Interviews with Infamous San Francisco Bippers & Thieves
It’s a familiar view of San Francisco. When outside journalists, bloggers, and film crews come to SF these days, the news is rarely about the next unicorn startup or landmark progressive legislation, the coverage is almost always about crime, open drug use, homelessness, and the commercial vacancies taking place in the Tenderloin and SoMa.
The cameras rarely leave a 4-block radius, unless it’s to get a B-roll of the Golden Gate Bridge or to show footage of Union Square stores being robbed.
This particular documentary is by Andrew Callaghan of YouTube’ Channel 5 News’. Callaghan first became a bit of a gonzo journalist legend on YouTube with his channel “All Gas, No Breaks”, where he and his cameraman would go to popular and unpopular neighborhoods across America, to festivals, conventions, and even riots, to simply interview people on the streets.
The Hoff Twins of Marin City
Sometimes this meant incredibly graphic admissions of strange behaviors, lifestyles, and even crimes, or rampant displays of alcohol abuse, to fist fights and mayhem. Although Channel 5 videos are clearly sensationalist, and the most graphic and extreme interviews no doubt make the final cut, there is an undebatable authenticity to the coverage.
Andrew’s videos are made on location and at events, usually with Andrew standing in the street and talking to the people that no normal journalists would ever approach or get to speak candidly. He has a knack for finding characters who want to flex on camera. He gets people talking, yelling, and rapping.
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In his latest video on San Francisco, Andrew interviews unhoused people, pimps, thieves, drug addicts, and police officers on the streets of San Francisco who talk openly about the life, the crime, and the culture. Andrew admittedly never really leaves the Tenderloin, but he clearly does do some research for the video’s narration, and the interviews speak volumes about the current state of Downtown.
In any case, this is a pretty accurate depiction of a tiny part of San Francisco, one that most locals ignore, and the rest of the world judges us for.
Jack The Bipper – San Francisco Streets
San Francisco Streets
