Meet The Haight's Stan Flouride

Meet The Haight's Stan FlouridePhoto: Stephen Jackson/Hoodline
Stephen Jackson
Published on September 19, 2014
Local legend Stannous Flouride is accustomed to people picking his brain. In fact, one of his many jobs is leading historic walking tours of the Haight. A neighborhood staple since the late 70s, Stan shows no sign of slowing down in his unassuming role as steward of all things punk and beyond in and around Haight and Ashbury.


 Stan in 1978 (Photo: Jim Jocoy)

We caught up with Stan while he was in the middle of creating a mural on a gate a few steps up from the corner of Haight and Masonic, for which he received permission from the folks at Black Scale and True (he helps paint over graffiti on the space, as well as some other spots in the Haight, and they were more than happy to let him do it). 

The mural is a wheat paste mixed media collage depicting Hokusai’s “The Great Wave”, and is composed entirely of discarded AAA maps.


 
“The last time I used wheat paste was to put up felonious amounts of 'Free Bobby Seale' posters all over Washington, D.C.,” he told us.
 
Knowing the real deal when we see it, we decided to ask a few more questions.
 
Where are you from and how did you get here?
 
“I grew up in New Jersey and the first time I came to San Francisco was when I was in the Army. The discovery of a place in the world where there were no mosquitoes and no snow shovels was pretty appealing to me. That was in ’72. I moved here in 1976 and have lived in the same apartment in this neighborhood since 1982.”
 
Tell us about your involvement in the San Francisco punk scene.
 
“I worked at a bunch of clubs, I cooked at a bunch of places. I started washing dishes at the Acme Café. I also made a bunch of Thanksgiving dinners at The Mab (Ed. note: that's Mabuhay Gardens). The first show I went to was Sex Pistols and my ticket was paid for by Bruce Loose, the singer for Flipper. I’ve known him since he was 15. We worked at a toy store and a café together in Noe Valley. I was around from 1978 on. There’s a book called We’re Desperate. My picture is in it from the old days.”
 
What's the biggest factor defining the Haight?
 
“These days, merchants. Actually, Regis Philbin asked me the same question." (Ed. note: Stan appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2000, winning $32,000). "Fewer and fewer hippies and more and more shoes. And it may not be pleasant, but I think gentrification is the natural course of events in most cases."

"Looking for cheap rent, artists are less picky and actually like to be in more sketchy neighborhoods. When I moved into my building, you could get speed, coke, and heroin in three different apartments, something that was not uncommon at the time. Then, a couple of cafes move in to serve people who live in these neighborhoods. In this neighborhood, it was gay hippies that brought it back to life. There was a disturbingly homophobic response to the first businesses opened here by gay men … The only way to afford living in San Francisco is to find a place you can just barely afford and stay there until you die.”
 
Is punk dead?
 
"Nope, but I find it amusing that most people I knew back then think that street punks today are more hardcore then we were then, when in fact, it’s mostly just costumes and theatrics, the same as it was back then. When that book first came out, I took it and sat down next to some kids on the street and asked, 'Wanna know what real punk looks like?' Most of them were surprised to see pictures of average-looking people. I think these days, hip hop has that rebellious spirit. There will always be teenage rage, but how its expressed is constantly variable.”
 
Has San Francisco changed for the worse?
 
"Well I think the tech bubble is just that, a bubble. And like the dot com bubble, once the money’s gone, people who were here just for the money will leave. If you are here for the politics or the culture, people who aren’t from San Francisco can be San Franciscans, and if you’re not, you’re just a carpetbagger, basically."
 
How do you feel about the current state of street culture in the Haight?
 
“I think that most of the kids you see around these days are tourists. They are just here for the summertime and nice weather. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt until they do something that disrespects the neighborhood. If you add things to the neighborhood I think of you as part of the neighborhood. If you subtract things, I think of you as a parasite.”
 
If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?
 
“I’m going on a two month vacation to work on the Yucatan in February."
 
What for?
 
“I’m going on an ecological survey. I worked on an archaeological dig in Italy with the money I won on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and discovered the joy of volunteer vacationing instead of just sitting on a beach. You pay your room and board and volunteer to help scientists doing fieldwork.”
 
What’s the best thing that’s happened to you today?
 
“I had several conversations with street kids who were curious about what I was doing and asked intelligent questions about the process.”
 
If you could give an award to anyone in San Francisco today, what would it be and to whom would you give it?
 
“One of the coolest people I know is Art Bierman, my landlord and my friend. He was married to Sue Bierman, who was on the Board of Supervisors. He’s a Beat-era playwright . He started in Nebraska and became a Hellcat pilot in WWII…He got to the South Pacific when the war ended and never saw combat--something he was happy about. 

"Afterwards, he chose to end up in San Francisco. He’s written over 30 plays. He was a Philosophy professor at SF State for many years and long before Alice Waters was around he started the San Francisco Slow Food Society.
 
“The award would be for 'Keeping San Francisco a Livable Space.' By design, he charges people in our building below-market rates for apartments. He’s one of the best landlords in the city. He has a long-term view of his property being an investment, not just trying to pump as much money out of them as possible. By the way, he and Sue led the Freeway Revolt that stopped a six-lane highway from taking out everything between Oak and Fell and between Octavia and Park Presidio. Chances are, 'hippie' would never happened if that had gone through. As a hobby he translates Classical Greek and Latin into English. He has an apartment in Rome that he lives in five months out of the year. He’s in his 90s.”



Many thanks to Stan Fluoride for chatting with us. Stan's mural should be completed sometime next week. If you like to go on one of his walking tours, give him a call at (415) 863-1621.