- The Luggage Store is as much tied to the world of the street as it is to the world of fine art. Were it not for the dual desire of its founders, Laurie Lazer and Darryl Smith, to be both relevant at a local level and to provide a space for the autonomy of art practice, The Luggage Store would be stuck on one side of the fence between art and activism. Their public projects and exhibitions have given artists a venue for making and showing work that engages with the public while also acknowledging its relationship to aesthetics. Laurie and Darryl began and remain instigators of dialogue, patron saints of street art, and forever changing and evolving creative people.
- Their gallery and cultural center are located in the densest and dirtiest slum of San Francisco—the Tenderloin and 6th Street corridor. At their gallery they have been among the first to show such widely recognized artists as Margaret Kilgallen, Barry McGee, Alicia McCarthy, Thomas Campbell, Ed Templeton, Clare Rojas, Shaun O’Dell, Neck Face and Stella Lai, among many others. Just a few blocks deeper into the Tenderloin, they have transformed a once-notorious hustler bar, the 509 Club, into a cultural oasis for the community with an ongoing schedule of poetry readings, music, stand-up comedy, performances, murals, installations, and an annual “In the Street Festival.” This past year they began to forest the alley adjacent to the 509 building—previously the neighborhood’s outdoor toilet and dump—into a sustainable outdoor commons where they hold classes, greening activities, exhibit site-specific art and performance, and where on the 15th of every month, people gather to have their clothes mended for free by artist Michael Swaine.
- Website - www.luggagestoregallery.com
