Welcome to Mission Moves! This originally reported roundup reports on newsy Mission moves and happenings. Send tips and curious questions to annika.hom@missionlocal.com.
There are so many moves happening along the neighborhood’s busiest commercial corridors, 16th and 24th streets, it can make your head spin. Sometimes you need someone to make sense of it all for you. That’s where I come in. Let’s go!
16th Street
In a few years, one section of 16th Street will look totally different. In 2022 alone, it’s already starting to morph.
Much of the change is concentrated within a half-mile — the stretch of 16th between Mission and Dolores streets — and it all happened, or was announced, this year.
Has changed
Will change
Marvel in the Mission
Superior Automotive
Taqueria Los Coyotes
Giordanos
Mission St
Kilowatt
Valencia St
Firepie
Guerrero St
16th St
Arinell Pizza
Cauliflower SF
House of Hope
Bond Bar
Sour Cherry Comics
Gestalt
Has changed
Will change
Marvel in the Mission
Taqueria Los Coyotes
Bond Bar
Superior Automotive
Giordanos
Firepie
Mission St
Kilowatt
16th St
Cauliflower SF
House of Hope
Gestalt
Arinell Pizza
Sour Cherry Comics
Valencia St
Guerrero St
Map by Will Jarrett. Basemap from Mapbox.
In the past two weeks alone, my colleagues wrote how three bars are shutting down and changing hands (Kilowatt, Gestalt, and Bond Bar). Firepie Pizza also shut its doors. And that’s not the only pizza place in that area to shutter this year: R.I.P, Arinell’s.
As the owners told my colleagues, some of these closures are welcomed (retire already, Peter!). Other losses were bitter, as the pandemic knocked out favorite hangouts. Some businesses were shut down, temporarily, by external factors. Case in point: A fire shut Taqueria Los Coyotes and displaced 22 residents in the Single Room Occupancy units above, this February. (Both are still offline.)
At the same time, new life blooms on the street. Regulars of Giordano Bros., bereft at the sports bar’s closure this year, solved their woes by launching a similar venture called Rudi’s in Giordano’s old digs. Plans abound already for new bars to take over Kilowatt and Bond Bar, and at least one interested buyer has perused Gestalt. Finally, Superior Automotive has a secure tenant: The Social Security Administration.
Also new along the west side is Sour Cherry Comics, the brightly decorated, queer-owned comic store near Guerrero Street, which has a robust community-events program. Cauliflower, an all-day-diner-like restaurant with some French-inspired dishes, next to The Monk’s Kettle, quietly opened this September.
That same month, homeless youth moved into Casa Esperanza. Up until this year, when it became permanently supportive housing, Casa Esperanza was a vacant building; before that, it was the Eula Single Room Occupancy Hotel. And, eventually, the Marvel in the Mission, planned for 1979 Mission St. by the 16th Street BART Station, will welcome more than 300 units of affordable housing. But that’s a ways away, I learned; the city starts the developer process next year.
Just off 16th: Children’s Day School
Not too far from 16th Street is the Children’s Day School, which also reports an alteration.
The independent school asked the Planning Department to approve a new building to replace three temporary classroom sites. On Thursday, the item was routinely approved without a hearing, due to city code and the project’s exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Children’s Day School taught some 475 students from preschool through eighth grade in the 2021-22 academic year. In 2007, 2008, 2018, and 2021, the school renovated the historic building at 333 Dolores St., according to its site.
24th Street
Boutique
Up on the 24th Street Corridor, the owners of Boutique don’t say much. The store’s decor and merchandise, however, does it for them.
At 3056 24th St., Boutique looks like a five-year-old princess’s dream: Bunches of white and pink flowers are arranged in vases or hang from walls awash in bubble-gum tones. Pink is owner Karla Felix’s favorite color, Felix said, grinning.
“It’s something different on 24th Street, and in the community,” Alfredo Salazar, Boutique co-owner and Felix’s husband, said in Spanish.
Definitely. The store has a little bit for everyone, Felix and Salazar explained. The knit winter caps adorned with cartoon animals could be a hit among kids, the bedazzled Elmo denim jacket might attract teens. Men’s shirts are arranged in the back, and Victoria Secret’s panties are in the glass case.
Salazar and Felix opened Boutique on Oct. 22, 2022, after a friend who is renting the space let them take it over. The previous tenant, the discount retail store “De Todo un Poco,” closed earlier this year.
Business so far is slow, but that’s normal, Felix said. Expect Christmas sales and discounts.
The pair live nearby, at 24th and Folsom streets. Though both are timid, they are friendly and were excitedly prepping the store for customers when I arrived. Felix modeled a black beanie dotted with fake pearls, also on sale.
“The people should stop by and check it out,” Salazar said.
You missed Salmon Bar replacing Krua Thai, and there’s construction going on in the old Double Dutch.
Change is constant on that little stretch . Gone: New Dawn Cafe, Cafe La Onda, Adobe Books, IDOL vintage, Lou Lofranos, Rayon Vert, The Basque crepe place, 16th Note, Val 16 Market, Kimiko’s Fireside Lounge, Body Manips, Needles & Pens, Andalu, Azteca, Gitane Cafe, Bangkok 16, Dr. Bombay’s, Los Portales, Esta Noche, Benny Gold, ? Shoe Repair, BAIT, The Compound, B & K Cleaners, Katz Bagels, El Tin Tan, Kelly’s Burgers, Mainline Ice Cream, the original Rainbow Grocery (where Gestalt is now)?…….and many, many other recent and distant changes I forgot