What was SoMa like before luxury lofts and local, organic coffee shops started popping up on every block? Six San Francisco natives and longtime residents are gathering at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to share their own stories from the neighborhood's grittier days.
The event, hosted by the 14-year-old storytelling series Porchlight Reading, starts at 6:30pm with a guided tour of YBCA's current exhibition, "Work in Progress: Investigations South of Market." Then at 7pm, Porchlight's diverse cast of storytellers will take the stage to share one story each from their days South of Market—before it became the ritzier neighborhood seen today.
One of tonight's featured storytellers is Janet Delaney, who's well-known both locally and nationally for her series of photographs shot South of Market between 1978 and 1986. Delaney is currently shooting a contemporary series on the evolving neighborhood, and we hear that she may unveil a few never-before-displayed South of Market photographs this evening.
Janet Delaney in 1981, in her studio at 10th and Howard streets.
Tickets to the event are $15 each, and can be purchased on the YBCA website. To get a sense of what a Porchlight Reading is like, you can check out their free podcast, with recordings of previous events.
