Fillmore District, San Francisco

Fillmore District
Neighborhood
The Fillmore Auditorium on Fillmore and Geary
Nickname(s): The Fillmore, The Moe, Fillmoe, The FeeMoe, Filthy Moe, The Mighty Westside, Harlem of the West
Fillmore District Location within Central San Francisco
Coordinates: 37°46′51″N 122°25′32″W / 37.78086°N 122.42542°W / 37.78086; -122.42542
Country	United States
State	California
City and county	San Francisco
Named for	Fillmore Street and Millard Fillmore
Government
• Supervisor	London Breed
• Assemblymember	David Chiu (D)
• State senator	Scott Wiener (D)
• U. S. rep.	Nancy Pelosi (D)
Area
• Total	0.463 sq mi (1.20 km2)
• Land	0.463 sq mi (1.20 km2)
Population (2008)
• Total	12,934
• Density	27,919/sq mi (10,780/km2)
Time zone	Pacific (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	94102, 94109, 94115, 94117
Area codes	415/628

The Fillmore District is a historical neighborhood in San Francisco located to the southwest of Nob Hill, west of Market Street and north of the Mission District. It has been given various nicknames such as “the Moe” or “the Fill”. The Fillmore District began to rise to prominence after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. As a result of not being affected by the earthquake itself nor the large fires that ensued, it quickly became one of the major commercial and cultural centers of the city.

After the earthquake, the district experienced a large influx of diverse ethnic populations. It began to house large amounts of African Americans, Japanese and Jews. Each group significantly contributed to the local culture and earned the Fillmore district a reputation for being "One of the most diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco". In particular, the district was known for having the largest jazz scene on the west coast of the United States up until its decline in the 1970s. A large Japantown was also historically located in the Fillmore District although technically it does not lie within the borders of the district today.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, the Fillmore District underwent a large-scale redevelopment. This has largely led to a decline of the jazz scene in the area. However, many people have claimed that jazz in the district has made a large rebound in recent years. Even today, the redevelopment of the Fillmore remains a controversial issue. Many of the people who were forced to move from the district say that redevelopment was a "Negro Removal" and a product of racism. The city planners claim redevelopment was a way to combat the extremely high rates of crime in the area and to reinvigorate the local economy.

Though its boundaries are not clearly-defined, it is usually considered to be the subset of the Western Addition neighborhood and is roughly bordered by Van Ness Avenue on the east, Divisadero Street on the west, Geary Boulevard on the north, and Grove Street on the south. These delineations are approximate and there are certain irregularities in the geographic shape of the neighborhood; for instance, the Westside Housing Projects are generally considered to be part of the Fillmore District, even though they are located a block west of Divisadero and a block north of Geary. The community also extends south of Grove St. at several points. Fillmore Street, from which the district gets its name, is the main north-south thoroughfare running through the center of the district. The area east of Fillmore St. is locally referred to as Downtown Fillmore, while the area to the west of Fillmore is known by many locals as Uptown Fillmore. Some definitions, particularly older ones, include Hayes Valley, Japantown, and what is now known as North of Panhandle as part of the district and extend the western border further. However, redevelopment — for example, that which followed the Loma Prieta earthquake and the collapse of the Central Freeway — has made these areas more independent and distinct. In addition, the area centered on Fillmore Street to the north of Geary had long been uniformly known as Upper Fillmore, but rising property values in the 1980s and 1990s severely weakened its ties to the largely working-class Fillmore District. Instead, it became increasingly tied to the extremely wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood to the north. This change in socio-economic identity has caused the Upper Fillmore to be commonly called "Lower Pacific Heights" in recent times, especially by its non-native residents. Overall, most locals agree that the Fillmore has been steadily shrinking for several decades. The Fillmore is almost entirely in San Francisco's fifth supervisorial district, with a small sliver on the district's eastern edge in District 3.