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 urban folklorist Clare Rojas. Find the graffitied door and climb to the 2nd-floor gallery, which rises above the street without losing sight of it.
Two Luggage Store regulars you might recognize around town are Rigo and Brazilian duo Ogemeos. Rigo did the 'One Tree' mural that looks like a one-way sign by the 101 Fwy on-ramp in SoMa. Ogemeos created the mural of a daredevil graffiti artist leaping off the side of the Luggage Store building. With such poignant streetwise works and regular community arts events, this place puts the tender in the Tenderloin.
