Our friend Adam Jackson has setup a pair of web cams streaming live video 24 hours a day from his apartment at the corner Taylor and Ellis in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. The video is streamed via Justin.tv on his website Adam’s Block.
I live in a neighborhood in San Francisco that has some pretty interesting things go on every day. This camera is not a reflection of me or my way of life but it’s showing the view from my apartment on Taylor Street in San Francisco. My block never sleeps and there is noise at all hours of the night. It’s most interesting between 7PM-3AM and during weekends.
A lot of interesting things happen on Adam’s Block, here’s Leroy the 5am alarm clock.
Adam has been getting a lot of attention on his project, including a recent death threat.
This reminds me of the infamous “Crack Cam” that Wrybread setup in his San Francisco neighborhood back in 1999.
See Previously: Exploring the Tenderloin National Forest
UPDATE 1: C.W. Nevius wrote about Adam’s Block in his SF Chronicle column.
UPDATE 2: SFist and The San Francisco Citizen are both reporting that Adam’s Block has been taken offline.
UPDATE 3: C.W. Nevius wrote a follow-up a piece for the San Francisco Chronicle: “Lessons from that Tenderloin camera Web site”
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- A History of San Francisco’s Tenderloin District by Peter Field
- Exploring the Tenderloin National Forest
- “Latin Revenge” An Animated Music Video in the Mission District
- Make Magazine Cover by Adam Koford Featuring Adam Savage of MythBusters
- EveryBlock, Track News In Your City, Neighborhood & Block
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I'm on Laughing Squid. Thanks Scott.
THAT is the “WORST” neighborhood in SF? By the gods, man.. Come hang out with me in Detroit for a couple of days…. o.O
@: @primesuspect.
I'm with you on that. Where's the gun shots at 4 in the afternoon? The mobs of 11-14 year old gangbangers? I'm in St. Louis which I guess us and Detroit kinda flip every year as to who has the highest murder rate.
I think there may be some 'thing' where homelessness equates to 'bad neighborhood' but of the cities I've lived in, Eugene Oregon had the most homeless and the least amount of crime. Oh if I could only afford San Francisco…
That's not even the sketchiest part of Da 'Loin! More Tendernob than Tenderloin. Set up a cam closer to Turk and Leavenworth or better yet just south of Market on 6th.
Yeah, I think Adam should put on his portable Justin.tv rig and walk up and down 6th Street between Market and Mission.
Yeah… he even has a National Forest nearby! How bad could it be??? ;)
That said, I really do think I'm one of the only people who actually likes the Tenderloin sometimes. It's soooo grimy, run down, and so awesome.
When I first moved to San Francisco, our apartment was in an alley by 6th and Folsom. It quickly made me wonder why I moved to this city.
It didn't help when we found one homeless bum giving another one a blow job on our doorstep one night.
“WORST” neighborhood in SF?”
Not really. Hunter’s Point, top of the hill (in the projects)
I wonder if anyone has ever jumped from his apartment building… Like what happened to this guy in Hayes Valley: http://trey.blogspot.com/2008/11/man-fell-down-...
Hunter's Point is much, much worse than the Tenderloin… grow some balls, guys!
Yeah… used to live on Gilman… Tenderloin has nothing on HP
That's not the worst neighborhood in SF (and the cam's actually on the edge of the tenderloin anyways). Adam just didn't know that…he changed it though, because everyone was complaining, and now it doesn't say the “worst neighborhood” anymore, but “the tenderloin” instead.
Yeah, I think a lot of people where confused about the whole “worst neighborhood” thing. I went ahead and updated this post to reflect the changes to Adam's Block.
I think that framing this project with the characaturizing “worst neighborhood” marginalizes–though I'm sure not intentionally–in the same way that Bill O'Reilly works to marginalize our city: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/18/bill-o.... This project has the potential to show the ways in which the homeless community (which is generally misrepresented and prejudged) are alienated to the point of being treated like literal shit and trash and hosed from the street: http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Guest_Edito.... It also has the potential to reinforce such an alienating standpoint.
Re-presentaiton of this project on a blog so identified with San Francisco on an international stage can either be framed towards compassionate healing or towards simplification and vilification. We all have a right to share our opinions but we also have a responsibility to know how powerful our voices are and to act accordingly.
Someone should paint antennas and knobs one the box the white lines make and it
would look like a tv.
I agree—I was a Fed Ex driver for years in downtown San Francisco—And lived on Castro between 19th and 20th—It could get pretty noisy on Fri. and Sat. nights.
Turk and Leavenworth is awful, or at least used to be.—I miss the sights and sounds amd smells of San Francisco.
Adam’s Block is no more.
http://sfist.com/2008/12/12/adams_block_down.php#comments
The twitter feed tells the tale as well:
http://twitter.com/adamjackson
Thanks Jim, I’ve updated the post. Maybe Adam will jump in here and explain what happened.
This article from sfgate covers the saga in detail:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/13/BA7Q14N5S6.DTL
So the site will now continue but run by someone else as ourblock.tv (not up yet). Also, from the article above “Jackson said at least three other sites have sprung up independently” and they may in the future be linked together via the ourblock domain. So I guess we should stay tuned.
Adam said this was about him getting sleep.
Making fun of poor people, addicts and people with metal illness isnt going to get him any rest. Fuck adam.
If adam has a superman complex, let him join the police force.
If adam wants to make fun of people, and make it availabe for other idiots to make fun of people, i hope he gets what he deserves
This kid is an idiot. He comes from a background of teaching karate to law enforcement and carries a gun. He posts his name, girlfriends name, address, work address, and pictures of him and his girlfriend on his website. He than puts cams up and posts this on the net.
He is flabbergasted when he gets death threats and punks are following him to work. He has to move to protect himself and his girlfriend who he put in danger.
What did this idiot expect?
this fuckup not only put his gf in danger, he arrogantly put the whole building in danger.
taught karate? shoot, i’d go a round or two with his fat ass.
Does anyone local know a Rich English? He probably is in the Tenderloin area…..he’s my boys’ Dad & we are trying to find him.
If you know ANYTHING about him, PLEASE let me know?
Thank you!
I was homeless in the tenderloin for a few months (by choice). It’s was fun and scary at the same time. I love what your doing by putting a spot on that neighborhood. I truely did leave my heart in San Francisco and in the Tenderloin Distr.
Thanx!
Yeah, I heard about this thing a while back. I even saw footage of a guys throwing himself into a passing bus. Here’s something I found about the Tenderloin that’s a bit newer. Definitely an interesting take: http://twitter.com/thetenderloin
To call any particular neighborhood the ‘worst’ categorically is a bit shallow, but fighting crime in the ‘loin is difficult because there is a culture of prostitution, crack and heroin sales, and related violent crime that migrates from block to block on an hourly or so basis. It’s difficult to come up with a strategy for dealing this that doesn’t persecute homeless people not participating in these activities, and that is a big part of why the SFPD have done so little in this area for so long. Our new police chief has a new enforcement strategy which begins with incarcaration for two ‘trespassing’ charges for loitering in front of the same address within a 24 hour period. A system of cameras could really help with this. That some people will take joy in observing the foibles of the rampant mentally ill set loose by Governor Reagan is a sad statement for humanity, not an argument against monitoring an area which is extremely dangerous to live in on a daily basis. My girlfriend was attacked at our front gate recently despite my not having hung an HDTV camera in front window – I’m not sure this Adam guy, even if he is a bit of a jackass, created a significant amount of additional danger for himself. He may also not consider that he was targeted as the type of person who probably carries electronics – replace those white earbuds around here, folks. ;)