Marcus Books, Sam Jordan's in line for landmarking

Sam Jordan's Bar, 4004 Third St. and Marcus Books, 1712 Fillmore, were added to the preservation work list for the Planning Department of the City and County of San Francisco during the Wednesday meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission.

Both businesses are second-generation family owned concerns with strong community ties.    Clyde Colen spoke on behalf of Sam Jordan's, citing the founder's run for mayor of San Francisco in 1964 and his charitable and leadership activities in the Bayview/Hunters Point neighborhood.  Jordan, a former Golden Glove light heavyweight champion known as "Singing Sam" for singing the national anthem after knockouts, was known as "the mayor of Butchertown" an area of slaughterhouses just off the city's southern waterfront.

Marcus Books is the nation's oldest black owned bookstore, founded by Dr. Raye Richardson and the late Julian Richardson in 1960.   Richardson had owned Success Printing since 1947 and founded the bookstore after publishing a directory of the city's black-owned businesses in 1959.   He named it after Marcus Garvey and sparked a revival of the black nationalist leader's heritage by republishing Garvey's autobiography.  Marcus Books became the preferred stop for an entire generation of black authors ranging from Ernest Gaines, who grew up several blocks away, to Terry McMillan and caused national book publishers to begin signing black authors in volume.

Members of both families were among a group of black property owners of historic buildings who appeared at the land use committee of the Board of Supervisors in early May to object to the exclusion of black historic sites from the city's landmarks.  They followed up with a meeting with planning director John Rahaim and redevelopment director Fred Blackwell and preservation planners.

The five-year California Consolidated Historic Preservation Plan notes that only one percent of the state's landmarks are considered diverse.

Landmark status is coveted in many locales because of local, state and federal tax abatements and credits in return for maintaining the character of historic buildings.  African-Americans tend to live in older communities with historic buildings, but often are unaware of the advantages for tourism and economic development.

Greg Johnson, an owner of Marcus Books, complained that last week's 100 Black Men convention in San Francisco failed to include sites such as his in their itinerary, partly because the city had not recognized their historic status as landmarks.

By contrast, states like Georgia and Florida publish guides to black historic sites which are readily available in airports and train stations.

A context statement of black historic sites in San Francisco has been underway since 2008. This document has identified more than 400 buildings which merit landmarking individually or as part of an historic district.