Tom Heyman remembers exactly where he was when he learned about the fire at 22nd and Mission streets in 2015: At home, watching TV, and seeing the three-story building go up in flames.
“I knew two people that had space there. A guy died there. So many people were displaced,” said Heyman who, at the time, worked across the street at the Make Out Room, and was agitated by the memory. “I just watched this destruction. So my blood was boiling.”
The conflagration inspired a song, “The Mission Is on Fire,” part of Heyman’s sixth solo album, “24th Street Blues,” which is being released today.
The tune is a nod not only to the fire that destroyed people’s lives, but also to the city’s red-hot real estate market, which was, then as now, fueling a housing crisis and making the Mission a hard place to live in.
“Here come the lawyers and the landlords, and you can’t tell which is which,
And the Mission is on fire, and there’s some people getting rich.”
“It’s shocking that we’re in a place that’s as wealthy as a city and we can’t get people taken care of in a humane, supportive way,” Heyman said. “It’s infuriating, and it’s heartbreaking.”
Heyman, a local singer and songwriter in the Mission, promises to tell listeners “’bout the 24th Street blues” on the acoustic record, which encapsulates what he’s observed and felt about the Mission District over the 25 years he’s lived at 24th and Vermont streets.
Heyman thinks about belonging. A lot.
“There was a really, really palpable tension in this city pre-pandemic, especially in this neighborhood,” Heyman said, noting the gentrification-fueled fights between San Francisco natives and those seen as transplants.
In 2015, during the time of the 22nd and Mission fire, several large and destructive blazes displaced dozens of tenants in the neighborhood, fueling speculation — unfounded — that landlords were setting their properties ablaze to flip and redevelop them. Still, some may yet get rich: The landlord of the 22nd and Mission site is seeking approval for a 10-story building that would bring in millions of dollars.
The chorus of Heyman’s song “24th Street Blues” is his way of acknowledging that, even though he’s not from San Francisco — he grew up in New Jersey and spent time elsewhere in the East Coast until moving to the city when he was 35 — he has paid his dues, and wants to tell the story of the neighborhood.
“If it takes from now ’til kingdom come
You’ll never hear me say, ‘I paid my dues‘
Promise not to ask where I come from.”
Heyman knows the Mission well, and has his favorite spots: He regularly buys crabs and oysters from Sun Fat Seafood Co. at 23rd and Mission streets, grabs a cup of coffee from Grand Coffee at 21st and Mission streets, and shops at Stranded Records on Valencia Street.
He likes to walk up Folsom Street to Bernal Hill, and then back down, to get his 10,000 steps by the end of the day.
His days at the Make Out Room gave him the opportunity to observe city hustles. Heyman said he had to constantly deal with street life.
The scenes he observed and bits of conversation he overheard became material, jotted down and transferred into a big notebook he keeps at home.
Heyman grew up in a musical household. His parents were both fans of folk music and jazz, and of performers like Peter, Paul and Mary; Pete Seeger; Woody Guthrie; Joan Baez and Gordon Lightfoot.
He took piano classes in the third grade, but found the guitar when he was 17 and never put it down.
He started out as a musician for hire, and played pedal steel guitar to back singers. Throughout the years, he also experimented with different styles of music.
His last record, “Show Business Baby,” was an homage to his rock-and-roll heroes and the British pub-rock era in the late ’70s. “It was a real un-self-conscious, loud, fast, reckless sort of thing,” Heyman said.
“24th Street Blues,” however, shows the other side of him, and is “quieter and more introspective”.
The album is accompanied by a 60-page songbook, illustrated by his wife, Deirdre F. White, who is an artist. It was, Heyman said, a team effort.
“I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of my musician friends around me. Deirdre worked so hard on it,” Heyman said. “Really proud that we did this sort of thing together.”
You can purchase 24th Street Blues on his website. Heyman is also celebrating the release of new album “24th Street Blues” at the Make Out Room on Sunday with Tarnation.
We just listened to this tonight. It is just wonderful – so poignant and spot on Mission.
Yup, Tom and I have had our conversations about that 22nd-Mission fire. You could almost say we bonded over it. That, and his great music and musicianship. I knew this would be coming for some time. Glad this article was written and is out today!