The Redstone Building, also known as the Redstone Labor Temple, was formerly called "The San Francisco Labor Temple" was constructed and operated by the San Francisco Labor Council Hall Associates. Initial planning started in 1910, with most construction work done during 1914. Its primary tenant was the San Francisco Labor Council

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

, including 22 labor union offices as well as meeting halls. The building was a hub of union organizing, work activities and a "primary center for the city's historic labor community for over half a century."

The Redstone building played a significant role in the 1917 United Railroads Streetcar Strike as well as the San Francisco maritime strike that led to the 1934 San Francisco General Strike for better working conditions for all workers. The Redstone has been designated San Francisco's 238th landmark.

History

The San Francisco Bay Area was Yelamu Ohlone

Ohlone

The Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are a Native American people of the central California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley...

 land until the arrival of the Spanish in 1776. In 1823 Alta California came under the rule of the newly form country of Mexico. The last of San Francisco's Yelamu were forcibly removed from the Village of Yerba Buena and from the Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1826. The Ohlone are still attempting to gain tribal status today.

The building property lies on the edge of what use to be a small lake or Sausal (swampy marsh). The Spanish called it Lago Dolores. The Sausal covered a five block diameter from around South Van Ness to Guerrero Street, and from 15th to 20th street. Remnants of the Sausal still exist as the building requires 24 hour a day dewatering on the north and south sides. According to the last building manager, the water coming into the building was from Isis Creek.

The Redstone is located at 2940 16th Street between South Van Ness, formerly Howard Street, and Capp. The building is situated on the very edge of what used to be an industrial zone, with large industrial facilities like the U.S. Steel facility, now a MUNI facility. The city also built a large armory two blocks away as part of the city's politically divisive labor history.

The North Mission District was a working class neighborhood from around 1870 up until the 1960s. The neighborhood continues to have a large number of ornate Victorian houses nearby. The North Mission was built and mostly populated by Irish Americans, but also included a Greek community as well. Early neighbors included Woodward Gardens and an Insane asylum on Howard and 15th.

The Redstone building is within a few blocks of the Mission San Francisco de Asís

Mission San Francisco de Asís

Mission San Francisco de Asís, or Mission Dolores, is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco and the sixth religious settlement established as part of the California chain of missions...

, the Victoria Theater, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative

Rainbow Grocery Cooperative

Rainbow Grocery Cooperative is a worker owned and run food cooperative located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1975, Rainbow Grocery is a member of NoBAWC and the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives....

, which was originally the Mack Truck company, that was then replaced by a regional St Vincent DePaul center, and Roxie Theaters

The Roxie

The Roxie Theater is a movie theater at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco built in 1909. It is also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie.-History:...

 in the Mission District

Mission District, San Francisco, California

The Mission District, also commonly called "The Mission", is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, USA, originally known as "the Mission lands" meaning the lands belonging to the sixth Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis...

. What is currently a Walgreens store used to be a boxing arena.

San Francisco Labor Temple

The San Francisco Labor Temple was dedicated on September 7, 1914 by former San Francisco mayor and head of the local Building Trades Council P.H. McCarthy. The cornerstone was set by A.J Gallagaher. The San Francisco Labor Council held a grand opening for the Labor Temple on February 27, 1915. The SF Labor Council newspaper, the Labor Clarion, described the building on the front page of its newspaper on February 26, 1915. The article described the building interior and gave details such as the $150,000 construction cost. The building included 22 office spaces, a number of large halls, and the 70 by main auditorium. The building would have its own medical and dental clinic. One of the first steel frame buildings erected in San Francisco, the building is steel reinforced with a brick facade on two sides and masonry on the other. A new wing to the building was added in 1939 at a cost of $92,000.

The Labor Temple was the long time home of the many important city unions including the Labor Council, the Clarion newspaper and the Union Labor Party which had early success in electing two different Mayors of San Francisco. The building also helped take part in Tom Mooney's defense campaign as well as many strikes and political campaigns.

A May 1916 Union Directory had 54 unions using the building for their meetings. The bakers and bakery wagon drivers, the bindery women, blacksmiths, butchers, carriage and wagon workers, cigar makers, coopers, horseshoers, ice and milk wagon drivers, janitors, sail makers, and tailors all met at the Labor Temple.

1934 General Strike

The most significant historical event at the Labor Temple took place in July 1934 when the longshoremen and maritime workers led San Francisco workers in the momentous General Strike that changed the labor movement forever. The waterfront workers lived on the fringes of society in conditions that, even for those times, were abominable. The longshoremen had to pay for their jobs on the dock; the seafarers were little more than slaves on the ships. They wanted no more than any worker wants: dignity on the job and off, justice, a living wage. They were willing to strike because their conditions were so bad, they had almost nothing to lose.

The longshoremen and seamen had been out on strike for about three months without much success, few other unions had joined them in sympathy, but the strikers hung on. The shipping companies were determined to bring the strikers to their knees and stop the strike. They had hired armed guards as well as San Francisco police to do their dirty work. For several days there had been fighting on Rincon Hill. On July 5, just outside of the strike kitchen at 113 Steuart, an unnamed policeman fired into a crowd of longshoremen and their sympathizers, shooting several of them. Two died. The deaths of Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise stunned the public. This infamous day in San Francisco labor history became known as “Bloody Thursday” and galvanized the rest of the unions to support the struggle.

The next day (July 6) was the regular Friday night session of the San Francisco Labor Council. The Council members packed the auditorium in the Labor Temple; hundreds more spectators jammed the halls and overflowed onto 16th Street. A growing demand for a general strike was on the minds of the rank and file members. Fourteen unions had already taken action supporting a general strike and others were planning action. Harry Bridges was in attendance and asked for immediate action on an International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) resolution underscoring its position that the question of union hiring halls “cannot possibly be submitted to arbitration.” The resolution was approved without dissent as was a second resolution condemning Governor Merriam for calling out the state militia. This resolution urged a peace based on ‘simple justice and not military force.” At this meeting the S.F. Labor Council set up a Strike Strategy Committee to, in the words of the ILA Strike Bulletin, “make plans of a strike that will stop every industry in the city.” The bulletin noted, too, that the council had endorsed the ILA’s refusal to arbitrate the closed shop. Bridges declared, “This is no longer the ILA’s fight alone. Thursday’s bloody rioting has crystallized labor’s attention on the conditions under which the ILA works and labor is demanding concerted action. The Labor Council is definitely behind the marine strike.”

On July 9, a funeral procession bearing the bodies of the two slain unionists walked down Market Street. Estimates range from 15,000 to 50,000 in the procession. Thousands more lined the sidewalks. Fearing that sight of police on the streets would incite workers further, City Hall agreed that the strikers would be in charge of crowd control. There was no talking, no sound except a quiet funeral dirge, and the tramp of feet, but the air was electric with that sound. Their deaths - and that march - forged the solidarity that became the West Coast General Strike. The march ended at 17th and Valencia at the mortuary, just two blocks away from the Labor Temple. No doubt many mourners walked over to the Temple afterward to be together. To try to make some sense of what was happening. To decide what to do next.

Although a number of unions, including the Teamsters, had already decided to strike by July 12, the Labor Council’s Strike Committee had not yet formally acted. It was in the auditorium of the Labor Temple where the vote was taken that sent the 175 unions of the SF Labor Council out on strike in support of the Longshoremen and Seafarers. The new General Strike Committee had already written up the motion. You would recognize many of the names on that strike committee: Jack Shelly, A. Noriega, Mike Casey, and of course, Harry Bridges. The strike vote meeting was held on Saturday, July 14, with the strike to commence on Monday, July 16, at 8 am. The S.F. Chronicle of July 15 reported the strike decision inside the Labor Temple in a colorful description: “Amid scenes of wildest conditions, with hundreds of delegates shouting and scores of others in a condition approaching hysteria, labor made the most momentous decision in many years. Throngs mulled about the Labor Temple at Sixteenth and Capp streets during four hours…” Finally, a hod carrier by the name of Joe Murphy made the motion.

The historic San Francisco General Strike went on for four days, ending July 19, 1934. The strike was a success, opening the way to end the longshoremen’s and maritime workers’ strikes but extending beyond their demands to change the relationship between worker and boss forever. The maritime workers won the most contested issue, hiring halls with a union selected job dispatcher. Longshoremen won a six-hour day and 30-hour workweek while seamen won an eight-hour day. The solidarity with their brothers on the docks shown by the General Strike in San Francisco was heard around America in the midst of the Great Depression. Labor historian David Selvin called it a “new day” when workers acted from a new awareness of common grievances and common purpose, a newly recognized class identity that inspired workers nationwide.

1950s

A major social gathering area for the North Mission was the basement pool hall. Fees from its pool tables and licensed slot machines helped cover the cost of running the building, which had 21 employees in 1955. The Hall Association was forced to close the basement pool hall in the early 1950s as many working people started abandoning the Mission for the suburbs, causing a general decline of the building and the neighborhood. The SFLC considered selling the building as early as 1955 but decided to renovate instead. The SFLC took out a $275,000 loan to bring the building up to code, including a new front entrance. The basement pool hall was turned into a number of smaller rental spaces. There were damages to the exterior from the March 22, 1957 earthquake that struck the city, the largest since the 1906 earthquake.

The 1950s brought with it the McCarthy era and a renewed Red Scare focusing on unions as well as Hollywood. It culminated in the HUAC hearings and blacklists.

Transition into a community center

On April 5, 1966 Dow Wilson, the secretary of the Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers' San Francisco Local 4 was killed around the corner from the building in a corruption dispute. His murder led to the building being sold to Peter Blasko for $228,000. The sale helped SFLC pay off their outstanding loan. They continued to lease space as did other unions after the murder of Wilson. Blasko later sold the property to the M.K Blake Estate which held the building until 1989. By this time the building had become a community center.

The Mission District which used to be predominantly Irish

Irish American

Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

 and working class

Working class

Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...

 had been shifting towards a predominantly Latino community. By the early 1980s the building would be leased to mostly Latino organizations with a couple labor organizations, the local chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, which represented teachers at San Francisco City College and ABSCME Local 1650 CUCE.

Theater Rhino: 1981-2009

Theatre Rhinoceros

Theatre Rhinoceros

Theatre Rhinoceros or Theatre Rhino is a gay and lesbian theatre based in San Francisco. It was founded in the spring of 1977 by Lanny Baugniet and his partner Allan B. Estes, Jr....

 or The Rhino, was established in 1977 to produce original LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 live theater to explore "the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of our queer

Queer

Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...

 community" moved into the Redstone in 1981. The Rhino was the first gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 theatre to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...

 and is the "world’s oldest and longest-running queer theatre" and was the Redstone's 2nd oldest and largest tenant producing "an unparalleled amount of original work" shown in The Rhino's two theaters. The Rhino's marquee

Marquee (sign)

A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...

 and box office are at the Redstone's north entrance. After 5 years of major rent increases Rhino left the building on June 30, 2009.

Earthquake damage

After the 1988 death of Henry Hawke, who had been doing the maintenance and co-manager, M.K. Blake Estate sold the building to David Kimmel. Just as the sale was completed, the October 1989 earthquake struck the city, damaging an old add-on closet on the north wing of the building. The damaged section as well as an old water tower were removed. Kimmel who also had properties in downtown Santa Cruz went into bankruptcy due to damages to all of his properties. Brad Ahekian, attempted to reorganize Kimmel's properties but failed and abandoned the property in July 1992. The building went into court-ordered receivership that was held by Brighton Pacific. It was then picked up in September 1992 by David Luchessi, an investor of Kimmel's.

Redstone Labor Temple murals

The Clarion Alley Mural Project

Clarion Alley Mural Project

Clarion Alley Mural Project is an artists' collective formed in October 1992 by a volunteer collective of six North Mission residents: Aaron Noble, Michael O'Connor, Sebastiana Pastor, Rigo 92, Mary Gail Snyder, and Aracely Soriano...

 (CAMP), named after their first mural project on Clarion Alley

Clarion Alley

Clarion Alley is a small street in San Francisco between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets. The alley lies at what was once the center of a lagoon that covered the central Mission District area, although some historians dispute the existence of the fresh water lagoon...

 (between 17th and 18th Streets near Mission Street) announced the mural project to the tenants on April 19, 1996 after getting tentative support from the Redstone Building Manager and a grant written and won by The Redstone's multimedia artist project called The LAB

The LAB

The LAB, located in San Francisco's historic Redstone Building, is a not-for-profit arts organization and performance space founded in 1984.The Lab "supports interdisciplinary artists in the development and exhibition of new visual, media, literary, and performing art, with a focus on emerging and...

.

After obtaining funding and permission to go ahead with the project, CAMP members spent several months researching the history of the building at San Francisco State University's

San Francisco State University

San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...

 Labor Archives. They followed this up with surveys to all of the Redstone Building tenants, followed by several meetings, including the first one with tenants on June 19, 1996. Working color sketches were supposed to be presented to tenants on September 3, 1996, but delayed until October 25, 1996. The sketches were then taken to the Building owner who gave permission to begin painting the murals. The initial phase of the CAMP project was made up of nine artists: Carolyn Castano, John Fadeff, Susan Greene (a Redstone tenant), Barry McGee

Barry McGee

Barry McGee is a painter and graffiti artist. He is also known by monikers such as Ray Fong, Lydia Fong, Bernon Vernon, P.Kin, Ray Virgil, Twist and further variations of Twist, such as Twister, Twisty, Twisto and others.-Life and career:McGee graduated from El Camino High School in South...

, Ruby Neri, Sebastiani Pastor, Rigo '96

Rigo 23

Rigo 23 , born Ricardo Gouveia, is a Portuguese muralist, painter, and political artist residing in San Francisco, California...

, Lilly Rodriguez, Chuck Sperry and Project Director Aaron Noble. The project outreach coordinator was Mary Newson with the Lab's Laura Brun coordinating the administration of the city grant, which was part of the original $1.8 million Mission Armory Foundation money that was broken up by Mayor Brown

Willie Brown (politician)

Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served over 30 years in the California State Assembly, spending 15 years as its Speaker, and afterward served as the 41st mayor of San Francisco, the first African American to do so...

 and given to arts groups across the city.

On January 25, 1997 the Redstone Labor Temple Mural Project was dedicated by San Francisco mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr.
The lobby and first floor of the Redstone's walls are covered by the CAMP murals, covering the building's labor, Filipino

Culture of the Philippines

Philippine culture is related to Micronesian, Bornean, Mexican and Spanish cultures. The people today are mostly of Malayo-Polynesian origin, although there are people with Spanish, Mexican, Austro-Melanesian and Chinese blood. Geographically, the Philippines is considered part of Southeast Asia...

, Latino

Latino

The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...

 and gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 history that "reflect the building’s history and many uses" and are "commemorating key labor actions like the (1934) strike and picket by the Chinese Garment Workers Union and the formation of the Bindery Women's Union."

Six of the completed Red Stone Building murals depict the activities of the labor unions in the building (from 1914 to 1966). Chuck Sperry recreated the scene of a Labor Council planning meeting for the landmark 1934 General Strike, while Aaron Noble’s piece illustrates two important moments in the City’s labor history—when the corrupt union official Ben Rasnick was thrown out of the Red Stone Building by Dow Wilson; and, later, when Wilson was murdered by shotgun fire on April 5, 1966. Other labor-themed murals in the building are Isis Rodriguez’s illustration of the Bindery Women’s Local 125, which occupied the building in the early 1920s; Sebastiana Pastor's depicting the organization of the Chinese Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 341 in 1938; Ruby Neri (with Alicia McCarthy)'s personal work (in ball-point pen) on the theme of sign painting—an oblique tribute to Sign Painters' Local 510, which sanctioned the project; and Susan Greene's rendering of the Service Employees International Union's hotel and department store strike of 1941.

The remaining six murals reflect later uses of the building. Two are historical: John Fadeff's piece evokes construction of the building's foundation, and Carolyn Castaño's depicts ballroom dancing in the former Filipino-American social club. Others reflect the building’s current uses: an abstract piece by stencil artist Scott Williams for the entrance of the LAB, invoking a technological urban landscape; Barry McGee's illustration of immigrants floating to a new land; Rigo '97's "3/4 Water," celebrating the environmental organizations in the building; and Matt Day's small piece dedicated to the building’s many alternative media organizations. Later, a mural honoring long-time building tenant Theater Rhinoceros was added to the project.

There are also murals on the second and third floors. The second-floor mural was produced by the former Women's Luna Sea Theater Company, while the third-floor mural, located in the Mission Area Federal Credit Union's lobby, depicts modern neighborhood history.

The project was coordinated by interdisciplinary artists group The LAB

The LAB

The LAB, located in San Francisco's historic Redstone Building, is a not-for-profit arts organization and performance space founded in 1984.The Lab "supports interdisciplinary artists in the development and exhibition of new visual, media, literary, and performing art, with a focus on emerging and...

 which produces art shows and events year round in one of the buildings main theater spaces.

Redstone Tenants Association

The tenants of the Redstone started organizing and formed the Redstone Tenants Association (RTA) in 1999 to coordinate organizing around possibly buying the building and making general improvements to the large property as part of a general concern about gentrification

Gentrification

Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...

 of the neighborhood resulting in eviction

Eviction

How you doing???? Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms...

s and rising rents. San Francisco was experiencing a hot rental market with the dot-com boom that created high-paying technical jobs and, in the process, displaced both commercial and residential renters with evictions and skyrocketing rents. With the help of the Mission Economic Development Association (MEDA) the tenants obtained a grant to do their own economic analysis of the building with the intent to make a formal bid for purchase. A variety of entities were approached with the hope of finding a non-profit owner.

Landmarking

The first grant the RTA obtained was for $2,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...

, which was used to start the process of obtaining historic landmark status for the building. The landmarking took from 2001 to 2004 to complete. The city formalized the building's historic status on July 14, 2004, assigning it number 238. It is the second labor-related historic landmark in San Francisco. Exactly three years to the date of gaining historic landmark status, the annual "Labor Fest" did the first mural tour of the building and surrounding neighborhood.

On July 31, 2004 the Redstone celebrated the landmark status that had been bestowed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The event included a proclamation from the Board as well as Walter Johnson, head of the SF Labor Council, who presented the plaque to the Redstone Building manager and Betty Traynor, RTA organizer. The event included musicians, poetry and historic information about the building, along with union members whose organizations once inhabited the former union hall.

GLBT Historical Society started

Concerned with losing the history of gay men who were dying from AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

, Willie Walker, a gay nurse

Registered nurse

A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...

, started a collection of historical GLBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 materials including mementos

Souvenir

A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...

, documents, literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

, published media, and ephemera

Ephemera

Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters,...

 in his home in 1985. In 1990 he moved his growing archives into the basement of the Redstone, which became the start of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society

GLBT Historical Society

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society maintains an extensive archive of materials relating to the history of LGBT people in the United States, with a focus on the LGBT communities of San Francisco and Northern California...

 (GLBTHS). Walker became an archivist and curator for the GLBTHS which has become a community-supported non-profit organization and "internationally recognized museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

, archives and research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

 center." In 1995, the GLBTHS outgrew the basement of the Redstone and was moved to its new Market Street space.

The Redstone 2000

The current building has nearly 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) of tenant space housing over forty tenants and four theaters, including Theatre Rhinoceros

Theatre Rhinoceros

Theatre Rhinoceros or Theatre Rhino is a gay and lesbian theatre based in San Francisco. It was founded in the spring of 1977 by Lanny Baugniet and his partner Allan B. Estes, Jr....

, the oldest gay theater in the U.S. and the Redstone's largest tenant.

Today, its tenants include three theater ensembles: gay Theatre Rhinoceros, feminist Luna Sea, and the Latino El Teatro de la Esperanza. Other causes are evidenced by the groups' names: the Mission Area Federal Credit Union, the Filipino-American Employment and Training Center, the Industrial Workers of the World, the Homeless Children's Network, the Coalition on Homelessness, Hard Hat Magazine, the Eviction Defense Network, California Prison Focus, and on and on.

"We call it a microcosm of the Mission and The City," said Elisabeth Beaird, the administrative director of The Lab, a visual and performance art gallery. "Almost every group is represented: Latino, activist causes, the arts, gays."

Redstone Building today

The building lost Woman's Luna Sea Project in 2005, Spirit Menders in July 2007, Mission Agenda in 2006, Cine Accion in 2006, Homes Not Borders in 2006, IndyBay in 2006, The Homeless Children's Network In August 2007 and will lose the Mission Area Federal Credit Union in October 2007. Theater Rhino, the building's oldest and largest tenant, was forced to leave on June 30, 2009 due to staggering rent increases over the last 4 years. The rest of the building's tenants have also been hit with substantial rent increases over the last four years. A successful protest of a new round of increases was blocked in the spring of 2009. The Redstone Building is facing a tough new era. However, the Tenants association has formally obtained non-profit status and will be hosting a July 24 event as part of the annual bay area LaborFest.

Tenants

The following groups currently are or used to be tenants at the building at 2940 16th Street in San Francisco.

Union Tenants

• AFSCME Local 1650 CUCE
• American Federation of Teachers #2121
• Asbestos Workers #16 ref.
• Automobiile, Truck and Car Painters #1073
• Bakers #24 1947-1952 (1)
• Beer Wagon(Brewery) Drivers #888 1947-1960
• Bill Posters International Union
• Bindery Women's Union Local 125 ref.
• Bindery Local #31-125 (Men's local merged with women's in 1917)
• Blacksmith's #1168 1947-1960
• Boilermakers 1954
• Boot and Shoe Repairers
• Bottlers #896 1947-1960
• Brewers, Maltsters and Yeasters #893 1947-1960
• Brewery Drivers # 888
• Bricklayers Local #7
• Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers' San Francisco Local 4
• Bus Wagon Drivers 1947-1952
• Butchers #508 1947
• Candy Workers #158 1947-1960
• Carmen Division #1380 1960
• Carpenters local # 2167 or (2164?)
• Cement Masons #580
• Chinese Garment Workers Local 341
• Cleaners #3010
• Cleaners & Dyers #7 1947-1952
• Construction & Labors Union #261
• Coppersmith's #438 1947-1960
• Drydock and Marine Waysmen #3116 1947-1953
• Electrical workers #1245
• Fish Cannery Workers 1947-9
• Firemen & Oilmen 1949
• Garment Workers #131 1947-1960
• Hard Hat Construction Magazine 1999
• Industrial Workers of the World local 23 1996-2006
• International Longshoremen Association 1954
• Iron Workers local #377
• Labor Clarion 1915-1947
• Labor Committee on Intolerance 1950-1960
• Labor Video Project
• Laundry Workers #26 1947-1952
• Leather Workers #31 1947-1954
• Machinists #68 1947-1952
• Metal Polishers #128 1947-1960
• Metal Production Workers 1948-1951
• Metal Trades Council (Pacific Coast District) 1947-1954
• Milk Wagon Drivers #226 1947-1960
• Miscellaneous Culinary Employees #110
• Molders #164 (1)
• National Writers Union
• Office Employees #3 1951-2
• Office Employees #36 1950-1
• Painters Union Local #4
• Painters #8 District Council
• Painters #19
• Pattern Makers Association 1947-1954
• Production Machinists 1947-1954
• Professional Embalmers #9049
• Railway Carmen #750 1947
• Retail Delivery Drivers #278 1947-1954
• Roofers #40
• Rural Delivery Workers 1947
• San Francisco Labor Council 1915-1968
• SF Labor Temple Hall Association 1915-1968
• SFLC Strategy Committee 1947
• Sanitary Truck Drivers #350 1947-1960
• SEIU local Department Store Workers
• Shipyard Laborers 1947 (1)
• Ship Painters #961 1947-1954
• Signpainters Local 510
• Sprinkler Fitters #483
• Sweat Magazine
• Taxicab Workers #8294
• The Organizer
• Tool & Diemakers 1948
• Union Agency of California
• Union Key Tax Service of the Bay Area
• Union Label Section 1947-1960
• Union Labor Party 1947-1960
• United Furniture Workers #262 1960
• United Garment Workers #131 1947-1960
• United Taxicab Workers 1999–present
• Upholsters #28 1947-1954
• Waitress workers local
• Web pressmen #4
• Wharehouse men #12 1950-3

Non Union Organizations

• 415 Records
• 4SD (computer consulting)
• 500 Years Coalition (First Nation's anniversary)
• Abalone Alliance
• Academic Research Information System (ARIS)
• Agit Spin Productions
• Alcoholics Annonymous
• Alpha Graphics
• Balone Print Coop
• Bay Area Girls Network
• Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (AIDS)
• BAVAC
• Bay View/Hunters Point Neighborhood Assoc. (handicapped)
• William Becker
• Big Mountain Support Group
• BikeAid
• Bolerium Books
• Cafe Gaudi
• California Prison Focus
• CARES: Catholic Charities Project
• Catholic Charities (immigration program)
• Center for Human Development
• Chile Lindo
• Chile Resource Center & Clearinghouse
• Chris Daly for Supervisor Campaign
• Collision Course
• Comprehensive Communications
• Dan's Travel Agency
• Donor Network
• Don't Waste California
• EL-LA
• Eviction Defense Network
• Family Resource Development Agency
• Film Arts Foundation
• Fil-Am Employ & Training Center
• Fine Line Construction
• Regine Forbis
• Gay & Lesbian Historical Society (now known as the GLBT Historical Society
  GLBT Historical Society
  The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society maintains an extensive archive of materials relating to the history of LGBT people in the United States, with a focus on the LGBT communities of San Francisco and Northern California...
  
  )
• Global Exchange
• Green Cab
• Green Party SF local
• Grupo Maya
• Haight Ashbury Switchboard
• Health Fair Project
• Homeless Children's Network
• Homes Not Borders
• Indybay (Indymedia)
• International Indian Treaty Council
• Jackie Inc.
• Dr. Lastrei (sp)
• Latin American Resource & Clearinghouse
• Jack Lei DDS
• Jobs with Peace
• June 21 city celebrations
• LIP magazine
• Luna Sea (women's theater collective)
• MAS Media
• Mission Agenda
• Mission Area Federal Credit Union
• Mission Health Clinic Teen Project
• Mission Community Legal Defense
• Mission Foot Lab
• Mobile Assistance Patrol
• Neighbor to Neighbor
• New World University
• North/South Communications
• October 22nd Coalition
• Open Forum (Collective discussion group)
• Outlook (Gay Newspaper)
• Outsider Enterprises
• Pacific Petitions
• Peru Support Committee
• Philippine Resource Center
• Phreda Clinic
• Miquel Quiroz
• San Francisco Clinic Consortium
• San Francisco Coalition for Living Wages
• San Francisco Sane/Freeze
• San Francisco Sex Information
• John Sheppard Esq.
• Site Design Online
• Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
• Smoke Shop
• Tony Garcia
• Socialist Review
• Spirit Menders
• Spring Leather
• Temple Shave (barber shop: 2944 16th)
• Bob Edelstein
• Irving Terrel
• Joves
• Temp Workers Net
• Unifed School District Adult Education
• Video Activist Network
• Whispered Media
• W.O.M.A.N. Inc
• Women for Nuclear Disarmament (WAND)
• Women's health collective
• World Can't Wait
• Doctor Yeh (acupuncture)
• Youth Credit Union Project (YCUP)
• Mobilization for Aids

Artists

• Art & Revolution
• Bad Dog Jewelry
• April Berger
• Film Arts Foundation
• Scott Hewicker
• Circuit Network
• Cine Accion
• Club Kommotion
• Rick Gerharter
• Susan Greene
• Gary Gregerson
• Kulintang Arts
• Making Waves
• Molly Hankwitz
• Cliff Hengst
• Mark Huestis
• Jocelyn & Amy
• Luna Sea (women's theater collective)
• Laura Modigliani
• Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
• Teatro De La Esperanza
• Teatro Ng Tanan Theater
• Ben Terrall
• Tilapia Film LLC
• Theater Rhinosceros
• The Lab
• Benji Whalen
• Whispered Media
• Megan Wilson
• Jon Winters

See also

• 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike
• Eight hour day
• Harry Bridges
  Harry Bridges
  Harry Bridges was an Australian-American union leader, in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union , a longshore and warehouse workers' union on the West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska which he helped form and led for over 40 years...
  
  
• Labour Day
  Labour Day
  Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for...
  
  
• Landrum-Griffin Act
  Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
  The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 , is a United States labor law that regulates labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers.-Background:...
  
  
• List of Registered Historic Places in San Francisco, California
• Salt
  Salt (union organizing)
  Salting is a labor union tactic involving the act of getting a job at a specific workplace with the intent of organizing a union. A person so employed is called a "salt"....
  
  ing
• Strike
  Strike action
  Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
  
  
• Workers Memorial Day
  Workers Memorial Day
  Workers' Memorial Day, International Workers' Memorial Day or International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured takes place annually around the world on April 28, an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work.- Worldwide...
  
  
• The LAB
  The LAB
  The LAB, located in San Francisco's historic Redstone Building, is a not-for-profit arts organization and performance space founded in 1984.The Lab "supports interdisciplinary artists in the development and exhibition of new visual, media, literary, and performing art, with a focus on emerging and...
  
  

Further reading

• Gray Brechin, Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1999.
• James Brook, Chris Carlsson and Nancy Peters, eds., Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture, City Lights Books, San Francisco, 198
• Manuel Castells, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1983.
• Richard DeLeon, Left Coast City: Progressive Politics in San Francisco, 1975–1991, University Press of Kansas, 1992
• Antonio Díaz, “Race & Space: Dot-Colonization and Dislocation in La Misión,” in Shades of Power, 2000.
• Cassi Feldman, “Defending the Barrio,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, 2000.
• Brian Godfrey, Neighborhoods in Transition: The Making of San Francisco’s Ethnic and Nonconformist Communities, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988.
• Chester Hartman, City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2002.
• Beatriz Johnston Hernandez, “The Invaders,” El Andar, 2000.
• Anthony Lee, Painting on the Left: Diego Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco’s Public Murals, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1999
• Mission Housing Development Corporation, A Plan for the Inner Mission, 1974.

External links

• Redstone Building website
• Labor rights in the USA
• Labor Notes magazine
• List of San Francisco historic landmarks
• Early history of the California Coast: San Francisco - clickable map and descriptions
• World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area
• San Francisco State University Labor Archives & Research Center
• Lucile Eaves: A history of California labor
• The Strike by Tillie Lerner Olsen

Historical photos

• 1885: Mission Dolores
• 1922: Looking west on 16th Street
• 1925: 16th and Mission Streets
• 1925: 17th and Capp Streets
• 1927: 16th and Howard Streets
• 1927: Adair and Howard Streets
• 1929: Redstone Building

Redstone Labor Temple murals

• A gallery of over 50 images of the murals
• Photo of "Emporium Strike” mural by Susan Greene
• Photo of "Bindery Women's Union Local No. 125" mural by Iris Rodriguez
• Several photos of the murals