Carlin’s Cafe, a family-operated spot on 14th and Valencia streets, reopened last Saturday after spending the last three and a half years closed.
The cafe’s new managers, Matt Carlin and Julie Carlin Harrington, took over the place from their grandfather, father, uncle and aunt who kept the cafe open for 13 years. It closed in March 2020 when Covid locked down the city.
The family did not have the capacity to reopen the business at the time, as Matt’s father struggled with Alzheimer’s and passed away in 2021.
This month, the cafe has returned with newly renovated interiors and colorful talavera tiles around interior windows that let in an abundance of light. Customers can also keep an eye on their laundry swirling in the laundromat next door, which the family also owns.
Kayla Wren, who had just shared a few quarters with someone looking for change for the washing machine, said she had noticed the corner space empty “all the time” since she moved close to 15th and Mission streets a year ago.
“It baffles me that this space was not being used,” she said. “It’s the smartest marketing strategy ever and no one’s utilizing it.”
Sitting in the corner and watching her laundry on Friday, Wren said, she can now get coffee and a bagel, place herself by the window and people-watch, all while waiting for her clothes to dry.
“I’m gonna do girly laundry dates and such with my friends,” she said with visible excitement. “These people [at the cafe] are gonna become my best friends now and they don’t even know it.”
With a menu full of best-selling items from the earlier cafe, Carlin’s serves sandwiches named after iconic spots in the city — the classic turkey and bacon is the “Golden Gate,” while the “Twin Peaks” sandwich has hot pastrami and provolone cheese. The cafe also wants to bring items like an horchata latte to the menu.
“The goal is just to have the entire neighborhood be excited that we’re back,” said Matt Carlin.
Carlin’s seems to be achieving this goal only six days after its re-opening.
Guybe Slangen, one of four teachers in the cafe on Friday afternoon, said the re-opening of the cafe was, to put it lightly, “well-received” by the community.
On the grand opening day, Matt said, there was not an empty seat the entire day and the line was out of the door.
“There were just as many people we’ve never seen before as there were families,” he said.
Before its temporary closure in 2020, Slangen said, the corner spot had always been a gathering place for teachers, parents and students at nearby schools.
The cafe was an important part of the community, Slangen said: “People there were invited to school graduations.”
“We felt a real absence,” he said of the three-year pause.
Someday in the future, Matt said, the cafe will hopefully become a community space that hosts events and concerts, or showcases the works of local artists.
But right now, “We’re just trying to be that reliable local cafe that people go to.”
Great neighborhood coffee shop. The Carlin family are the best. Glad to hear your back open. See you soon🍀
Campers,
I’ve seen lots of places open and usually it’s just one person wringing their hands.
There are about a half dozen Carlins wringing their hands and enjoying working in their own place and the atmosphere is wonderful.
I offered them an early ‘Lurie for Mayor’ sign from the Eskenazi interview series at Manny’s and they’re gonna confer and vote on it.
I have a ‘Free Palestine’ sign in one window and ‘Katie Porter for Senate’ in another.
A lawyer told me that Peskin will announce this week.
Go Niners !!
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Whoa, that’s great news! I was real sad when I saw them close for the pandemic. I’m glad they’re back.