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Lifelong Fillmore resident’s walking tours
Ericka Scott, right, stands with Majeid Crawford in front of the Boom Boom Room at Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard in February 2024.
A lifelong Fillmore resident has spent the better part of a year organizing walking tours to highlight the neighborhood’s history as the center of Black life in San Francisco.
Ericka Scott, who operates the art gallery and event space Honey Art Studio just off Fillmore Street, couldn’t walk more than a few blocks without passersby stopping to say hello, shake her hand and ask how her family was doing as she guided The Examiner through the neighborhood earlier this year. Scott pointed out the ice-cream shop where she got her first job, and the cafe where her family and their friends would gather to catch up.
“So much comes with having a community that supports each other,” said Scott. “We really lost that, and we’ve been consistently trying to get it back.”
Scott said this month that she submitted her proposal under the San Francisco Dream Keeper Initiative, which seeks to invest in The City’s Black communities. She said the tours aim to provide historical context about the neighborhood that she currently finds sorely lacking.
“This is a very significant part of our history, part of our culture,” Scott said. “When we talk about our tours and our history, our art, a lot of our younger generations don’t have a clue.”
Countless Black residents and businesses left the Fillmore — once known as the “Harlem of the West” for its thriving cultural scene — following San Francisco’s urban-renewal efforts, which included the widening of Geary Street into an eight-lane expressway with an underpass below Fillmore Street.
Geary’s transformation, in particular, served as a point of upheaval for the neighborhood’s thriving Black community, forcing many families and storefronts elsewhere while cutting off those that remained from nearby neighborhoods. Federal transportation officials approved a $2 million Reconnecting Communities grant in March to fund an analysis of how to best reconnect the Fillmore with Japantown and the Western Addition.
“We really created a thriving community that was becoming known around the world as a cultural haven for blues, jazz, food, and just the richness of diversity,” said Majeid Crawford, a Fillmore activist and the executive director at New Community Leadership Foundation, which recently signed onto to support the grant project to begin the steps of reconnecting the Fillmore neighborhood.
Scott said she wants her tour to highlight those institutions, one of which is Marcus Books. A Black-owned bookstore founded in the Fillmore in 1960, Scott said urban renewal forced the shop to relocate several times. It ultimately found a home of more than 30 years at 1712 Fillmore St., the Victorian building that once housed the jazz club known as Jimbo’s Bop City.
Bop City closed in 1965, right around when Geary Street was widened, but the building remained intact. The club served as the inspiration for “The Fillmore Eclipse,” an immersive theater performance held at Honey Art Studio earlier this year.
“It was a great club that was thriving,” Crawford said of Jimbo’s Bop City. “We had people from all over, all the greats, like Billie Holiday, all the greats. They’d perform somewhere else downtown, and then that night, they’d all come play here.”
All that remains of the club is a metal marker on the sidewalk along Fillmore close to its original Post Street location, commemorating its name.
Marcus Books didn’t make it in the long run either, closing its San Francisco location in 2014. Marcus Books still operates in Oakland at 3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
“Through financing and gentrification, it was one of the first businesses that we lost and it was a huge loss,” Scott said of the Fillmore location.
Crawford called the bookstore “probably the most important establishment in the neighborhood.” He said its service to the community went far beyond its extensive selection of Black literature.
“It was just like a watering hole,” he said. “People came and talked. It was a gathering place.”
Gamper Drums performing at the Boom Boom Room at 1601 Fillmore Street in San Francisco on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024.
Craig Lee/The Examiner
Down another block, Scott pointed out the Boom Boom Room at 1601 Fillmore St., one of the last old-school clubs in a neighborhood that was once inundated with live music.
You can still hear music outside the front door on many nights, as was the case during The Examiner’s walk through the neighborhood. The sounds in the small space are bright and enthusiastic amid the dark lighting, with Chris Gamper and his jazz band rocking out, even with only a few customers in the room.
“We are surviving. We are behind on a lot of bills,” said Scott Karczewski, the bar manager at the Boom Boom Room. “We’re doing our best. We’re a very tight family.”
Scott said the Boom Boom Room’s vibe and music make it one of the closest things the Fillmore still has to the clubs that were once so ubiquitous, making it a no-doubt stop on the eventual tour.
Some destinations will have deeply personal connections to Scott, which she said she hopes to to sprinkle in for tourists and visitors.
Miyako Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shop at 1470 Fillmore St. is one such stop. Scott said she worked there as a preteen after begging the shop’s owner, Tom Bennett, to let her work there along with her older cousins and sisters.
“Every time I come now, he won’t let me pay for anything,” she said of Bennett, who still sells ice cream. His shop might be one of the last places in The City where customers can buy a sandwich for $4.
“Anything she does is great,” Bennett said of Scott. who first opened Miyako in the 1980s. He said that working behind the counter of his closet-sized shop was his favorite part of the Fillmore.
Bennett’s business has managed to stay afloat due to community support. After his shop was broken into during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a GoFundMe raised more than $10,000 overnight to help with repairs.
Scott said she wants her tour to convey this sort of camaraderie and togetherness, as well as the sadder parts of the neighborhood’s history. She said she intends to recruit others with different backgrounds — including Crawford — to conduct tours as well, injecting a little personal flavor into each one.
Ultimately, Scott said, the tour is meant for those who don’t know the Fillmore’s history, and the tour guides will be people who want to share their connection to it.
“I’m always wanting people to understand the contributions that we make to their city, and to our community, and pointing those kinds of things out,” Scott said.
By omar Bernabe
•
04 Jul, 2024
Once known as the Harlem of the West, the Fillmore District has undergone numerous changes. A new immersive play is depicting that history, and local community members are sharing their experiences. "It's a block full of memories," reflected Ericka Scott, a fourth-generation Fillmore native. As she revisits the home she grew up in, Scott explained that she and her family never wanted to leave the neighborhood, but her mother had to make a difficult decision. When prices spiked after city redevelopment efforts, her mother had no choice but to sell.
By omar Bernabe
•
03 Jul, 2024
A lifelong Fillmore resident has spent the better part of a year organizing walking tours to highlight the neighborhood’s history as the center of Black life in San Francisco. Ericka Scott, who operates the art gallery and event space Honey Art Studio just off Fillmore Street, couldn’t walk more than a few blocks without passersby stopping to say hello, shake her hand and ask how her family was doing as she guided The Examiner through the neighborhood earlier this year. Scott pointed out the ice-cream shop where she got her first job, and the cafe where her family and their friends would gather to catch up. “So much comes with having a community that supports each other,” said Scott. “We really lost that, and we’ve been consistently trying to get it back.” Scott said this month that she submitted her proposal under the San Francisco Dream Keeper Initiative, which seeks to invest in The City’s Black communities. She said the tours aim to provide historical context about the neighborhood that she currently finds sorely lacking. “This is a very significant part of our history, part of our culture,” Scott said. “When we talk about our tours and our history, our art, a lot of our younger generations don’t have a clue.” Countless Black residents and businesses left the Fillmore — once known as the “Harlem of the West” for its thriving cultural scene — following San Francisco’s urban-renewal efforts, which included the widening of Geary Street into an eight-lane expressway with an underpass below Fillmore Street. Geary’s transformation, in particular, served as a point of upheaval for the neighborhood’s thriving Black community, forcing many families and storefronts elsewhere while cutting off those that remained from nearby neighborhoods. Federal transportation officials approved a $2 million Reconnecting Communities grant in March to fund an analysis of how to best reconnect the Fillmore with Japantown and the Western Addition. “We really created a thriving community that was becoming known around the world as a cultural haven for blues, jazz, food, and just the richness of diversity,” said Majeid Crawford, a Fillmore activist and the executive director at New Community Leadership Foundation, which recently signed onto to support the grant project to begin the steps of reconnecting the Fillmore neighborhood. Scott said she wants her tour to highlight those institutions, one of which is Marcus Books. A Black-owned bookstore founded in the Fillmore in 1960, Scott said urban renewal forced the shop to relocate several times. It ultimately found a home of more than 30 years at 1712 Fillmore St., the Victorian building that once housed the jazz club known as Jimbo’s Bop City. Bop City closed in 1965, right around when Geary Street was widened, but the building remained intact. The club served as the inspiration for “The Fillmore Eclipse,” an immersive theater performance held at Honey Art Studio earlier this year. “It was a great club that was thriving,” Crawford said of Jimbo’s Bop City. “We had people from all over, all the greats, like Billie Holiday, all the greats. They’d perform somewhere else downtown, and then that night, they’d all come play here.” All that remains of the club is a metal marker on the sidewalk along Fillmore close to its original Post Street location, commemorating its name. Marcus Books didn’t make it in the long run either, closing its San Francisco location in 2014. Marcus Books still operates in Oakland at 3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. “Through financing and gentrification, it was one of the first businesses that we lost and it was a huge loss,” Scott said of the Fillmore location. Crawford called the bookstore “probably the most important establishment in the neighborhood.” He said its service to the community went far beyond its extensive selection of Black literature. “It was just like a watering hole,” he said. “People came and talked. It was a gathering place.”
18 May, 2024
Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement does just that; it moves the soul. It moves each guest to a sense of comfort, like grandmama’s hugs. When you step inside, the interior art, preserving a far-gone piece of the Fillmore in black-and-white photographs like a souvenir, transports you with nostalgia. Each plate of food puts a smile on your face - happy - “thankful for the food we’re about to receive for the nourishment of our bodies, amen.” Chicken and a biscuit is a plate of food, but chef and restaurateur Fernay McPherson’s rosemary fried chicken, famous mac and cheese, and collard greens is a Saturday with friends and a family Sunday dinner. It’s a new reason for the Fillmore and San Francisco to give thanks. When urban renewal of the 50s swept through the Fillmore like a Passover with lawyers or real estate agents knocking on doors with paperwork and broken promises, pressuring the residents to make a decision; a decision with no real choices - many thought that the soul would leave the Fillmore forever. As the years passed, the neighborhood took a turn. Then, more people left, new people moved in, prices increased, and even more people moved in. At that point, the Fillmore stopped feeling and looking like the Fillmore many had known for 50 years. It was something else. Murals decorate the brick of local corner stores, and along Fillmore Street, you could find signs reading “The Soul of the City.” It was borderline mocking. When Marcus Books (the oldest Black bookstore in the US) closed, along with the many jazz clubs and restaurants that shuttered their doors for good, the final nail was pressed firmly into the coffin. Essentially, all of the history of a beloved neighborhood, a cultural cornerstone of the city, was relegated to a “center,” The Fillmore Heritage Center. A center left vacant and ignored for years made it clear that the Fillmore as a culture became an artifact, a memory, a story we tell. But something unique happened. With a bit of help from Mayor London Breed's Dream Keeper Initiative, Fernay Mc Pherson was able to do something that many Black San Franciscans lost in the diaspora wished they could do - she came back home. With the Black population of the city dwindling to around 5%, she returned and brought soul food restaurant Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement with her, a homecoming that’s been long awaited. Firmly rooted in the Fillmore, chef McPherson is a proud third-generation San Franciscan. Her family made a home in the city during the Great Migration , a period when many Black Americans in the South made their way to the Midwest and the West Coast to find new opportunities but also to save their lives from the violent racism and constant threat of lynching that permeated much of the South. With faith in the future and faith in themselves, they made a way and made a home. Following tradition, McPherson channeled family recipes, the food she grew up eating, and created Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement. Named after her grandmother, Lillie Bell, and great-aunt Minnie, guests will leave with smiles and full bellies, still tasting the love, charm, and tradition embedded in each bite. The menu will feature staples like her famous rosemary fried chicken, mac and cheese, which has been touted as the best in the city, greens, candied yams, and cornbread. It will also include crowd favorites like her caramel cake, which has made a mark in her Emeryville Public Market location. For the vegan family, there are options like rosemary fried oyster mushrooms and plant-based mac and cheese. By spring, she plans to have a Sunday brunch with chicken and French toast, braised oxtail, and grit cakes for those beautiful Sunday mornings. For those who love a Glamorous Life like Sheila E., the menu features fried chicken and caviar, and if you pair it with a glass of sparkling wine, you just might evaporate into gold dust. The current hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 4 pm to 10 pm. Expect Sunday brunch to launch later this spring. Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement is poised to help revitalize the area, installing a spirit of culture and community that many thought was gone for good. If you want a taste the golden era of the Fillmore and all that jazz, just come down to 1375 Fillmore Street, grab a seat, order anything on the menu, and enjoy. Come for the food; stay because it feels like home. Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement Tuesday through Saturday, 4 pm to 10 pm (510) 879-7199 1375 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115 Emeryville Public Market 5959 Shellmound Street, Emeryville, CA 94608 Wednesday through Saturday 11 am to 7 pm, and Sunday 11 am to 5 pm *closed 3 pm through 4:20 pm for fryer cleaning daily
