Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, CultureJames Brook, Chris Carlsson, Nancy J. Peters, City Lights Books Reclaiming San Francisco is an anthology of fresh appraisals of the contrarian spirit of the city-a spirit "resistant to authority or control." The official story of San Francisco is one of progress, development, and growth. But there are other, unofficial, San Francisco stories, often shrouded in myth and in danger of being forgotten, and they are told here: stories of immigrants and minorities, sailors and waterfront workers, and poets, artists, and neighborhood activists-along with the stories of speculators, land-grabbers, and the land itself that need to be told differently. Contributors include historians, geographers, poets, novelists, artists, art historians, photographers, journalists, citizen activists, an architect, and an anthropologist. Passionate about the city, they want San Francisco to be more itself and less like the city of office towers, chain stores, theme parks, and privatized public services and property that appears to be its immediate fate. San Francisco is not alone in being transformed according to the dictates of the global economy. But San Franciscans are unusual in their readiness to confront the corporate agenda for their city. |
Contents
THE SAN FRANCISCO CIVIC CENTER | 21 |
A TALK AT THE LIBRARY | 35 |
ABOUT THAT BLOOD IN THE SCUPPERS | 51 |
1934 AND CLASS MEMORY | 67 |
SAN FRANCISCO | 89 |
SUICIDE IN THE CITY | 115 |
A SAN FRANCISCO BUS TOUR | 137 |
SAN FRANCISCO | 151 |
THE BEAT GENERATION AND SAN FRANCISCOS | 199 |
RIFFS ON MISSION DISTRICT RAZA WRITERS | 217 |
THE POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY | 231 |
SOUTH OF MARKET AND GAY MALE | 247 |
TENANT POWER IN SAN FRANCISCO | 287 |
WHAT MAKES A NEIGHBORHOOD | 301 |
THE POLITICS OF FOOD | 317 |
About the Contributors | 353 |