4.12.2010

In San Francisco, "reality tourism"

“We offer a kind of grittiness you can’t find much anymore,” said Randy Shaw, a longtime San Francisco housing advocate and a driving force behind the idea of Tenderloin tourism. “And what is grittier than the Tenderloin?” ...

Mr. Shaw, who plans to open a $3 million museum in the Cadillac, believes that baby boomer music fans — and particularly baby boomer Deadheads — will be a core demographic for the Tenderloin, as well as those interested in the neighborhood’s “rich vice history,” which includes gambling dens, speakeasies and pornographic-movie houses.

“Most of which are gone,” the museum’s brochure notes, almost sadly.

link: San Francisco’s Unlikely Tourist Stop - The Tenderloin - NYTimes.com


No comments: