Okay, here’s an exercise in crowd sourcing.  There’s definitely dry walling going on inside the old home of the much beloved  Slanted Door on Valencia Street and the vacancies next door.

About eight years ago,  Charles Phan, the owner,  wanted to expand the restaurant but ran into trouble with neighbors and the permitting process and moved downtown instead. The Phan-owned properties – 580, 582 and 584 – have sat vacant ever since (except for a brief period this winter of a by appointment gallery at 584) and through the years, Phan has promised to return to the Mission and reopen.

But since then, however,  Phan’s been distracted with other projects, such as  Heaven’s Dog in the SOMA Grand, and  Out the Door locations.

What it looked like in May, 2009.

Workers on Valencia Street said Wednesday morning that they were uncertain of what the space would become.  One worker said he thought they planned four entrances, which could indicate that the three vacancies will be kept separate and a fourth added. But this is all speculation.

There are calls into Phan, but so far no word. Does anyone out there know anything?

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Founder/Executive Editor. I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019 when I retired. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still there.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how you make that long-held interest in local news sustainable. The answer continues to elude me.

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2 Comments

  1. for reals “much beloved”? Is this editorial or news journalism. Prior to the slanted door the spaces provided a laundromat, alterations… a real service to working peoples in the community. It has become harder and harder for working families still living on/near valencia to find some affordable goods and services

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