The #TLTogether series highlights the incredible people who are part of the Tenderloin’s diverse community.
This week, meet Marques Marchand. He is currently a live-in property manager in one of the Tenderloin’s large residential buildings. And with his past work as a concierge at an upscale hotel, he brings the same hospitality and VIP treatment to the people who live there. He is also a writer and finds some of the best conversations are those through chance encounters with people on the streets of the Tenderloin.
Marques is originally from Portland, where he spent some of his teen years homeless, living under the Burnside Bridge. He then hitchhiked across the country and later found himself in San Francisco. Being a concierge let him keep living a bit nomadically—with minimal ties, a flexible schedule to focus on writing, and opportunities to travel. He had his sights set on Sweden before shelter-in-place set in.
“When I worked as a hotel concierge at an upscale hotel, I sometimes felt like an actor. But as a live-in property manager, I like bringing that same luxury experience to the tenants. It’s nice to be able to offer them that same treatment. Just by opening doors for them, saying hello, I get to meet a lot of really cool people.”
One of the things he loves most about the Tenderloin is the neighborhood’s diversity:
“The Tenderloin is by far the most diverse place I’ve ever lived in. In my building there are people from Russia, Vietnam, China, Jamaica—the whole world lives in my building! It’s crazy. And that’s what I like.”
He adds that he could imagine that this would still be a difficult place to be recovering from addiction, especially in the first couple of years of trying to get sober.
“I could see the environment resurfacing a lot of past issues—but I’ve been clean for nineteen years, so it’s a little easier for me. Before actually living in the Tenderloin, I’ve always stayed out of the area, thinking it’s all drug addicts that live here. But there’s this whole other community. And it blows my mind.”
Marques is the author of three books, Junk Knowledge: This is how I stayed sober, The Darkest Chapter: A Messy Guide to Dual Diagnosis, and Bad Concierge: A Wicked Life of Leisure. He is also currently writing a fourth book. As a writer, he is intrigued by the people he meets on the street, so many are like characters from a story, often with stranger-than-fiction stories to tell.
A couch left on the sidewalk that quickly becomes a place for an unexpected, and memorable meeting with another fellow human—to Marques, this is a classic Tenderloin moment.
But with a focus on addiction and mental health, both in his personal life and as a writer, the clear challenges and barriers for those getting support for either or both of these issues are something that weighs heavily on his mind. Seeing moments of chaotic energy unfold, manic moments, states of depression, and mental episodes are often too commonplace on the streets of the Tenderloin, and something that he hopes can change.
Marques volunteers with the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, as well as the Little Brothers-Friends of the Elderly, delivering groceries to seniors also living in the Tenderloin.
Next time you have the opportunity to open the door for someone…do it! And think of Marques.
Find more TLTogether features here.
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