Presentation – Union Wages and Housing Development: San Francisco Waitresses and Saleswomen Living Downtown, 1910-1941

 Longtime SF City Guide and professor of city & regional planning Linda Day shares her ongoing research on the San Francisco waitresses and saleswomen who lived downtown in the early 20th century, an overlooked segment of the Tenderloin population who deftly navigated organized labor and the neighborhood’s unique built environment to benefit greatly from union wages and affordable housing development. 

San Francisco women entering the wage labor force as waitresses or saleswomen in the early decades of the twentieth century did not earn enough to live independently of family households, even though more than one-third were single, divorced, or widowed. Building on Paul Groth’s seminal book on life in residential hotels, Living Downtown, Day’s qualitative study links the achievement of union wages, enforcement of increasingly specific building codes, and privately developed single room occupancy hotels (SROs) and small affordable apartments to waitresses and saleswomen’s ability to live in safe, comfortable downtown housing. After being leveled by the earthquake and fires of 1906, San Francisco’s downtown was densely rebuilt with fire-resistant masonry buildings serving transients and workers. The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union and the Department Store Employees Union Local 1100 archives, held by the San Francisco State University Labor Archives and Research Center, are a source of information about wages and work life. Information about downtown buildings was gleaned from archival and contemporary photographs, building and unit plans, Google Earth satellite views, and inspecting the apartment/hotel district buildings, most of which are still standing.

This event will be preceded by a special walking tour that focuses on sites significant to the labor movement in the Tenderloin. Attend one or both events, but capacity for the walking tour is limited, so register ahead of time via Eventbrite. 

About the featured presenter:
Dr. Linda L. Day is an emeritus Professor of City and Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA; a contributing faculty member of Walden University, a planner; and an author who writes about cities. She received her master’s in architecture from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and her Ph.D. in Urban Policy from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Dr. Day has taught political science, public administration, and city planning. She has published two books, journal articles, and many blog posts. Dr. Day served on the Architectural Review Commission of the City of San Luis Obispo, California for four years, where she evaluated building and site design. Dr. Day recently published “This House is Just Right: A Design Guide to Choosing a Home and Neighborhood,” a homebuyer’s guide to choosing a higher density home in a location that is connected to job and activity settings by transit.