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The Last Black Man in San Francisco from Joe Talbot on Vimeo.
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In many ways, the history of the Fillmore District is the best way to understand being black in the city today. After World War II, a large middle-class black population arrived in San Francisco. They couldn't move into the city's white neighborhoods, so they settled in the Fillmore, a traditionally Jewish and Japanese neighborhood. During the Jazz Era, the Fillmore was considered the Harlem of the West—clubs like Bop City, the Champagne Supper Club, and Club Alabam were known around the country. Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker all came to San Francisco to play and hang out throughout the neighborhood. But apart from the music, the Fillmore of the 40s and 50s also played another critical role: It was a neighborhood where black San Franciscans could own business, own homes, and create a culture to be proud of.In 1970, black San Franciscans made up 13.4 percent of the population. By 2013, that number had fallen to 6.1 percent.
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The connection Talbot and Fails feel for the city is obvious when you talk to them. They dream about showing the San Francisco they grew up exploring—sites they called "the MUNI graveyard," "the Whoopty-Whoop," and "the Million-Dollar View"—to the world. Even when Fails recounted stories of racial alienation in the city—a five-year-old asking his mother why Fails's face was brown; a white hipster walking through the sprinklers at night because he thought Fails was following him—it was clear he hadn't given up on San Francisco. He was giddy while telling me about all "the little shit that's never been on film before" that I'd see in The Last Black Man in San Francisco.He and Talbot especially lit up when describing the bizarrely beautiful home of the protagonist's best friend, Prentice, which Talbot describes as looking like "Ghetto Tim Burton," an old fisherman's lodging across from a decrepit dock. The filmmakers are excited to set these scenes and others on the far edge of Hunter's Point—one of the few remaining predominantly black neighborhoods in the city—because it's not the kind of place you see during montages in The Princess Diaries or Mrs. Doubtfire. The neighborhood is notoriously violent, and because of the toxic waste from the abandoned naval shipyard, the residents there suffer from extremely elevated cancer and asthma rates. And yet, both Talbot and Fails agree that it's inevitable that the neighborhood will change along with the rest of the city in the near future. There's only so much land in San Francisco and the demand to move here is unquenchable."That's one of the last affordable parts of San Francisco," Talbot said. "But the nicest views in San Francisco are on the hill out in Hunter's Point. It's only a matter of time."The Kickstarter for The Last Black Man in San Francisco runs through June 3.Follow Joseph on Twitter.It's not the kind of place you see during montages in The Princess Diaries or Mrs. Doubtfire.