In July of 1984 the Democratic National Convention was being held at the Moscone Center. Tons of people went there to protest. They completely shut down downtown. 84 people were arrested on the first day. The Dead Kennedy's were there and they played out in front as part of the "War Chest Tour".

During the convention, there were nightly events where people could come together after a long day of protesting and rest or party if they still had the energy. As part of the ongoing neighborhood demonstrations for affordable housing, one night protesters climbed down and squatted in the Gartland Pit, which was on the Northeast corner of Valencia and 16th Streets. It was a burnt out lot where 14 people died in the middle of the night during a fire in the Gartland Apartments in the winter of 1975. Gasoline was poured down the elevator shaft and as soon as the fire was started the building was consumed in flames. It was a case of arson-for-profit. As part of the push in the Eighties for gentrification, a new building was going to go up on the site. With "the longest extension cord of all time", Craig Baldwin went down into that pit that night to project "squatting" films. Ultimately, the site was dedicated to building low-income housing. The neighborhood won.

Craig gave me a copy of drawing by Mike Mosher, formerly editor of the New Mission News. The drawing depicts the scene in the Gartland Pit that night, July 15, 1984. Craig is in the picture projecting films. Peter Plate is reading poetry. There are all sorts of punks camped out around the edges and people on the street looking in. There's even a Muni bus passing by.

A . R . E .

On many summer nights, Craig projected films onto the wall of the building adjacent to the Gartland Pit from the studio space of the Artists for Revolution in the Eighties, or ARE. ARE were on the floor above Valencia Street and had a window facing 16th. He'd project out of their window.

The Urban Rats

Today, you can go out and see a brilliant mural about the Gartland fire. On one occassion Craig said he wouldn't say a word more to me about the Eighties or media activism until I went to see this mural, which is on a Muni parking garage behind Best Buy on Harrison Street near 14th. In 1984, you could have seen a similar mural, depicting the horror of the Gartland Apartments fire painted by the Urban Rats, rising out of the Gartland Pit on the side of the neighboring building.

I went home and Googled the Urban Rats and Googled "Gartland Apartments Fire Mural", but nothing turned up. Craig explained that the Urban Rats mural was mentioned in the SF Chronicle, in the Arts section (which disappointed them because they wanted to be in the News section, front page if possible.) In the microfiche of the SF Chronicle at the Public Library, I found the '84 Democratic National Convention and I found the protests in the following day's issue, but I couldn't find any mention of the Gartland Pit. With hundreds of pages on so many reels of microfiche, finding the Urban Rats and getting a chance to see this mural seemed like a bigger project. I was running out of time. Now I regret deciding against burying myself under a stack of books during the library's closing hours to be able to spend the night locked in.

I was surprised when I found the mural behind Best Buy, but not in the way I'd expected. It's just as Craig described it except for the dancers floating from the sky and bouquets of flowers strewn about. The Gartland fire is there, but these bright colors and pleasant faces don't seem to be reminiscent of a mural painted by anyone named the Urban Rats, not that that would have been their intention. This mural is a new piece painted in 2002 and was used as the backdrop for a (very cool) public dance performance (which actually took place up in the air on the side of the building!)

Keep talking, Keep listening

Craig recently pointed out an interesting fact: the Urban Rats mural is still there, but under a layer of masonry. It's between the building walls on Valencia Street. And they may not go by the name Urban Rats anymore, but the people are still around. Former member Susan Greene is a prolific mural artist in the Mission and her murals continue to address political issues and combine activism and art. Recently, her work has been in need of protection.