From the ‘60s to the ‘80s, San Francisco has been overwhelmed with art, literature, music and film. The talented Alfred Hitchcock shot “Vertigo,” his 1958 masterpiece, here. The iconic Mark Twain crafted his work in San Francisco in the ‘60s as he worked as a newspaper journalist. The summer of 1967 was known as the “Summer of Love,” in which San Francisco was the epicenter. The phenomenon birthed acid rock, causing the music careers of Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin to then sprout. Rolling Stone Magazine was created in this city during the same year. In the ‘70s, punk music emerged in the city, and the band Dead Kennedys led the charge. Metallica, Counting Crows and Third Eye Blind began in San Francisco in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Barry McGee, one of the best known street artists from the Bay Area, pioneered San Francisco’s graffiti scene.
This creative expression is no longer present in San Francisco.
Despite its extensive track record in music, none of the current artists on the Billboard 100 are from San Francisco. I have been going to the city almost every week ever since I was young, and I have never seen artists painting murals. Instead, all I have seen are tall skyscrapers blocking the sky, people glued to their phones and flashes of black suits speed walking on the sidewalk.
What caused this shift? The unfortunate answer is the technology industry. Companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook have expanded into San Francisco in these past 10 years. Startups like Uber, Slack and Lyft, which are all now successful platforms, have also begun here. As a result of highly paid tech workers and companies residing in the city, the average rent increased by 25% from 2007 to 2017. The high rent has caused art galleries to close, which is where most artists get their income from. Due to the lack of work and increase in housing rent, creative professionals have been forced to move in which most relocate to Oakland.
However, gentrification has not only affected the ability for artists to pursue their craft; it has also changed the essence of the art community and its value.
“Artists who have quote-on-quote made it big are the ones to dissociate themselves from what it means to be in a community in the Bay Area. They are selfish because they see art as something to capitalize off of rather than a communal understanding of art,” Adhila Bukhari, a San Francisco-based artist, said.
Because of gentrification, capitalism and the drive for money has become so prominent in the city that it has taken the genuinity out of art and the community that is created when artists come together.
“There’s a difference between artists who are passionate in making connections with one another and artists who are just there for a check,” Bukhari said.
As a result of gentrification as an arm of capitalism, the art itself has changed as well.
“I grew up seeing all these murals all over the city, capturing the essence of the Bay Area and the history that we have had. Now, I go to see that it’s covered up by some ugly grey painting. And it’s just like this push on minimalism, being quote on quote contemporary, and fitting in with popular art has really turned art into this capitalist thing,” Bukhari said.
This was especially frustrating for her to see because she knew of so many kind, hardworking artists with much better work that captured the various cultures of the city.
This is not San Francisco. It cannot be.
The local government of San Francisco is the heart of any plausible solution to the displacement that artists are facing. There needs to be real regulation in real estate because just a few affordable options are not enough. Tenants deserve more protection in legislation. The Ellis Act, which allows landlords to evict tenants to go out of business, needs to be repealed. As individuals, we need to support ethnic business organizations like the San Francisco Rising and the San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition.
With the support of locals, the current artists in San Francisco are the only people who can truly lead the movement of establishing a genuine community within the art scene and empowering cultural art.
Anmol Gill is an Opinion Intern for the 2020 fall quarter. She can be reached at anmolkg@uci.edu.
