The History of 509 the short version: The 509 cultural center was founded in 1987 by a multicultural, all volunteer group of Tenderloin residents (and a couple others) who lived in the Aarti Cooperative Hotel; their purpose was to establish an arts presence which supported the work of new and emerging artists from the Tenderloin and other areas. the long version working on this... in the meantime, you can read this... article by Jackie Sumell