Death in the Tenderloin

de Tom Carter

"Obituaries published in the Tenderloin newspaper, Central City Extra, are astonishing, unvarnished revelations, sometimes stark, sometimes wondrous. These posthumous stories, now in book form, become deeply revelatory about the people and the neighborhood. Death in the Tenderloin is a miracle of sensitive, yet matter-of-fact reportage, the tales simply, factually told, but poignant in their declarative simplicity -- Jim Mildon, writer and editor" -- P. [4] of cover. "This book celebrates the Tenderloin at its most tender. It was inspired by the obituaries published in the Central City Extra - monthly newspaper for the neighborhood's fixed income and no-income populace. This is a hardscrabble script. The Tenderloin is San Francisco's poorest neighborhood, a high-density, human services ghetto where hundreds of nonprofit and public providers serve a citywide caseload of homeless people in addition to treating the tribulations of the area's 30,000 residents. Our hood is a mere few dozen square blocks cemented between downtown and Civic Center. Nob Hill is above, Skid Row below. Death in the Tenderloin is our eulogy to this historical, notorious neighborhood and its medley of people, absolutely the most diverse community in San Francisco, the heart of the city in more ways than one. We want you to come away with a sense of how difficult life is out here on the edge" -- p. 3.