The Bayview

Sam Jordan, born in Texas in 1925, moved to San Francisco after WWII, became a Golden Gloves boxer and in 1959 on Third Street opened the first African American bar in the city, which he named eponymously. In those days, that part of Bayview was called Butchertown for all the slaughterhouses, tanneries and such located there. As a leader in the neighborhood, Jordan became known as the Mayor of Butchertown and in 1963 ran unsuccessfully for mayor of San Francisco. His family closed the bar in 2019. 

Photo by Bill Carlson