NIGHTCLUBS: Success in a Sewer

On the corner of Turk and Hyde Streets at the edge of San Francisco's Tenderloin and just a wiggle away from the city's sleaziest strip joints, slumps a scabrous nightclub called the Black Hawk. Its dim doorway belches noise and stale cigarette smoke. Against one wall lies a long, dank bar minus bar stools; a bandstand, just big enough for an underfed quintet, is crammed on the other side; stained, plastic-topped tables and rachitic chairs crowd the floor. The capacity, when everyone is inhaling, comes close to 200, and strangely, the crowd...

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