st Wednesday of each month, noon, 201 Turk St., month, 3 p.m., Police Station Community Room, 301 and Matthias Mormino. Theatre, 156 Eddy St. No Nude Men Productions, in Community Room. Contact Michael Nulty, 339-8327. Eddy St. Plan park events, activities and improve- association with EXIT Theatre, presents a one-week- Resident unity, leadership training. ments. Contact Betty Traynor, 931-1126. Jane [email protected] 554-7970
GOLD HOUSING APPLICATIONS ARE BEING ACCEPTED QUALITY 5 YEARS IN A ROW FOR SINGLE ROOM OCCUPANCY BUILDINGS (SRO’S) AWARD For Medi-Cal HEDIS® measures Childhood Please go to 241 6th Street, San Francisco, CA for applications. The TODCO Housing wait list is open for the BAYANIHAN HOUSE AND THE HOTEL ISABEL. If your name is currently on any TODCO Housing Waiting List and you would like information on your current status Immunization please call the TODCO Marketing Office at 415-957-0227 on Fridays only. Building Size/Occupancy Limit Max./Min. Income Limit Rent Hotel Isabel SRO – 1 person 1 person 30% OF INCOME 1095 Mission Street In the unit there is a $34,600 a year Requires a Certificate (Homeless Project sink, microwave, No Minimum Income of Homelessness Based Section 8) refrigerator, 2-burner Open Wait List until stove, closet, single March 29, 2013 bed, community kitchen, 24-hour staff & surveillance, laundry facility Bayanihan House SRO – 1 Person, 1 person Starting 1-2013 (Non-Assisted Units) Couple Shared Bath $30,275/a year Move in Deposit Located at Single 10 ½ x 12 – $545.00 88 – 6th Street & Double 12x12 Couple Rent $545.00 Mission In the unit there is $34,580/a year Utilities included OPEN WAITING LIST Minimum income of a sink, microwave, refrigerator, 2-burner $866.40/month stove, closet, single bed, community kitch- (888) 205-6552 en, 24-hour staff & www.sfhp.org surveillance, laundry facility © 2012 San Francisco Health Plan 6945 0712 TDD: (415) 345-4470
8 CENTRAL CITY EXTRA / MARCH 2013