i am james siegel the owner o of distractions. without richard all of all would not be here. he got us through every part of the process. i want to say thank you for this program. they say in a lot of magazine articles that san francisco is losing the soul. programs like this keep the diversthediversity and keep thel alive i came in 1972 at the age of 16. i arrived in hate ash bury when it was a boarded up slum. i fell into a good group of people called the switch board. i volunteered and worked for them. when i was 20 i opened up my first shop called the white rabbit. i was with partners. it didn't workout. then i opened pipe dreams in 1978. that didn't work out. in 1982 i opened distractions. it was never about the money. it is the love of the counter culture community and what the counter culture community continues to thrive. it has evolved over the years. it is my honor to be part of the whole nominating towards the historic district and i am working with san francisco heritage and proud to be a member of the community and part of the colorful vibrant city. thank you. >>

distractions as a retail store founded by james siegel in 1982 in the haight-ashbury neighborhood. it was originally geared to the large gay market that was spilling over from the castro at the time. it featured clothing and gifts and cards, and some smoking paraphernalia. the store also cater to local artists and was known for the monthly gatherings -- monthly gallery openings focusing on young, local gay artists. in 1989, a fire forced him to move the shop to its current location at 1552 haight street. he use the opportunity to change the focus of the store to go back to its hippie roots to cater to the grateful dead crowd and guatemalan imported clothing in 1984, he change the store again cater to youthful fans of the electronic dance music scene , and around 2010, the store began to add more of a victorian and steam punk look that was popular at burning man and began offering locally crafted goods that cater to the counterculture and festival communities. the property is located within the california register eligible haight-ashbury historic district we are recommending support