Like a dandelion pushing through sidewalk cracks, this plucky nonprofit gallery has brought signs of life to one of the Tenderloin's toughest blocks for two decades. By giving SF street artists a gallery platform, the Luggage Store helped launch graffiti-art star Barry McGee, muralist Rigo and street photographer Cheryl Dunn. Find the graffitied door and climb to the 2nd-floor gallery, which rises above the street without losing sight of it.
Among the Luggage Store regulars you might recognize around town are Brazilian duo Ogemeos, who painted the daredevil graffiti artist leaping off the side of the Luggage Store building, and Clare Rojas, who created the Warfield Theater mural of women exchanging gifts across generations. With such poignant streetwise works and regular community arts events, this place puts the tender in the Tenderloin.
