jaywensley2004

Surrounded by the best of everything San Francisco has to offer, the Tenderloin (or the "TL" as locals call it) is a good, densely urbanized area for single adults on a tight housing budget, students and people who keep their personal lives close-to-the-vest.
The TL is very small, only a few blocks on each side of an isosceles triangle wedged amidst some of San Francisco's best neighborhoods: Civic Center, Nob Hill and The City's premier shopping districts, Union Square and the Heart of Market St. (which features the mammoth San Francisco Center, an elegant high rise shopping mall). The City's three best live performance theaters (the Golden Gate, Orpheum and Curran) sit at the virtual vertices of the triangle.
The neighborhood itself is schizophrenic, having two personalities, one for the day and a severely different one during the nighttime.
In the daytime the signs of poverty are easily spotted, homeless sleeping on sidewalks, storefront churches and two or three bodegas/liquor stores on every block. But the streets also feature the lively and casual street life only seen in America's most densely populated urban neighborhoods, where the local economy exists by volume of sales and not high prices. And this especially includes food. Nowhere in San Francisco is there such a variety of independent and "home cookin'" diners. And the prices are stunningly affordable. The Manor House @ Jones and Turk offers more than a dozen breakfast specials such as Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs w/ Hash browns and huge omelets also w/ hash browns for just $4.95. For lunch and dinner there are dozens of cuisines available, Indian/Pakistani buffets, great Thai food, pizzas in twenty+ different styles, Chinese restaurants, representing the popular Cantonese to the tongue blistering Hunan, (and the competition drives them to offer the great value '"Three items plus rice" with huge portions for just $5.95). Fried Chicken abounds, many with a combination of seasonings which would get "The Colonel" court-martialed. On Eddy St. near Leavenworth there is a tiny cafe with no visible name which serves Soft-shell blue crabs with fries or onion rings for $5.95. And at the western most vertex of the TL is "Little Saigon", a neighborhood of Vietnamese shops and restaurants. Try Mangosteen @ Eddy and Larkin or
Saigon II at Ellis and Larkin. Or grab a Vietnamese sandwich, served on baguette from one of the numerous shops for $2.95-$4.95.
But the TL is also a stark neighborhood. The buildings are old, and although the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency works with other groups to refurbish them (rehabilitate is probably a more accurate word), it will be several years before more than a few will be restored to their early San Francisco attractiveness. Landscaping is almost nonexistent with a few sad looking trees on each block. There are only a couple of tiny parks, and they are often locked. When they're open they are usually the site of heavy drug activity.
And here is the TL's major fault; drugs and alcohol abuse are heavy and in clear evidence. Only by staying in the vertices of the TL triangle can you minimize the likelihood of seeing drug deals in progress. And near any convenience store (that is to say, everywhere) you will see people drinking and drunk.
At night the TL feels scary, and in parts it is. People are well advised to stay off of Jones and Taylor streets as well as Golden Gate, Turk, Eddy and Ellis streets between Hyde and Mason streets. These are the sites of major drug activity and consequently are unpleasant to say the least. Women should avoid walking alone to avoid harassment and visitors to the city are advised not to linger, and in every instance MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! Do not "eyeball" street activity as this is regarded as aggressive behavior.
But that said, the TL has some great nightlife. The neighborhood got its name from its mid-20th century incarnation as the city's premier nightclub district (all serving the over-rated Filet Mignon aka Beef Tenderloin) and a few hot spots are carrying on that reputation. Ruby Skye at Taylor and Geary is THE destination for the glamorous and luxe crowd. For goofy fun, check out Polly Esters on Eddy St.. Polly's is 70's retro (Poly esters, get it?) and is loud, loose and casually chic. The TL also features The Tea Room, where men can meet and hang with like-inclined men as well as enjoy live male dancers.
Lastly a word about rents. The primary living unit in the TL is the SRO or Single Room Occupancy. These are often called Efficiency Apartments in other cities. They offer small rooms, most with shared bathrooms and in the redeveloped ones, kitchenettes, at weekly or monthly rates. These SRO's, with their low maintenance and the security of a desk clerk controlling access, suit many singles perfectly, especially middle-aged or elderly single men and women on fixed incomes and to a certain extent, younger singles attending college or starting careers. These SRO's offer the lowest rents available in San Francisco for anyone who prefers to live alone.