“Lower Turk” (2007 Survey)
(339/9) 162-166 Turk Street; El Rosa Hotel, Helen Hotel (1985). 1906.
(339/8) 150 Turk Street; Star Garage. 2B stories; reinforced concrete structure; stucco facade with galvanized iron column order, swags at ground level, and huge elliptical fanlight; composition: enframed window wall; Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation. Alterations: none. Original owner: Harry R. Bogart 1921. Architect: Joseph L. Stewart. 1921.
(339/7) 136-140 Turk Street; The Earle Lodgings, Boston Hotel (1907). Lodging house with forty-one rooms and two baths. 3B stories; brick structure with stucco facade; blue and gold tile storefront, galvanized iron cornice; two-part commercial composition; Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation; tile vestibule; lobby: stair landing with remodeled finishes. Alterations: “Blue and Gold” letters removed from storefront; former tenant: Blue and Gold Bar (1983), now San Francisco Rescue Mission (2007). Original owner: Mrs. Alicia McCone. Architect: Charles M. Rousseau. 1907.
(339/6) 130-134 Turk Street. Store and restaurant, converted to lodging house by 1981 with eighty-two rooms (possibly cribs) and five baths. 3B stories; reinforced concrete with stucco facade; facade scored like stone masonry, galvanized iron cornice; two-part vertical composition; Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation; alterations: belt course over ground level removed, windows boarded up, storefront. Original owner: Emma Dixon. Architect unknown. 1923.
(339/5) 124-126 Turk Street; Hotel Portola, Marathon Hotel, Lowell Hotel, Argue Hotel, Camelot Hotel. Rooming house with fifty-seven rooms and thirty-two baths. 6B stories; faded painted sign on upper west wall for “Hotel Portola . . . Rooms . . .”. Alterations: windows replaced with aluminum and all ornament and finishes except decorative iron fire escape on facade altered since 1983. Architect: Albert Farr. 1907.
(339/4) 116-120 Turk Street; The Elite lodgings, Hotel Holly, Porter Hotel, Youth Hostel Centrale. Rooming house with twenty-six rooms and six baths. 3B stories; brick structure with glazed brick facade; terra cotta wreath over entry and galvanized iron trim and cornice; 2-part commercial composition; Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation; vestibule: mosaic floor with “116”; lobby: stair landing with cornice molding. Alterations: storefront; former tenant: Port Hole Bar. Original owner: Mary A. Deming. Architect: E.A. Hermann. 1910.
(339/3) 101-121 Turk Street;) Hotel Hyland (1907, Hotel Young (1908), Hotel Empire (1911), Chapin Hotel (1920), Hotel Raford (1923), Tyland Hotel. Stores and rooming house with 115 rooms and fifty baths. 4B stories; brick structure; stucco facade, moldings, cartouches, bosses, beltcourses; three-part vertical composition; Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation. Alterations: ground level, storefronts, vestibule, aluminum windows, cornice removed. Site of 1966 Compton Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria, first documented U.S. riot by gay and transgender men and women against police. Original owner: Woodward Investment Company. Architect: A.M. Edelman. 1907.
(340/12) 108-120 Taylor Street; St. Ann Hotel, Hotel Lennox, Bard Hotel, Notel Winfield, Hotel Warfield (1923). 1907.
Interspersed among the Tenderloin’s densely-packed residential buildings are various commercial buildings designed to serve residents’ needs, mainly stores and auto repair and parking garages. There are also churches, union halls, a YMCA, a theater, and film exchange buildings.
Source: California State Library
Lower Turk, 1920. Note the glass-paned marquee over the entrance to the Camelot Hotel.
Source: San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
The Port Hole, 1942. Newscopy: “The Port Hole, 126 Turk Street, provides its patrons with song and rhythm de luxe. Above are (left to right) Bud Seghiari, ‘groan box’ artist extraordinary; Evelyn Thompson, Sadie Shipley and Judy Blair (seated on the piano), mistresses of song; Dave Olson at the piano and Larry Duran with guitar.”
In 1948 the Port Hole moved to the first block of Mason Street, where it continued to operate into the 1950s. During the years that Treasure Island was an active US Navy base, the Tenderloin bars favored by on-leave sailors were the Port Hole, the Blue and Gold at 136 Turk, and the Coral Sea at 220 Turk.
“165 Turk” (2007)
(343/17) 161-165 Turk Street; El Crest Apartments, 165 Turk Street Apartments. Twenty-one two- and three-room apartments. 6B stories; reinforced concrete structure; stucco facade; two-part vertical composition; Spanish Gothic ornamentation; vestibule: tile floor, paneled walls, cornice moldings; storefront: largely intact including vestibule with tile floor. Alterations: aluminum windows. Original owner: F.W. Hess. Designer: James H. Hjul, engineer. 1923.
The former El Crest Apartments are now owned and operated by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. The storefront at 161 Turk Street (renumbered 165) was formerly the Record Exchange, home of Bill Melander’s world-famous record collection.
Source: San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
The Record Exchange, 1947.
Source: San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library
William “Pops” Melander, 1947.
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