New Fillmore Store in San Francisco Helps Bring the Neighborhood Back to Its Glory Days

The intersection of Geary and Fillmore streets in western San Francisco is something of a waypoint on the city’s historic map; The infamous Jim Jones People’s Temple once stood a block away, Japantown is on its northern edge, and Fillmore Auditorium, a temple of music, looms over the crossroads.

The area was once called the Harlem of the West, thriving on black-owned businesses until redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s uprooted many of these families, never to return.

Now in a street storefront just below the famous “Fillmore Auditorium” sign, new business hopes to grow a new generation of black-owned businesses along Fillmore Street, a roadway that cuts through numerous neighborhoods and demographics.

“I used to walk past this hallway all the time, and it used to be a check cashing point at Money Mart,” said Pia Harris, program director for the San Francisco Housing and Development Corporation, a non-profit group founded in the 1980s to try and blunt the cultural damage from redevelopment.

At the former site of this Money Mart in Geary and Fillmore, Harris and SFHDC founded In the Black, a new shared space business aimed at creating business opportunities for local African-American entrepreneurs. Eighteen businesses now share showroom space, selling everything from clothing to handmade jewelry to locally produced sodas.

“We make sure African-American businesses have a place to try out their concepts and sell their products,” Harris said.

Fillmore was once known for its ubiquitous jazz clubs, churches, and black-owned homes. Nicole Williams grew up in Fillmore, immersed in tales of the area’s glory days.

My mother and my grandmother told stories,” Williams said, “of how the entire neighborhood was filled with blacks and Japanese residents.”

William Belle Noire’s business now has a seat in In the Black, selling apparel and accessories from the African diaspora, representing women manufacturers from Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone, among others.

“I hope this is just the beginning,” Williams said, “that In the Black is really just a seed and we are growing and prospering.”

Harris said the pandemic has hit black-owned businesses particularly hard, as many of them have been unable to secure government funding to support the business. Harris blamed the problem on African-American businesses that lack the resources to properly apply for funding, while many others were simply denied.

Since opening late last year, the store has already accomplished at least part of its mission of bringing even more black-owned businesses to Fillmore.

“Before In The Black, there were only 15 black-owned businesses in the corridor,” Harris said. “So now in In The Black we’ve been able to more than double that with 30-something businesses.”

Fillmore resident Prince Dean was on board the plane when the view from the window inspired him to start his Cloud Surfing clothing business with the motto “when they fall, we rise up”. His In The Black store sells shirts, sweaters, hats, and denim jackets emblazoned with his Cloud Surfing logo.

“I see this as a beacon of hope and light for the youth and us to be able to create businesses,” Dean said, “and show the world that this can happen, starting with Fillmore.”

Next to Dean’s clothing area is Joseph Broussard’s Dreamer Boyz clothing, complete with baseball caps, sweatshirts, and “Third Eye” T-shirts. Also a Fillmore native, Broussard got into trouble at Western Addition after losing his brother years ago to gun violence.

“Because I’m in the past, I shouldn’t be here,” Broussard said, showing off a purple Dreamer Boyz sweatshirt. “So for me to get this opportunity and be part of the Fillmore legacy is phenomenal.”

The SFHDC, which funded the project with the city of San Francisco, expects the project to expand to other areas and possibly other cities. But more than that, it is hoped that it will bring back a glimpse of the neighborhood’s glory days.

“I think that’s a bold statement,” Williams said, “saying Fillmore’s glory days are back.”