Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos with the keyword: Castro

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. When this era of redevelopment started in around 2010, it didn’t seem particularly objectionable since often it was replacing an old and unused or underused building, and seemed to be providing some interesting new design. Ten years later, though, I can definitely understand why my local friends see it as the destruction of the neighborhood, of wiping out much of its culture. By being typically 5 or 6 stories (3 or more stories taller than previous), filling the entire piece of land right up to the sidewalk with a vertical box, and following a consistent angular architectural design, the style overpowers what was the defining uniqueness of the area. In this picture, I’m surprised that Beck’s hasn’t succumbed to the redevelopment demands – it’s one of the few old fashioned motels still in existence relatively close to downtown SF. What was next to it, and is being replaced, was a funeral parlor. Below is a link to the Google Street View of the same section, taken in July, 2009. goo.gl/maps/rQF1tyVsxq4g3LQd7

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This building is on a piece of land that was ‘iffy’ for most of the time I lived in SF. For a number of years there was a gas station here, but that gas station closed and was demolished, leaving the lot empty and a spot often used for selling Christmas trees. While this might be considered to be a positive improvement over the previous use, its overall mass ends up dominating the remaining historic structures nearby. The link below, again Google Street View from July, 2009, may be from when the lot was being prepared for the construction of the new building that is this picture. I vaguely recall stories that building on this lot was difficult because of problems associated with the gas station that had been here. goo.gl/maps/2Z1ahVBSdLTty2iL6

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This building is also on a piece of land that was once a gas station – and a more successful (longer lasting) station than the one across the street (the previous picture). Linked below are three Google Street View pictures from January, 2011. The first link, labeled Market and 15th, is closest to being similar to this view. The second and third try to capture the changes of the entire intersection with a broader view looking down Market towards downtown and then up towards the Castro. Market & 15th : goo.gl/maps/SYcuJEZHAKyNA6Ug7 Towards downtown: goo.gl/maps/v5GPKZ3oSQjgQaY29 Towards Castro: goo.gl/maps/FKsLGchb7Y255rHCA

A series of four photos documenting the redevelopment/urbanization of one intersection (Market/Sanchez/15th) in the Castro; each photo contains a link to a Google Street View of the area prior to the new construction. This is a new building just to the right of Beck’s Motel (adjacent picture 0559). What was here before was a building that was most often a restaurant when I lived in SF, though it seemed to often have tenants that had trouble staying in business. The one exception that I remember was a good Thai restaurant that lasted a number of years. Below is a link to the Google Street View of the same section, taken in July, 2009. goo.gl/maps/piWJtrG8Hf8w57w78

Just a few parking spaces downhill from the adjacent picture, another string of parking-space outdoor eating areas, in front of a modern building with a “Stop Killing Black People” banner.

The Castro theater, closed for many months by the pandemic. The sign looks much more worn than I’ve seen it in recent years and I doubt that wear is due to the closure from the pandemic. Here’s a photo from 11 years ago.

One of the oldest and most durable gay bars in the Castro, “Twin Peaks”. I think it’s a statewide Coronavirus standard that bars have to limit capacity, that patrons have to sit at tables, and that they must serve food. Here’s Twin Peaks before the Pandemic – they’re at a very busy intersection, so they don’t have a lot of room to expand outside.

Another view of the street-side and parking-space dining shown in the first Castro picture (# 0547) – with the prerequisite number of young men checking their smartphones…..

The basic foundations of Castro culture are all the restaurants, bars, and other shops that provide some opportunity to have a sense of gay community. Given that the Coronavirus health restrictions meant that bars and restaurants had to strongly limit their indoor service, I wondered how the Castro was adapting. Though I was there midweek at lunch time, it looked like they were doing fairly well. The scene here with the long area of enclosed parking spaces as dining area is the same as what is seen in this older picture . From the older picture you can see that there are multiple restaurants in this string of buildings, so I’m curious as to how they worked out having a common sidewalk structure for multiple businesses.

Find a Safer Place to Sleep The signs, courtesy of the City, have instructions for defining a safer place to put up a tent or sleep on the sidewalk: 3 feet between tents; 6 feet from doorways, transit stops, etc.; 5 feet from fire hydrants; 4 feet from sidewalk paths; clear from driveways and roadways.

Find a Safer Place to Sleep First time I’d seen this – 3 covid/sleeping signs in front of apartment buildings in the Castro. Why I saw these signs here but not in other places might be because the green-tile faced building here, and the building much further down, all had level enclosed spaces adjacent to the sidewalk which would be easy for sleeping. See the adjacent picture for the text of the signs.