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The primary thesis — that if you just put up a bunch of luxury high-rise apartments in mission bay, gentrification of the mission would stop — strikes me as abs

by dilap 12y ago

The primary thesis — that if you just put up a bunch of luxury high-rise apartments in mission bay, gentrification of the mission would stop — strikes me as absurd. Way overly simplistic. Lots and lots of people with $ in SF still like the not-rich feel of neighborhood like the mission. SF culture doesn't turn into Miami culture just because you put up a bunch of tall buildings. Other points: Japantown is nothing more than a mall and a name on a map -- there is no neighborhood there. Conversely, Chinatown really isn't changing much; it resists gentrification. The explanation I have heard, which seems likely, is that most of the buildings and restaurants have been owned by the same families going way back, and they are reluctant to sell or lease to outsiders.

fragmede 12y ago
> Chinatown really isn't changing much; it resists gentrification. That's debatable. The Empress of China, a landmark restaurant of Chinatown since the 60's, closed at the end of last year to make way for offices. A six-floor building with some 62,000 square feet of space inside Chinatown's scant 24 square blocks is no small matter.
- dilap 12y ago
  Aw man, that's going to be offices? That's a bummer :(
pjlegato 12y ago
On the contrary, Chinatown is changing rapidly, and the Chinatown we know today will likely be gone very soon. It will soon transform into a Disneyland caricature of itself aimed at tourists, as North Beach has. The remaining population is increasingly composed of elderly people. Younger people tend to move to outer neighborhoods in SF, or to Daly City or the other peninsula suburbs, as Chinatown is actually a ghetto despite also being a romanticized tourist attraction. More recent middle class Chinese immigrants avoid Chinatown for the same reason and go directly to the suburbs. E.g. http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/sf-chinatown-restaurants-losing-elderly-customers/Content?oid=2925013 http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/sf-chinatown-restaura... -- the Imperial Palace restaurant estimates that 75-80% of its customers are elderly. The restaurant is empty most of the time and on the brink of financial failure as the customers' fixed incomes do not allow them to eat out very often. Many other restaurants report a similar situation. Places like the R&G Lounge have already remodeled, raised prices, and transformed in character from neighborhood restaurants to very expensive high end restaurants for yuppie tourists. Those that do not do this will perish.
- dilap 12y ago
  Definitely; I agree with you on the demographic trends, but for the moment it's still pretty much the same chinatown as always IMO -- definitely not gentrifying in the way the mission is. Yet.

by dilap 12y ago

fragmede 12y ago

> Chinatown really isn't changing much; it resists gentrification. That's debatable. The Empress of China, a landmark restaurant of Chinatown since the 60's, closed at the end of last year to make way for offices. A six-floor building with some 62,000 square feet of space inside Chinatown's scant 24 square blocks is no small matter.

dilap 12y ago
Aw man, that's going to be offices? That's a bummer :(

pjlegato 12y ago

On the contrary, Chinatown is changing rapidly, and the Chinatown we know today will likely be gone very soon. It will soon transform into a Disneyland caricature of itself aimed at tourists, as North Beach has. The remaining population is increasingly composed of elderly people. Younger people tend to move to outer neighborhoods in SF, or to Daly City or the other peninsula suburbs, as Chinatown is actually a ghetto despite also being a romanticized tourist attraction. More recent middle class Chinese immigrants avoid Chinatown for the same reason and go directly to the suburbs. E.g. http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/sf-chinatown-restaurants-losing-elderly-customers/Content?oid=2925013 http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/sf-chinatown-restaura... -- the Imperial Palace restaurant estimates that 75-80% of its customers are elderly. The restaurant is empty most of the time and on the brink of financial failure as the customers' fixed incomes do not allow them to eat out very often. Many other restaurants report a similar situation. Places like the R&G Lounge have already remodeled, raised prices, and transformed in character from neighborhood restaurants to very expensive high end restaurants for yuppie tourists. Those that do not do this will perish.

dilap 12y ago
Definitely; I agree with you on the demographic trends, but for the moment it's still pretty much the same chinatown as always IMO -- definitely not gentrifying in the way the mission is. Yet.