The image above was not created by me but was a flyer for the event. All the photographs below were taken by me for this exhibit during my photojournalism course at City College of San Francisco in the spring of 2017.
The African Outlet is an African clothing and jewelry store in the heart of the Bayview/Hunters Point district of San Francisco, California. This tiny store offers a large selection of African jewelry and clothing and often holds events when local artists come to play music in their store. The store has been moved three different times as it out–grew. In 1989, the African Outlet started on Divisadero St. in San Francisco and moved after five years to Hayes Valley where they spent the next twenty–years. Then in 2015 the store moved once more to its current location on 3rd Street. The Store is owned and operated by a husband and wife duo Horgan Edet and Judah Dwyer. On certain occasions the store will hold events and the community is welcome to come partake in a little slice of African culture. The owners know members of The Chinyakare Ensemble and often have them perform inside the store. The African Outlet has a Facebook account and can be easily found by google searching the African Outlet SF. The address of the store is 4942 3rd St. San Francisco, California 94124, their telephone number is 415-864-3576 and their email address is theafricanoutlet@gmail.com.
The Zaccho Dance Theatre was founded in 1980 in San Francisco California. Artistic Director Joanna Haigood moved from New York in 1979 and co-founded the dance theatre. The dance company has been presented both nationally and internationally at places like the Walker Art Center, the San Francisco Art Commission, Festival d’Arles in France, and the Exploratorium. Zaccho Dance Theatre is the only non-profit dance company in Bayview-Hunters Point and works to serve the community through their educational program that integrates nationally acknowledge performances and combines it with the experiences of the youth in the community. Zaccho’s youth program serves over 100 youth annually. They achieve this by offering free in-school and after-school classes along with performance opportunities to students 7-17 years of age. The Zaccho Dance Theatre is located at 1777 Yosemite Ave #330 San Francisco, California. Zaccho brought out to the streets of San Francisco for the Black Lives Masquerade procession through the streets of Bayview/Hunters Point. The procession started at Yosemite Ave and ended at the Bayview Opera House. To reach the Zaccho Dance Theatre online, go to their website at zaccho.org, call them at 415-822-6744 or email them at office@zaccho.org.
El Toro Night club is one of San Francisco’s predominant Latino dance and night clubs with a large dancefloor, quality lights and live music. Not only does El Toro Night club serve as a perfect music venue, but also serves as a Latin American restaurant, and karaoke bar. Many of their best nights are Monday evenings for concerts and dancing as they have hosted events with prominent artists such as Banda Carnival and Banda Escuela de Rancho. The night club holds other events throughout the year such as Drag Queen Bingo Night and karaoke. With a wide selection of music, both in English and Spanish, El Toro continues to have their bimonthly karaoke events. Karaoke is usually conducted on Wednesday nights and includes free food. The owners are local and have continued their tradition in San Francisco for 10+ years. The venue draws crowds from all over the Bay Area and even as far as Los Angeles. The night club is community based and located in the Portola district of San Francisco. Their address is 2470 San Bruno Ave, San Francisco, California 94134, their telephone number is 415-468-0670, and their email is eltorojcbc@aol.com. El Toro Night Club can be found online at eltoroclub.com, and their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/El-Toro-Night-Club-351721231520010/.
The Bayview Opera House, formally the South-San Francisco Opera House, is located at 4705 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94124 and hosts “First Friday’s Soul Line Dancing” nights. The Bayview Opera house has been open since 1888 and is argued to be the oldest theatre in the city of San Francisco. On the first Friday of every month, Ramona Pam hosts “First Friday’s Soul Line Dancing” at the Bayview Opera House. Ramona Pam, who has been teaching line dancing classes for over 15 years and for twelve years, she has been hosting line dancing nights all over the bay area; tonight, is the first time in five years that the collective group has been able to dance in the opera house in South-San Francisco. The night inspires adults and seniors from all over the bay area to get together and dance. Many participants have traveled all around the United States to dance at different line dancing events. DJ Dr. Rhoss Top Hat Productions handled the sound for the evening songs like The O’Jays, “Living for the Weekend” and The Temptations. Ramona Pam’s email address is fancidanz@yahoo.com; she teaches classes every Monday from 6-7 pm. The Bay View Opera House can be found online at, www.bvoh.org, and their contact info is, phone: 415.824.0386, email: info.bvoh@bvoh.org.
In the Bayview/ Hunters Point district of San Francisco, a unique restaurant is giving youth opportunities to succeed through real life work experience and a solid social network that acts as a basis for branching out. Old Skool Cafe is located at 1429 Mendell Street San Francisco CA. 94124 and they are dedicated to training youth to work in the food service/ restaurant industry. The Jazz themed supper club is run by youth whose ages vary from 18 to 25; Old Skool Cafe serves as a spring board for the youth that come through the program. The restaurant also schedules different youth
artists to perform at the café during regular service hours to serenade the guests as they eat. Everything you need to know is on their web site and Old Skool Café can be found online at www.oldskoolcafe.org; the telephone number for Old Skool Cafe is (415) 822-8531, and their email address is contact@oldskoolcafe.org. The Old Skool Café has been open since 2001 and has a reputation for success, 92 percent of their students have earned high school diplomas and 94 percent of the youth who completed the program are employed or focused solely on school and 13 students have started college
since 2010.
Public Glass is a Glass blowing studio in the Bayview/Hunters Point District of San Francisco California. The studio and school opened its doors in 1997 and has been the only public access glass studio and school in San Francisco. The School offers a full curriculum of glass courses and programming for under-served youth and adults. Public Glass offers a wide variety of classes such as glass blowing,
coldworking, fusing and slumping, flameworking, and casting. They have youth classes and workshops that are available as well as team building opportunities. If classes aren’t your style you can still come by and enjoy the studio when they hold events like Hot Glass Cold Beer and The Fire Pit Project. The studio as provides for corporate group experiences, exhibitions, and events. Public Glass is a non-profit arts organization that is “committed to providing access to the critical resources needed to make explorations in glass a possibility.” Public Glass is
a community based studio and school and try to “nurture strong relationships” with their students. Public Glass in located at 1750 Armstrong Avenue, San Francisco, California 94124. They can be found online at publicglass.org, their email is: info@publicglass.org, and their phone number is: (415) 671-4916.
