Shuttered by the pandemic and then briefly occupied by the Fishbowl Collective, a multiracial group of trans & gender-nonconforming artists and housing advocates that were granted permission to host socially distanced drag shows from behind the building’s storefront windows in late 2020 but were then forcibly removed from the property after being accused of staging a “hostile takeover” of the rest of the hotel, the historic Red Victorian at 1665 Haight Street is now on the market with a $4.988 million price tag.
Built as the Jefferson Hotel in 1904 and acquired by Sami Sunchild in 1977, the artist, activist and eventual founder of The Peaceful World Foundation had the hotel’s façade painted its signature red and dubbed it “The Red Victorian Bed and Breakfast Peace Center,” a destination hotel where guests could “meet…other travelers and have great conversations on world peace.”
Still owned by the Peaceful World Foundation, the Red Victorian had been leased to a subsidiary of District Commons, a non-profit that provides housing for the formerly incarcerated and funds community art projects, which had operated the now vacant hotel prior to it being shuttered (and filed the forcible detainer to remove the Fishbowl Collective at the end of the subsidiary’s lease).
In addition to 21 hotel rooms spread across the building’s second and third floors, which have seen better days, the 8,550-square-foot hotel has a 2,800-square-foot storefront with 14.5-foot ceilings, a kitchen and a mezzanine loft. We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.
SIX INGREDIENTS TO A GOOD CONVERSATION (from Peaceful World Foundation)
Differences – New Points of View
Similarities – Shared Feelings and Experiences
Speaking – From Life Experience Not Theory
Listening – Really Listening
Understanding – Empathy Not Persuasion
Brevity – Keep it Short and to the Point
I’m guessing “forcible detainer” went against the spirit of point #5
Or as we used to say back in the 1980’s while moshing at a show in 924 Gilman…enough with the hippy sh*t..
Never set foot inside the Red Vic. The force of the smug insufferability of its denizens was overwhelming even a block away. Especially back in the day when the Upper Haight was still infested by acid causalities. Loma Prieta pretty much cleared out the last of them. Apart from the trust fund babies who bought property when dirt cheap in the 1970’s. Who became the foundation of the neighborhood NIMBY class the last few decades.
So just another of the Upper Haight “1967 Disney World Theme Park Attraction” for European and Japanese tourists to gawk at. And for the Ten Year Tourists from the suburbs to hang out in and pretend they are living the “SF Experience”. Whatever that is. Mostly talentless self indulgent narcissism based on the evidence of the last six decades.
But if it keeps attracting the tourist dollars sounds good to me. The more the better. Maybe the City should pay the street people to dress up as late 1960’s acid causalities to really make the whole Upper Haight St experience more “authentic” for the tourists. Even have an early Charlie Manson look-alike walking around. To add that genuine frisson of danger of the nasty freak show the Haight/Ashbury actually was.
Wow…not too judgmental!! The Red Vic was a lovely place, a respite for me, meeting with Sami and international guests, a wonderful, wholesome place of good food, loving hospitality, art and meaningful discussions. Too bad your judgmental attitude kept you from experiencing this lovely place…Sami would have welcomed you with open arms!!!
You are the king of run-on sentences, dude. I’ve been reading you for at least ten years, and your opening sentences never cease to annoy me. That said, I’m still here. 🙂
It’s sooo bad but I’m still here or of habit
I am going to disagree. That first sentence is indeed long, but it’s not a run-on sentence. It just takes a while to get to its subject. I suspect that the author (who does indeed write like this frequently) does so in order to communicate some context about a property before getting to the point, because if he started out saying “The historic Red Victorian is on the market,” the context in the rest of the paragraph might go unread.
A run-on sentence is one in which various independent phrases, each capable of being its own sentence, are lined together with connecting words. The property is on the market and it has an interesting history but the price is too high and the seller is really desperate to sell it but there aren’t any buyers yet. That’s a run-on sentence, to me, at least.
I really find nothing objectionable about the opening sentence to this piece, but it does require you to retain several pieces of information in your mind as you make your way toward the actual main subject and object. I find it more compelling than if it were rearranged and broken up. But I do think that the trend lately is for simpler writing and perhaps that is what people prefer now, I just don’t happen to be in that group.
Not trying to diss your opinion; just wanted to offer a different one. For sure, that kind of writing is part of SocketSite’s style, and has been for as long as I’ve been reading this site (20 years, maybe?)
The sentences on this site generally work but they are super long! Lot’s of “and’s” starting sentences too. It doesn’t bother me but it’s hard not to notice 🙂
TL;DR, you objected?
I still made it through the first sentence though. Something about the way that media hits, yo, it makes you wanna come back for more. . .
Grew up in the City and spent many an evening at the Red Victorian Movie House which once occupied the ground floor space in this building and is not mentioned here (it later moved down the street and got less interesting). Despite what we all may think of that era (late 1970s, early 1980s) now, I’m still fond of those memories…
That place was awesome and an affordable to stay in SF which was not a usual thing to find in that city. They kept their kitchen stocked and you could make yourself whatever from what was stocked? Wonderfully weird & amazing and it will be a sad day for affordable visits to overpriced SF. The pics look like they painted everything WHITE????
WHY??? A CRYING SHAME!