One of A Kind Love Affair

A year ago, Tenderloin resident Delano Seymour wrote and filmed this video essay for the San Francisco Chronicle's blog, "The City Exposed: Touring the Tenderloin.

Del Seymour operates the Tenderloin Walking Tours.
http://www.tlwalkingtours.com/

The City Exposed: Touring the Tenderloin from San Francisco Chronicle on Vimeo.

Seymour, 65, was born in Chicago but has lived in the Tenderloin for more than three decades. "I've lived in the homeless shelters. I've eaten in every soup kitchen. I've experienced a lot of ghosts and devils in the Tenderloin," he said. 

For 15 years, he gave mini tours of the city from the front seat of the cab he drove. Two years ago he began his Tenderloin walking tour, hoping to make people more aware of the troubles facing his beloved neighborhood. The 90-minute tour is free, although Seymour eventually wants local companies to sponsor his efforts. 

"This is not a business venture. It's a love affair," he said.

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A year later, Del Seymour has launched an Indiegogo campaign.
Through August 11, a $25 donation includes a Tenderloin Walking Tour for 1-2 people.

Tenderloin Walking Tours from A Tiny Drop of Change on Vimeo.

Hi, My name is Del Seymour. I operate the Tenderloin Walking Tours.

I have been conducting tours for 4 years now. I was formerly a homeless occupant of the Tenderloin (TL) with serious substance abuse issues. I eventually cleaned up my life and decided to form this project so that I could show other people in the same situation that homelessness and drug/alcohol are not life sentences. 

I have been offering free tours of the Tenderloin for three years. This is not a business venture. It’s a love affair. I do the tours for free because I want to show people the Tenderloin; I want them to see the beauty that I see, and I hope that by bringing attention and awareness to this part of the city, tourists and residents will begin to see the Tenderloin in a different light. 

It is my hope that if the Tenderloin receives more positive exposure, it will give the residents reason to have more pride, improve their personal outlook, and inspire them to be better stewards of their neighborhood. 

I do not charge for these tours but I rely on donations. I currently take about 60 people per week. My participants range from middle school kids to doctors from Australia. 

I do a special venue with the youngsters where I show them some of their peers that are immersed in the TL drug/prostitution lifestyle. I let them know that they are only one step, one joint, one hit of Ecstasy away from being a part of the TL. When I do my "speech" there is not a dry eye among the kids. 

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One of a kind love affair is

The kind of love that you

read about in a fairy tale

Like the sun that shines

on a rainy day

it's a cloud of love

One of a kind love affair is

When your down is up

when your up is down

but love stays around

And when you know you're right

but you got to make a little sacrifice

you make it for love

“One Of A Kind Love Affair” by Joseph B. Jefferson

performed by The Spinners - Live 1976

Play Streets!

The goal of San Francisco’s Play Streets program is to teach local stakeholders how to organize their own small-scale Sunday Streets style programs so neighborhoods can organize events on their own- exponentially increasing the opportunities and benefits these kinds of programs bring to the community.

San Francisco Play Streets 2013 schedule:

July 13, 2013: Western Addition, Buchanan between Eddy and Turk

July 20, 2013: Bayview, Oakdale between 3^rd and Lane, by the Bayview Opera House

**August 24: Tenderloin, Ellis Street**

September 7: Excelsior, Paris between Avalon and Excelsior

“San Francisco is committed to making healthy lifestyles a reality for people in every community, so this summer we’re introducing a program that creates space for kids to play on their own neighborhood streets. Play Streets for All leverages our innovative Sunday Streets program to help create safe, fun recreational spaces on our City’s streets. We are grateful for the support from Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, and the Partnership for a Healthier America, which in conjunction with First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move!’ campaign, have been key partners in our efforts to expand safe, fun places for kids to play in San Francisco.” says San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee.

San Francisco’s Play Streets program is led by Sunday Streets and the City of San Francisco. Sunday Streets is presented by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and local advocacy organization Livable City, the non-profit partner managing the day-to-day operations of both Sunday Streets and Play Streets.

The impact on activity rates from Play Streets is expected to be significant. Play Streets programs in other areas have already shown that when given the choice between participating in Play Streets or a sedentary activity such as playing video games or watching television, the majority of children chose the more active option of Play Streets. The benefits went beyond children’s health, too. Local merchants benefit from increased foot traffic that this program brings to the businesses in the area.

For more information go to:

www.SundayStreetsSF.com, www.SFMTA.gov,

National Play Streets information can be found online at www.ahealthieramerica.org/playstreets

Smile

A group of young Muslim YouTubers took a break from making prank videos to spread a message about giving to those in need, and it's quickly becoming one of their most viral videos to date.

Make the Homeless Smile, a video by TrueStoryASA, named for it’s three members: Adam Saleh, Sheikh Akbar and Abdullah Ghuman

Michael Jackson “Smile” & Charlie Chaplin's “The Kid”

Eat at Joe's

The other morning, after visiting the Tenderloin National Forest, I couldn't resist ordering the “Joe's special” at my neighborhood breakfast joint.

This dish, which can be found on many a breakfast menu across the country, was a favorite served up at the Original Joe’s, which was closed after a fire in 2007.  The restaurant is one of nine "lost landmarks" of the Tenderloin, now marked by historical plaques installed in 2011 by the Department of Public Works.

The San Francisco Fire department responses to what appeared to be an attic fire at Original Joe's, a San Francisco landmark restaurant, on Taylor street in San Francisco on Friday. Mike Kepka / The Chronicle Photo taken on 10/12/07, in san francisco, CA, USA Photo: Mike Kepka

When asked about the origins of “Joe’s Special” – ground chuck, onions, eggs and spinach – family spokesman John Duggan, now serving customers at the restaurant's new location at North Beach said, “Well, my grandfather, a Croatian from what was then Yugoslavia, was in the merchant marines, and he learned how to cook aboard ship. Later he cooked on land on the Istrian peninsula of Croatia. He went back to sea, and in 1932 he jumped ship in San Francisco. Then in 1934, he worked at New Joe’s here in North Beach. That’s where he got the concept for Original Joe’s and that’s where he learned to prepare Joe’s Special.”

While you're cooking up breakfast, enjoy a little taste of the Tenderloin with Shannon Day.

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Try cooking “Joe's Special” with this recipe from SF Gate’s “Eat at Joe's / In San Francisco, all roads lead to this Tenderloin original”

JOE'S SPECIAL

This dish is on menus across the country, but the original recipe was made popular at Original Joe's in the Tenderloin. It's nice to chop or grind your own chuck, which is what the cooks do at the restaurant, but purchased ground chuck may be used. Make sure to buy a grind with about 15 percent fat. Also, the amount of spinach may be reduced to 1/2 cup if desired.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup chopped onion

1/2 pound freshly ground chuck

3/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano + 1/8 teaspoon dried basil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 eggs

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and cook over medium-high heat, stirring from time to time, until it just starts to brown. Add the meat and saute, stirring, until it just loses its pink color.

Add the spinach to the pan and stir it in. Add the Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat with a fork to blend. Add to the center of the skillet and scramble with the beef mixture.

Serve topped with a sprinkling of Parmesan.

Serves 2

PER SERVING: 545 calories, 33 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 42 g fat (14 g saturated), 396 mg cholesterol, 206 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

Ruth Asawa's “San Francisco Yesterday and Today”

After our visit to the Luggage Store Annex & the Tenderloin National Forest, we headed off to celebrate Amy's birthday.  En route we came upon the Parc 55 Hotel and took a detour inside to see Ruth Asawa's magnificent panels, "San Francisco Yesterday and Today." 

Seven bas-relief panels, sculpted from baker's dough by many hands, were installed in the porte-cochère of the Parc 55 Hotel in 1984 — The work celebrates it's 30th birthday this year. http://www.ruthasawa.com/art/pub6.html

Francisco Yesterday and Today" by Ruth Asawa. 

Assisted by Addie Lanier, Paul Lanier, Mae Lee, Robert Radziejewski, Peter Morenstein, Sara Morgan, Naoe Fukuyama, Mary Lee, Erwin Lerias, Aiko Cunieo, Tamie Passalalpi. 

Dedicated October 4, 1984.

Cast by Lafayette Mfg. Inc., 1984. 

The panels illustrate a variety of modes of transportation used by San Franciscans. If you look closely, you can see evidence of the Asawa family's longstanding support of arts education for San Francisco school communities.

School of the Arts at the McAteer Campus

Alvarado School sits below Sutro Tower

Rooftop's school mascot King Kong on top of the Transamerica Pyramid

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To wrap up our art day, we celebrated Amy's Birthday at Puccini & Panetti's.

Here’s the fun Tenderloin trivia that bought us lunch with a gift certificate from SHN.

Name the Broadway stars who were drawn by the Line King, Al Hirschfeld in the poster commemorating the 1979 "Best of Broadway" reopening of the Golden Gate Theatre.

(Answer: Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, Richard Burton in Camelot, Dick van Dyke in The Music Man, with a special toast to Alexis Smith who starred as Miss Mona in the National touring production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas!)

Here's a perfect lyric by composer/lyricist Carol Hall to accompany our day:

It's just a little bitty pissant country place

Ain't nothin' much to see

No drinking allowed, we get a nice quiet crowd, plain as it can be

It's just a piddly squatin' old time country place

Ain't nothing to hide at all

Just lots of good will and maybe one small thrill

But there's nothing dirty going on

Nothing dirty going on

Source: San Francisco History Center, S.F. Public Library

For a great website on the history of the Tenderloin, visit Up From The Deep.