An Update On Mixed Housing And Co-Living At The Red Vic

An Update On Mixed Housing And Co-Living At The Red Vic

Photo: Meg Lauber/Flickr

Camden Avery
Published on February 12, 2015

Since the death of former Red Victorian Bed and Breakfast proprietress Sami Sunchild two years ago, the Red Victorian has gradually been undergoing a transition into a hostelry of the 21st century. But what's the latest?

In the past six months the Red Vic has quietly introduced a new kind of housing to the Haight: mixed hotel and residential rentals.

Over the past year, the Red Vic was re-launched by Jessy Kate Schingler, one of the co-founders of the Embassy Network's "Embassy." As reported by The Bold Italic and Hoodline, the idea was to retain some of the Red Vic's legendary Summer of Love ethos, with a twist.

The Red Vic redux states as part of its mission that "It is a space for people who are interested in the future of place and human society to collaborate and prototype new models for urbanism, decision-making, and community." With a driving focus on community, the idea is to provide a collaborative space for creative professionals, from artists to tech workers.

According to the Red Vic's website, "The newly renovated 20-room hotel offers short-term stays and residential memberships for modern nomads and creatives who travel frequently for work and collaboration."

Over the past nine months, the Red Vic has undergone extensive renovations in a number of stages. We last checked in last October, when the Red Vic was wrapping up a major round of room and furniture renovations. 

At that time, the space went online with hotel-style rental rooms available for between $65 and $185 a night. (The available listing is currently for 12 of the hotel's 20 total rooms.) Since then, the downstairs common room (formerly the cafe and community room) have undergone a substantial overhaul, with new furnishings and a reorganization.

Since then, and most notably, the hotel has also introduced residential rooms for rent at $1,400 to $1,600 a month plus expenses. According to a posting on the housing website Chalkboard, there are 10 hotel rooms and 10 residential rooms, three of which were recently available. (The last round of housing applications closed Tuesday.)

The listing explains the project, as follows:

We are a 12 person house that also operates as an international hotel/hostel. There are 20 rooms total (10 resident and 10 hotel), as well as a main space that is part living room, part daytime co working, and hosts community events (think: folk concerts, community art shows, and ganga yoga).

The residents are a mix of artists, writers, coders, musicians, and builders. The space is expansive, evolving, and an inspiring and inviting canvas for your thoughts and creations. We screen hotel guests, and having a constant flow of new housemates provides a constant opportunity for new interaction and conversations which we love, and you should too!

In response to some concern on Chalkboard that an apparently for-profit entity would be advertising "expensive" rooms on a co-op message board, Schingler said the Red Vic will be hosting an information session this coming Monday in the common room to discuss the operation's financials and operating costs, and to source "ideas on how to make things more affordable and less exclusive all around."

Red Vic LLC, a new corporation, is operating the space and renting it from Sunchild's non-profit Peaceful World Foundation, which inherited the building upon her death, according to Schingler. Red Vic LLC is in turn owned by Schingler's non-profit, which she said was founded by herself and some friends a number of years ago, with the mission to "democratize place and grow the commons."

"As far as I understand," Schingler said of Peaceful World Foundation, "our rent goes towards the operating budget for them to further their mission."