When Mr. Holman stepped off a Greyhound bus from Texas onto San Francisco soil all he had was $500 in his pocket and hopes for a better quality of living. The beginning of his San Francsico story started at a local homeless shelter where he was added to a housing list for an SRO (Single Room Occupancy, a form of housing where typically one tenant occupies a single room and shares communal space with other tenants). He familiarized himself with the food lines of the Tenderloin like at St. Anthony's where he says you can get the best meal in San Francisco and GLIDE where he gets free meals, blankets, and clothes. After a full year in a shelter, Mr. Holman was placed in an SRO where just outside his room are three bathrooms, which he calls a luxury for a man his age. 

 

When I first met Mr.Holman we talked about family, his passion for playing the french harp, and our mutual love for country blues. It's a conversation I will never forget. Next time you see an elderly man strolling with two hands on a medical walker through Mid-Market, in and around the Tenderloin, and back through Mid-Market again, you can bet that it's Mr. Holman you're seeing. 75 years young and not slowing down one bit.