Move over, Civic Center. The Tenderloin just hosted a party that made you wish you’d spent your Saturday on Larkin Street instead of Market.
It was the 1st-annual Love Fest SF, a daylong event that brought together music, art, and local businesses in one of San Francisco’s most overlooked and decried neighborhoods. From noon until dusk, the festival saw crowds of curious San Franciscans exploring what the Tenderloin has to offer beyond its usual headlines, and former Mayor Willie Brown kicked off the festivities with a ceremonial cutting of the “doom loop.”
Honestly, was it as big as recent Civic Center or Embarcadero raves? No. But every street festival in San Francisco brings us much-needed joy. Organizer Adam Swig hopes this event will help change outside perception about our city.
“Frankly, I’m tired of the narrative that the rest of the world thinks about us right now,” Swig said in an interview with The Bold Italic. “When San Franciscans travel, people ask us now, ‘Are you ok?’ They used to be like, ‘We want to visit you, we want to meet you.’”
Of all places, the Tenderloin needs love lately; If it’s not drug use and homeless sweeps, it’s Elon Musk describing our neighborhoods as a “derelict zombie apocalypse.” He’s right that we have problems to solve, but so, too should Swig highlight our amazing businesses to support inside one of our most troubled districts.
Organized by the Tenderloin Merchants Association, Value Culture, and AW3 Technology, with support from the Civic Joy Foundation and SFMTA, Love Fest SF leaned into the raw, unpolished energy that defines the area. The three stages scattered along Larkin Street pulsed with beats from local DJs like Borak, Justin Kan, and Sailor Beast, bringing a slice of San Francisco’s underground music scene to the heart of the Tenderloin.
I mean the day gave us a couple cheesy elements; Willie Brown cut through a literal “Doom Loop”-labeled ribbon, and then he took a slice out of a chocolate frosting San Francisco cake in the shape of a loop. But honestly given the deluge of doom loop headlines we saw this past year, I say let’s lean into corny content. To wit: Swig is organizing a “Boom Loop” happy hour this fall — because of course.
A similarly-named event once existed in San Francisco in the late 2000s, the Love Parade, or LovElution, with a LoveFest after party in Civic Center. The OG videos on YouTube look fairly chaotic, albeit still maybe not as big as the recent Skrillex concert that took over the neighborhood. It was a “hugely popular and oft-nude bash,” according to this story that noted attendance ballooned over 100,000.
Much like Pink Saturday and Halloween, San Francisco cut off LovElution by 2010 amid safety concerns.
What’s old is new again. Swig said while he did approach the original organizers, Love Fest SF was never intended to be the same thing. “It’s not a parade, it’s a block party. We want to help the small businesses,” he said.
“I really thought Larkin Street in Tenderloin could use some love. A lot of us stay away from there because it’s just not the most visually friendly area. But we have to not judge the book by its cover and support these places,” Swig added.
Swig and I have shared orbits since I joined the San Francisco gala circuit almost three years ago. He is among many grandchildren of noted philanthropist Roselyne “Cissie” Swig, whose family once owned the Fairmont Hotel and has made many charitable contributions in our city. I spotted her earlier this year getting an award for her work with another great organization, the Community Music Center.
Adam’s doing his own thing with his nonprofit Value Culture, which he began five years ago; His passion for charity work came more than a decade back though, following a bad car accident.
“I realized how much pain there was in the world, and being a part of a community made me feel a lot better,” he said.
The Tenderloin has been getting a bit of positive love lately, from Juanita More’s People’s March to First Thursday Art Walks. At The Bold Italic we’ve also celebrated life in the neighborhood and good places to eat on its troubled streets.
Love Fest SF wasn’t just about music this weekend. Art installations from local creators like Matt Milano and Dragonessa and Dark Events added a visual element that kept festival-goers engaged as they wandered the streets.
More importantly, the event brought much-needed foot traffic to the area’s small businesses. Shops like Sweet Glory and Lers Ros Thai saw an influx of visitors, giving these neighborhood staples a rare day in the spotlight.
I’m looking forward to what these organizers bring us next; Check out the events at Value Culture.
Saul Sugarman is editor in chief of The Bold Italic.
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More photos from Love Fest 2024
Photos by Katie Rivas for Drew Altizer Photography.
