Bill Stone. Atlas Cafe.
Bill Stone poses for a picture at Atlas Cafe. (Photo by David Mamaril Horowitz / Mission Local)

Operating a cafe in the Mission is tougher than before, but still plenty fun, said Bill Stone, the proprietor of Atlas Cafe at the corner of 20th and Alabama streets.

“The reason why I love this business is, meeting people, talking to people, and just it’s never the same,” said Stone. “It’s like putting on a little show every day: Kind of like, ‘lights, camera, action!’”

The Atlas Cafe show has gone on for 25 years and offered a front seat to the Mission’s changing demographics. 

In 1996, Stone had a customer base of artists, musicians, hipsters and residents he refers to fondly as “the local nuts.” Then came a more upscale crowd moving into live-work and loft spaces. Next came the tech workers, but once the dot-com bubble burst in 1999, Stone saw a Latinx and bohemian crowd return. Finally, around 2010 to 2012, he noticed another influx of workers in tech.

For Stone, it doesn’t matter much who his guests are; if people come in, he’s happy. Still, he does miss the days of old.

“I lament that it seemed like San Francisco used to be more about art and music and books and political stuff, and less about business, business, business all the time,” he said. 

In the ’90s, the building, formerly a Hispanic bar called El Vaquero, sat vacant. Stone and his friends would work on motorcycles in the garage, which is now the patio. He recalled the building owner telling him, “Why don’t you open a cafe here, Bill?”

A year after selling the Ace Cafe at 1539 Folsom St., Stone knew he wanted to offer something more casual and less work than the Ace, which was a restaurant, bar and live music venue that closed in 1997. 

“It turned out, the neighborhood really needed a cafe,” he said.

There was less foot traffic in the neighborhood, which was Norteño gang territory at a time when the gang was more active.  

On the opposite side of 20th Street, the side that now houses Sightglass Coffee and Trick Dog, was a light industrial area that mostly comprised food processing facilities and bigger businesses, Stone recalled. Few places offered coffee; there was a deli around the corner, and the Universal Cafe, which was more centered on dining, he said. 

Atlas Cafe was a hit, and business picked up as more people moved into the neighborhood, said Stone, who’s lived in the Mission for 26 years. But it has become more difficult.

A federal PPP loan kept his business alive during the pandemic, and today business is around 20 percent less than it was before the pandemic. But, even discounting the pandemic, costs have risen all around, the greatest obstacle being the cost of living that’s made it difficult to retain good employees in a business with slim profit margins.

“You’re trying to pay people enough that they can survive in San Francisco, without paying so much that you have to charge $16 for a sandwich, because people aren’t used to paying that much for sandwiches,” he said. “It’s frustrating, because they should make more money than they do, but if you raise our prices too high, people will just stop buying.”

Then there’s the taxation, licensing requirements and bureaucratic requirements, among other hurdles that make running a shop more expensive.

The father of two works 9 to 5 to keep the shop going: He’ll fix the building and equipment and work behind the counter to make sure people have their breaks. As the general manager, he oversees operations and interacts with bookkeeping.

His lease set to expire in seven years, Stone, 59, said isn’t sure what’ll come next.

“It’s my whole life, really,” he said. “It’s my baby, and it’s my career.”

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David’s one of those San Francisco natives who gets excited whenever City College is mentioned. He has journalism degrees from there and San Francisco State University, graduating from the latter in May 2021. In college, David played five different roles as an editor at student news publications and reported as an intern for three local newspapers, mostly while waiting tables at the Alamo Drafthouse. His first job was at Mitchell's Ice Cream.

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5 Comments

  1. Bill is a gem of a guy. I have known many people who have worked for him and they have always had wonderful things to say about him. He treats his employees fairly.

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  2. i loved atlas for yeeeears– it was where you’d see Ron Turner from Last Gasp coming in like the King; it’d take 45 minutes for him to get from the front door to the back because everyone knew him.

    i was there a few weeks back talking with a new artist i met on mission like the two last artists in sf and we met at the atlas for a few hours and i felt like i’d invited him to hang out in Noe Valley with all the new masked white families from the new masked condo development projects walking down the street with their tiny masked children.

    we were the few colored folks around and the spanishy people went from LIVING in the neighborhood to serving the new folks.

    and i’ve nothing against regular white folks as i’m half white and my best friend is white so i’m not going there. i’m just …sad.

    so we decided not to meet at atlas again because it was just too damn depressing.

    however we’re close to your Dynamo Donuts and yummmmm…. they are hella good and this side of the mission’s still delightfully a bit gritty.

    (whew.)

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  3. My friends and I really enjoy the Sunday’s music events at Atlas café. With perfect use of the sidewalk and Parklet, the cafe has good food and nice workers that make feel welcome.

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