Funny, according to Yahoo Maps, my neighborhood in San Francisco’s SOMA district is still called “Multimedia Gulch”, a name that really hasn’t been used here since the late 1990’s. It’s interesting that South Park, ground zero for the web, is not part of Multimedia Gulch according to this map.
Here are a few of articles about Multimedia Gulch from it’s heyday:
“San Francisco’s Multimedia Gulch”
by Alan Deutschman, Fortune Magazine, March 7, 1994“Gurus of Multimedia Gulch”
by Trip Gabriel, New York Times, September 4, 1994“San Francisco Tries to Retain Its ‘Multimedia Gulch”
by Laurie J. Flynn, New York Times, March 2, 1998“Making sense of Multimedia Gulch
Digital Mecca is changing The City in just about every way imaginable.”
by George Raine, The San Francisco Chronicle (via The Examiner), October 31, 1999
Oh and Vivid Studios has a great map of Multimedia Gulch that is frozen in time.
Maybe Yahoo can’t forget the past because their wonderful neon hotel sign is located in this area on 6th Street between Bryant and Harrison Streets and was installed here back when the area was still known as Multimedia Gulch. Here’s the sign on Google StreetView (yeah, I know it’s ironic, but until Yahoo has street level imagery…)
Speaking of Yahoo neon signs, here’s a photo of the one in New York’s Times Square from some late night Times Square photography I did there back in January.
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I noticed that a couple weeks ago. Made me laugh. I wonder what else they’ve tweaked in the name of web geekery?
Ah, the Vivid Studios map brought back memories. Interesting that nearly every Internet company is still gone, but the restaurants are by and large still there. Who says San Francisco is a tough town for restaurants? At least they survived the dot crash!
Some people are taking it as truth, given it’s on Y! Maps .. I’ve seen Craigslist postings which mention the “Multimedia Gulch” neighbourhood, in addition to Soma.
One of my first memories of the area was a VRML map of South Park and surrounding blocks. This was in 1996 or 97 before setting eyes on the city that I would soon call home. Ah, here it is (NCSA Mosaic with VRweb plugin required):
http://web.archive.org/web/19970303062445/http://planet9.com/vrsoma.htm
I also noticed that a few weeks ago, and was particularly struck by the true epicenter of Multimedia Gulch being outside of it.
I recall having cocktails with some guy called Craig Newmark in 330 Ritch in 97/98… the poor sod wouldn’t shut up about avatars and online communities.. also his fixation about looking like george from seinfeld and being a cheap date.. I wonder what ever happened to him…
ahhh good times, great nostalgia!
yahoo maps – who uses yahoo maps….kidding..;)
i especially love the “jennifer hudson” on the NYC Yahoo sign…