SF street artists thrive in 'grassroots economy'

(01-04) 12:43 PST San Francisco -- The stagnant economy has more artists out on the streets of San Francisco - not starving, but selling their work.

"I bring a lot of joy to people," said Kathleen Hallinan, 59, who has sold her handcrafted leather goods around the city since 1974. "When they come across something handmade, their mouths open and it's just kind of like, 'Wow!' "

Hallinan is one of 435 street artists licensed to set up their stands from sunup to sundown across the city, adding touches of color and character to places such as downtown, Fisherman's Wharf and Justin Herman Plaza.

The current enrollment in the Street Artists Program marks an increase of roughly 25 percent from 2008 - a jump tied to the poor economy, said the program's director, Howard Lazar. It gives artists, and anyone who can craft something at home, a job.

"This program has been here for 38 years, symbolically, like a Statue of Liberty," he said. "If you can create something with your hands, these doors are open."

Artists seeking licenses go through a screening process, but they're judged on their ability to make something on the spot, not on the quality of their goods.

Since the San Francisco Arts Commission created the program, 9,000 artists have partaken in what Lazar calls one of the United States' few "grassroots economy businesses," making a living by selling homemade crafts directly to customers. Including additional holiday spots, about 500 designated spaces are available, many through a lottery system.

"If it wasn't for this, I would be another person on the blacklist of unemployment," said Arturo Rincón, 40, who lost his job at a machine shop a year ago and now sells string bracelets seven days a week.

Golden era long gone

But street artists have seen better times.

"You're not going to get rich doing it like you used to," said Kevin Mark, 37, packing up his glass jewelry at Justin Herman Plaza on a Saturday afternoon because of slow business. "Sales are 20 percent what they used to be. If this was a cliff, I'm down on the bottom."

During the golden era for street artists in the mid-1970s, 1,300 artists had licenses, Lazar said.

Nowadays, street artists face more than tourists and locals with tighter holds on their purse strings. License fees have gone up.

A one-year license costs $664, and a three-month license costs $166 for the 2010-11 fiscal year, up from $616 and $154, respectively, last year. Between 1972 and 1984, a one-year license cost a mere $80 and a quarterly license cost $20. While fees have gradually increased over the years, it's happened only nine times in the program's history, Lazar said.

"The current fee is $1.82 a day, which compares favorably with a cup of coffee," he said.

Fees have gone up not only because of increased costs for the program - which generates its $262,000 budget solely through license fees - but to schedule additional checks for people illegally selling goods they don't make themselves, like sunglasses.

"It's really hard to compete with things that are from overseas, mass produced or designer knockoffs," said John Ammann, 74, who has been selling jewelry for 20 years. Artists who don't have licenses also draw potential customers away, he said.

'I pay enough city fees'

One of them, California College of the Arts student Annalisa Sher, set up her paintings nearby street artists' booths at Justin Herman Plaza and made several sales.

"I don't feel bad. I think I pay enough city fees as it is," Sher, 19, said.

Although street artists often sell near retail stores, they don't create competition because their goods are different, said Linda Mjellem, executive director of the Union Square Business Improvement District.

Salome Bryan, store manager of the downtown American Eagle Outfitters on Market Street, said the artists have never blocked display windows or drawn away customers.

"If anything, they create interest to the area for people walking around," she said.

While Mark said selling art on streets is "kind of dying culture" because many vendors themselves spend their disposable income on retail products, some people still prefer personalized goods.

"I like to buy from artists instead of big box stores. It's more meaningful," said Petaluma resident Debra Amador, 49, who browses at least four times a year.

Customers like her keep Hallinan on the streets, although they're not sure it will be enough to make ends meet.

"I still consider it a magical thing, such a gift from the voters of San Francisco," Hallinan said. "It's unique. I couldn't do this anywhere else in the world."

E-mail Jessica Kwong at jkwong@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle