Partygoers cause thousands worth of damage in SF's SoMa neighborhood

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Partygoers in SF cause thousands worth of damage in SoMa

Four cars were vandalized and at least half a dozen buildings were sprayed with vulgar graffiti during an underground and unsanctioned street party.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Those living in one San Francisco neighborhood are angered after partygoers caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Four cars were vandalized and at least half a dozen buildings were sprayed with graffiti.

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There are busted-out windshields and dented roofs on at least four cars on Gordon Street in the SoMa District of San Francisco.

Fresh graffiti is everywhere in sight, most of which is too vulgar to print or put on television.

"There's just so much damage in such a short period of time," said Frank Skubal who owns a nearby business.

As for what led to this, pictures from Saturday night show a massive party. The images were taken from the hidden cameras connected to one of the vandalized cars. In one of the shots, you can see a man who decided to get on the roof of the car.

Multiple neighbors say this annual underground and unsanctioned street party started after The Stud bar closed in 2020. It's a famous San Francisco LGBTQ+ establishment nearby that was also tagged.

"The Stud was a trademark here for the community, I think it's been shut down for a couple years," said one neighbor. "Instead of going into The Stud now all the parties are here on the street. It's usually during Pride weekend is when the big party happens."

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"This one was worse, the tagging was comparable but the fact that they demolished several cars' windshields and hoods, what you have is completely undriveable," said Skubal.

An ABC7 News crew found a leftover lime on one of the broken windshields, a joint on the other along with some pills and an empty bottle.

"It was just really frustrating and tough to see that happen to my car when I came back," said Michael Kehinde whose car was vandalized.

San Francisco police showed up Monday to take reports. Neighbors showed ABC7 News new graffiti that could be seen all the way up to the roof of several buildings, as fire escapes were used by vandals.

We asked some in the area what else police or authorities could do?

"Come and patrol? I mean I don't think somebody would be destroying property if they saw a police officer here," said one neighbor.

"The bigger concern also is how could they get away with this? This didn't happen in five minutes," said Skubal.

That victim Kehinde lives in San Francisco but was planning to drive his car home to Canada in the next week or two.

Now he can't because his car is undrivable due to the condition it's in. At last check, insurance wasn't going to cover the costs to get it fixed. No arrests have been made and the tagging is still up.