I walked by the old Rock Nation Cafe at 21st and Alabama and ran into Maha LaForge, who together with her husband Vincent, a former pilot, will be opening Bistro L’Aviateur (The Aviator). They are still working on the space — the opening will be late this month or early next month — but it is looking good. Laforge, who lives in Noe Valley, will run the kitchen and one of her sons will focus on pastry, she said.
I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019. 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 here.
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.
As founder and an editor at ML, I've been trying to figure out how to make my interest in local news sustainable. If Mission Local is a model, the answer might be that you - the readers - reward steady and smart content. As a thank you for that support we work every day to make our content even better.
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Sad to hear Rock Nation is gone. I liked those guys. A “Heavy Metal themed cafe” is truly unique. They told me they were trying to expand and serve more food and were having problems with the city permits.
A “Heavy Metal themed cafe” is hardly unique:
http://www.hardrock.com/
Welcome to the neighborhood. I miss Rock Nation, but happy to have some new places around.
21st & 20th streets are becoming this safe haven for the wealthy.
Well Jess, you can always hang out at 16th/mission…the plaza calling your name…
I guess you prefer vacant storefronts? Or were you a huge fan of Rock Nation? If so, you should have spent more money there. I liked those guys and went there all the time. They just couldn’t get enough business coming their way.
Not sure what you mean by that, but any place becoming safer is an improvement. Would you rather the area be unsafe? Or are you rich and happy you have a safe place to go?
Can’t wait for this to open. Hopefully it’ll be a great addition to the hood.