Alive street scene

The Lower Haight around Fillmore is an example of a dead retail area that came back to life.  The street was once vital, pre-WWII.  The Eastern end of the street was dangerous because of the housing project at Webster and it is still dangerous there.

The post hippie, punk scene brought the Lower Haight back to life.  The sequence was: three dirty but spacious coffee shops, three raunchy bars and three above average but cheap restaurants (Thai, Indian and Mexican). By the time this cluster of punk stores were in operation, the foot traffic was enough to attract an organic grocery and several boutiques including jewelry stores.

The street continues to gentrify as the neighborhood does.  There are now clean coffee shops and a few fine restaurants.

That my friends is the sequence that brings a street back to life.