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The ghosts of san bruno

Ghosts of San Bruno: 9 Square blocks The area bordered by 16th Street, Division, Utah and Kanas, comprises a good part of the Design District of San Francisco. San Bruno Avenue runs through the center of the area. Every block has a parking lot, some have two. Most of these parking lots are empty, they belong to the state because they are underneath the elevated freeways. There used to be a Bonhams auction house, but now is an auxiliary barn for the UPS hub at 16th and Utah. The old brick warehouse at 15th and San Bruno is now Showplace Square West. It has hosted raves, New Year’s eve street parties, and has a physical rehab facility tenant. The Oceanic Restaurant was in the building, around the corner, but has long been closed. At the next corner, Alameda and San Bruno, was the parking lot for the Jewelry Mart. The mart closed and now the remodeled building sits empty, waiting. All other land is parking, private

or public. Within a block of either side of San Bruno there are 2 closed furniture stores, an empty building once used for high-end detailing work, an industrial building used for furniture restoration now nearing conversion to something else, more parking for UPS, and a number of small design businesses. One of the closed furniture stores is now a pre-school. This area in 2015 saw an uptick in homeless residents when the city, in preparation for the Super Bowl, told the unhoused to move to the area where they wouldn’t be seen by the expected tourists coming in February, 2016. There was an implicit understanding that the city wouldn’t bother the homeless who moved. Over the ten years since the city has mounted one campaign after another to remove the homeless from the area. Sweeps, arrests, unfilled

promises of housing, offers of treatment when there is little treatment space available, or free bus tickets out of town. Over the last six months (beginning just before last year’s election) the area has seen nearly constant “sweeps”, arrests, confiscation of property and move along orders. When people kept returning the city erected fences to the edge of the sidewalk. Still people come because the elevated freeway offers shade from the sun, shelter from the rain, and is isolated at night. Now, though, people more often than not “camp” rough: no tents, no belongings. It’s easier to move quickly. In a sign of the times, politicians are riffing on old ideas: abstinence first, arrest, shipping folks out of town, curtailing harm reduction programs. And more crack downs. The jail as grown steadi-

ly since 2023 but has fewer beds due to jail closings. ◊ A number of months ago I was on San Bruno taking a few photos and talking with a person on a spot I had been many times before. As I took a portrait of the current resident, I could sense those that had come before. Ghostly figures, with and without tents who had for short periods called this sidewalk home. Writing about this has been beyond difficult, if not impossible. So the photos follow. Almost all were taken on the one block of San Bruno between 15th and Alameda. A few were taken within a block or two. Cover: Monday Blade Bustamonte, 45. Been on street since he was 14. San Bruno Ave between Alameda and 15th St. 18 March 2020