Justin Bautista loves the Tenderloin. It’s “the whole world in a neighborhood,” he says.
“You can hear five different languages when you go down the street, or you can get food from 15 different cultures on three blocks, you know?” Bautista said on a recent afternoon as he ran an errand during his lunch break. “This kind of mosaic of people and businesses and attitude is, to me, what makes any city great.”
Bautista moved to the Tenderloin almost 20 years ago. Nearly 10 years ago, he opened his fashion boutique, Tilted Brim, on Larkin Street’s commercial corridor in Little Saigon. In addition to sweatshirts with TENDERLOIN emblazoned on them like an alma mater, the shop features its own line, a selection of vintage (letterman jackets heavily featured), and merchandise (hats, of course) from various other designers.
The neighborhood seems to love Bautista back. On a recent “First Thursday” evening, which coincides monthly with the Tenderloin Art Walk, the store filled with people perusing the clothing, which hung among repurposed gym lockers. Many were happy to hang out and chat among shelves of trinkets, vintage cameras and other eclectic urban decor.
From behind the counter, Bautista animatedly greeted his customers, many of whom he seemed to know; he introduced himself to the ones he didn’t. Though he usually hosts a pop-up — in March, it was a Japanese streetwear brand and a Japanese hip-hop DJ for entertainment — this month, people just came out to support and vibe to the smooth indie music in the background.
“My business partner runs the Instagram. He’s like, ‘Yo, we’re open tonight.’ And people are showing out, you know?” Bautista says, looking around Tilted Brim. Tonight is a special extra opening, because usually, the store is only open once a week, on Saturdays. (Bautista holds down a full-time job at the Tenderloin Community Benefit District, where he helps fellow small businesses get city services.)
The pandemic changed things. What was once a lively business corridor with young people opening businesses and “shooting their shot” in a promising neighborhood, he said, changed coming out of the lockdown. Bautista noticed many of his neighbors closing up shop or moving away.
He had been planning a second store, but has since scrapped that plan and began opening the store only twice a week. Since taking on his new job, he dropped down to one day a week.
The arrival of fentanyl also changed things, Bautista said. Foot traffic on his section of Larkin, once “fantastic,” has fallen off to mainly passersby seeking drugs and torches and aluminum foil, he said.
On that Thursday evening, a few people holding drug paraphernalia sat on the sidewalk, just a few feet beyond the glow and hum of music and chatter emanating from Tilted Brim.
But Bautista is used to pivoting.
He spent his childhood summers in New York City, and developed a love for window shopping; he wanted to see “what the “older kids were wearing.” He decided then to one day open a sneaker shop, and worked at Nike during college, then Adidas once he graduated.
When he realized the high costs to reach that goal, he set his sights on a hat shop; he was really into fitted hats at the time.
“Imagine, like a New York hustler guy on the corner, wearing Timberlands and a jacket, like that kind of hat,” he explains.
During his 20s, Bautista worked as a bike messenger for the sandwich shop Deli Board, and became a part owner as that business took off. Ever-determined to open his own store, he ultimately landed in his Larkin Street space with his business partner and friend, Nate Torres. They opened the doors to Tilted Brim in 2016.
“You don’t have a rich uncle. You don’t have a trust fund,” he said. “So you go bootstrap and you go beg your friends for money, and you go pay them back. And you write a plan, and then you go do the plan.”
It was larger than he had anticipated for a hat store, so he added the vintage clothing and options from other designers alongside his own line of clothing and headwear.
Tilted Brim, he says, suggests an attitude: “It’s not only what you wear, but how you wear it, and how it makes you feel.”
The space became more than just a store. For years, Bautista and his business partner hosted a different artist’s “gallery” every first Thursday, taking down everything in the store and letting attendees drink and smoke and peruse new art each month.
Now, he lets other brands set up pop-up shops in the store, like the Japanese fashion line he hosted last month. Locals — some friends, some neighbors, some former colleagues from his days working at Trader Joe’s — model Tilted Brim merchandise. At this month’s event, some attendees shopped, but many just lingered in the store, sitting down or clustering out front to catch up with friends.
When he’s not at his full-time job with the community benefit district, manning the store on Saturday afternoons, or running orders to the post office during lunch, he’s also caring for his 4-month-old daughter, Luzon. He, his family, and his team, he said, all want the store to thrive.
“We’re just really stubborn, we don’t wanna give up,” says Bautista. “We always wanna be part of what is positive in the community, what is positive in San Francisco.”
I would look a fool wearing this stuff but the story is genuinely inspiring.
How can he cover costs – i.e. pay rent and PG&E every month for the store – when he’s only open four days a month? Numbers don’t add up. Really, how much is his rent? What’s his PG&E bill? Not to mention the fees to the city. Hard to believe this is a business, seems like a hobby that will end with him sticking his vendors, lenders and the landlord with his bills.
There’s a hint in the article. He’s running packages to the post office. So likely an internet shop.
Jeez louise. You see a man trying hard to run a business in this city while working full time and you’re this quick to judge? Never heard of online shopping? Check out https://tiltedbrimsf.com/