Tag: 1300 Restaurant

The Fillmore Heritage Center, considered to be the last vestige of Black culture in the Fillmore District, once known as the “Harlem of the West,” has been put up for sale. The Request for Proposals (RFP) by the City and County of San Francisco was issued on Feb. 10, 2017. The property, located at Fillmore and Eddy Streets, previously housed Yoshi’s San Francisco restaurant, Yoshi’s Jazz Club, the 1300 Restaurant, a jazz art gallery and a theater. The minimum bid is $6.5 million.

Why is it necessary in America’s richest major City, one that is booming with development and tourism, to grab the last Black-owned cultural development in San Francisco? Gentrification, the denial of jobs and contracting opportunities, and just plain benign neglect contribute to the out-migration and destruction of San Francisco’s once proud and thriving African American community – including Harlem of the West, then a major destination for tourists from around the world.

The Addition, formerly Yoshi’s, closed its doors, 77 people lost their jobs and many will wind up on unemployment. Gussie’s, the Black soul food restaurant diagonally across the street, left a couple of months ago. Rassellas Jazz Club up the street on Fillmore is gone. Will the Fillmore, once rivaled only by Harlem with its 31 restaurants and jazz clubs, die? The City did this! The question is: Did the City do enough to rectify its mistakes?