“Any city that doesn’t have a Tenderloin isn’t a city at all”
– Storied San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen
The first time I got lost in the Tenderloin, I was so shocked that I froze. I was new in the city and was wandering around Union Square. I could not understand how a state as rich as California could have so much misery in its streets.
Fast forward to November 2024 and as an aspiring future resident of San Francisco, I wanted to better understand all the nuances of the city, not only the airy Ocean beach, leafy Presidio and hip Marina district but also its homelessness and its Tenderloin, San Francisco’s most infamous neighborhood. I wanted to prevent myself from becoming “apathetic”.
As a result, on a Saturday afternoon early November, I drove up to San Francisco with 10 of my classmates. We were to meet with Deleano “Del” Seymour, the main protagonist of The Mayor of the Tenderloin, a book I discovered at the Litquake Festival. The life of Del Seymour, a former inhabitant of the Tenderloin would make for perfect content for a Netflix TV show, from drugs, prostitution and petty theft to start-up founder and community stronghold, Del has lived it all.
Slow down – what is the Tenderloin?
Located in downtown San Francisco, the Tenderloin is known for “being home” to 50% of SF’s homeless population, around 3800 people. It’s located a block away from Union Square, its French luxury stores and hip tech titans, like Twitter (now X).
In the Tenderloin, addictions are very visible, and yet “only” 20% of the population is addicted either to drugs or to alcohol.
With a $636M budget for the department of homelessness, one may wonder why there are still people in the streets. Well, Del explains it very easily, “people using should not be in the same places as people recovering from addiction (…) As for the complexities of homelessness, there are so many different levels. (…) and we have been treating it like there is one level”.
Del has a clear idea about how to improve the situation:
- Build “treatment on demand centers” at every corner
- Move homeless out of downtown San Francisco into a repurposed prison in San Mateo county and use the chartered land in San Mateo County to provide new infrastructures and space
- Teach simple priorities: “When you get your salary you pay your rent (don’t do your hair or buy your Jordans)”
So what now: Code Tenderloin & becoming The Mayor of the Tenderloin
A former addict himself, Del has not been waiting for the local government to help and is a serial entrepreneur, the type the Bay Area is so fond of. He founded Code Tenderloin to create a bridge between the disenfranchised of the Tenderloin and the “cool kids” of the tech industry across Market street. In 2023, Code Tenderloin had 80 employees, part or full time, and a budget of $3M/year. Twitter’s famous former CEO, Jack Dorsey, donated $16.M to the association in 2020. Code Tenderloin offers multiple programs, from job readiness and interview prep to basic coding skills and data analytics. Since 2015, 1,500 participants have graduated from Code Ramp Program, and 87% of the participants have landed jobs. 46% remain in the same job 12 months after graduating from Code Tenderloin
Del is also the founder of Tenderloin Walking tours, one of the tours we embarked on. Led by Denis, a former inhabitant of the Tenderloin, 18-month “clean”, and Del, we started our tour at 55 TAYLOR street, the office of Code Tenderloin. We then walked around the main sites of the neighborhood: Saint Anthony Foundation, Glide Center and Saint Boniface church, providing food, shelter and so much more, the Tenderloin museum and the Healing well offering free yoga classes.
During this tour, Del truly appeared as the Mayor of the Tenderloin – a nickname he got while covering for the actual mayor of San Francisco at an event at the White House to discuss homelessness. Sam Dodge, director of SF Street response, mentions in the book: “I don’t know where the top is for Del. When he’s going to be full.”
One thing is sure: Del does not want us to stop walking around the neighborhood, and his tours are the best way to get to know the neighborhood better.
Arguably, The Tenderloin has more problems than other neighborhoods in SF but if anything, this tour made me love SF even more, with all its imperfections, a sense of community, and a drive for a better future. Ultimately, Del will succeed in his goal to make the Tenderloin, “ a neighborhood not to avoid”.
So sign up for a Tenderloin Walking tour, and embark on an unique journey with Del and his colleagues – only in San Francisco!
More about Code Tenderloin
Sign up for Tenderloin Walking Tours. a walk around the neighborhood
If you are craving food, Arsicault’s origin location and Brenda’s French Soul Food, are around the corner. The Pawn Shop will be your go-to for good tapas.
Want to hear good jazz music? head to the Black Cat.
Feeling “adventurous”? Explore the Barrel Room, a speakeasy
On Sunday, brace yourself for an atypical brunch at 620 Jones.
Get a copy of the book Mayor of The Tenderloin, available at local bookstores
