The Fillmore District, also called The Fillmore, The Lower Fillmore, or Fillmo is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Though its boundaries are not well-defined, it is usually considered to be the subset of the Western Addition neighborhood bordered by Fillmore Street on the west, Van Ness Avenue on the east, approximately Geary Boulevard on the north, and approximately Grove Street on the south. Sometimes the western boundary is extended to Divisadero Street north of Golden Gate Avenue. The neighborhood is in San Francisco's fifth district, and is served by several Muni bus lines including the 38, 31, 5, and 22. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... A southern view from Alta Plaza Park, which is in the Pacific Heights neighborhood. ... This is a listing of all of the bus and rail transit routes operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway in San Francisco, California // Express lines only run during peak hours, going inbound in the morning and outbound in the evening, with the exception of the 9X San Bruno Express...

The Fillmore was the site of a massive and controversial Urban renewal project begun in the 1950s, the last vestiges of which are still ongoing. It has an ethnically and economically diverse population, and is the historical center of African-American culture in San Francisco. Urban Renewal redirects here. ... The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ...

History

In the 1800s, the Fillmore was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, with vegetable farms surrounding the developed area around Fillmore Street. Many Japanese immigrants also came to the Fillmore around the turn of the century. After the 1906 earthquake Fillmore Street, which had largely avoided heavy damage, temporarily became a major commercial center as the city's downtown rebuilt. // Invention of the Jacquard loom in 1801. ... San Francisco Earthquake redirects here. ...

In 1942, during World War II, President Roosevelt signed an executive order to relocate all people of Japanese origin to internment camps. The vacant homes in the Fillmore attracted African American industrial workers, musicians, and artists. Soon, many nightclubs (the likes of Leola Kings Bird Cage, Wesley Johnson's Texas PlayHouse, Shelton's Blue Mirror, and Jacks of Sutter) were opened, bringing major musical icons to the neighborhood including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday. The neighborhood struggled economically, however, and many of its Victorian houses fell into disrepair. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... FDR redirects here. ... The word internment is generally used to refer to the imprisonment or confinement of people, generally in prison camps or prisons, without due process of law and a trial. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as Lady Ella and the First Lady of Song, is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century. ... Louis[1] Armstrong[2] (4 August 1901[3] – July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo[4] and Pops, was an American jazz musician. ... Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959), born Eleanora Fagan and later nicknamed Lady Day (see Jazz royalty regarding similar nicknames), was an American jazz singer, a seminal influence on jazz and pop singers, and generally regarded as one of the greatest female jazz vocalists. ... A Typical Victorian house A Victorian house as built in the United States and Canada is a type of house popularized in the Victorian era. ...

As a result of this, in 1948 the Fillmore was designated a redevelopment area. The city's Redevelopment Agency, led by Justin Herman, demolished most of the neighborhood's existing homes and businesses over the course of the next decade. In their place developers built large, mostly low-rise housing developments, along with some mixed-use buildings concentrated around Fillmore Street. Many of these developments included subsidized units for low-income residents. The project took longer than expected, however, with some plots remaining vacant until well into the 21st century. While the residents of the original homes were, in theory, entitled to return to the neighborhood, many did not do so. As a result of the project's displacement of residents and businesses, its mixed and arguably discriminatory economic impact, and its design (featuring mid-century renewal concepts such as superblocks and strict separation of uses), the redevelopment of the Fillmore is considered by most to have been unsuccessful and regrettable. Post-redevelopment, encroaching gentrification and the physical decay of cheaply-constructed housing complexes have led to a neighborhood of stark contrasts between rich and poor. 20XX redirects here. ...

Points of Interest

Fillmore Street, the neighborhood's main commercial strip, reflects the Fillmore's diversity: family-owned neighborhood-serving retail mixes with chain stores, jazz clubs, ethnic restaurants of many varieties, and empty storefronts. Some of the stores, restaurants, and clubs lost to redevelopment are memorialized by plaques on the sidewalk. Other ties to the neighborhood's past remain as well; for example, the building that once housed Jimbo's Bop City--a nightclub frequented by noted jazz musicians of the 40's and 50's--was moved during redevelopment to Fillmore Street, where it now houses an Afrocentric book store. Afrocentrism is an outlook or worldview centered on Africa and the descendants of African peoples, much the way Eurocentrism is centered on Europe and Europeans. ...

Two prominent music venues are located in the neighborhood: the Fillmore Auditorium, and the San Francisco branch of Yoshi's jazz club. An exhibit featuring jazz in the Fillmore can be found in the lobby of the Fillmore Heritage Center. Just north of Geary Boulevard is the Sundance Kabuki theater and San Francisco's Japantown. A farmer's market is held at the Fillmore Center Plaza on Saturdays during the summer months, and there is a branch of the San Francisco public library located at Geary and Scott. There have been at least three Fillmores: The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA. The Fillmore Denver in Denver, CO. Fillmore East in New York City. ... Japantown is a common name for official Japanese American or Japanese Canadian communities in big cities. ...

External links

• The Fillmore – official site of 2001 KQED documentary.
• "The Revitalization of the Fillmore" by Michael Doherty and Meryl Block, Urban Action, 2001.
• San Francisco Redevelopment Agency: Western Addition A-1