Raymunda Ramirez has called El Faro a second home for the last 45 years, the first 20 as an employee and the next 25 as its owner. Her run, however, seems to be at an end: Ramirez said this week that she will sell the longtime Mission taqueria after the restaurant suffered a break-in last Sunday, its third in just a week.
“I can’t continue living like this,” said the 64-year-old Ramirez. “It might take about a year or so, but I’ve decided.”
It was no easy choice: Ramirez loves her job and the restaurant, she said. El Faro, which claims to be the “home of the original Mission burrito,” officially received distinction as a San Francisco legacy business earlier this year after being a neighborhood institution since 1961.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ramirez sat looking at her newly replaced window, which now has a sign that reads, “Smile. You’re on camera,” reflecting on how the last 10 days have affected her last four decades at the business.
“I don’t want to sell it after all this time, but it’s difficult living with the constant thought if someone is gonna do it again,” she said.
Ramirez was informed of the most recent break-in on Sunday after she received a call from her brother, who lives just a couple houses down. The first two break-ins, which occurred the previous weekend, cost her $20,000.
This time, however, things were different. Before, the business suffered damage, but not thousands in stolen cash. The owners had installed cameras, there was no money at the taqueria and the intruders broke in through one of the three windows facing 20th Street, instead of through the front door.
Surveillance footage from a recent break-in shows a man breaking the window. He’s dressed in black: his pants, hoodie and a face covering. He’s carrying a gray backpack and wearing black and white shoes.
He proceeds to walk through the front of the restaurant and then to the back offices. At the end, he only got some old receipts from already-paid bills, but nothing more, according to Ramirez.
Ramirez said her brother insisted she stay home in the East Bay to get some rest instead of driving to the city late that night. But instead of resting, the only thing on her mind was El Faro, and the extent of the damage. She stayed up all night, but was back at work the next morning at 5:30 a.m.
“I wonder why this is happening? Why me?” asked Ramirez while reviewing video of the break-in later on. “I’m just angry — three times already.”
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that officers responded to an unknown suspect burglarizing the business last Sunday night at 10:43 p.m. They conducted a walkthrough and no suspect was located. SFPD previously said it had responded to the prior break-in as well, but had not located any suspects.
Despite the recent frustrations, Ramirez said she has seen love and support from the neighborhood she has been serving for more than four decades. A GoFundMe has raised more than $13,000 as of Thursday.
“Many people from the community have been coming to support,” said Ramirez. “They tell me they’ve seen me on TV, and that they’re sorry for what I’m going through.”
The support has not only come from locals, but also from others outside of the Mission.
Abraham Molina, the owner of Glass Solutions CA, a San Jose-based company offering glass and doors services all over the Bay Area, said he watched the news of what had happened to Ramirez after the third break-in on Univision 14 on Monday evening.
He felt compelled to help Ramierez replace both the broken glass of the window and the door, both of which until now had only been covered with wood. He charged the business a total of $600 for fixing both the door and the window, just the cost of labor and supplies; a job like that, he said, would normally cost $1,300.
“I figured, you know what? Let’s take care of her. Help her out and try to spread the word,” said Molina, who said he did not profit from the job. “I come from a family that had a dry-cleaning business for many years, and I remember how my mom struggled when they would break in the windows and the doors all the time.”
District 9 Supervisor Hilary Ronen said her aides have been in communication with one of Ramirez’s daughters, and have connected her with the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to apply for a grant of up to $2,000 whenever businesses suffer a break-in. A business can get up to two such grants.
“We’re trying to make sure she gets the help she needs,” said Ronen. “This is so unfortunate, and I feel awful for the owner.”
Still, Ramirez said her decision is final. Last Sunday night, when she heard the news of the third break-in, is a night she does not want to repeat.
“I lay down last Sunday night, and I couldn’t sleep,” said Ramirez. “The night was very long.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.
“Why me?”. Hardly comforting: Storefront businesses have been washed over by a wave of overnight burglaries. Bike shops, dispensaries, jewelry outlets, bars, coffee shops and so on. I’m done listening to the chorus of apologists and enablers. It’s going take an all-hands-on-deck efforts, from schools seeing to it that kids get an education, over police and the DA staying on the ball, to busting the open drug scene. BTW, sidewalk vending stolen stuff and drugs, trashing the street in the process, needs to go as well. That weekend bazar on the corner of Mission and 15th is still happening, why?
“That weekend bazar on the corner of Mission and 15th is still happening, why?”
Because people need to eat, and if they can’t find a legitimate job they’ll find a not-so-legitimate one. That’s been true for millennia.
3 times in a wk! Remember both Hilary Ronen, and Jackie Fielder both supported defunding the police, and look what we get. This didn’t happen pre-pandemic, it happens now because theives know there are no cops to catch them. We need beat cops patrolling the Mission to keep crime out and for our neighborhood to thrive. Especially these days.
There are thousands of stores in SF. Are you picturing the cops patrolling in front of each one?
More proof only marginal people matter in SF. If you actually accomplish anything of value in this delusional leftist city … you are the enemy.
You can always move.
Well, so, there’s the problem, isn’t it? Someone will buy the business. And that will be that. No harm, no foul, the City just keeps on truckin’…
Turns out one person is under investigation for these breakins, plus Kahnfections, Sisters coffee shop, and god knows how many others.
It’s a small number of people causing these problems who need to be locked up, pronto.
I don’t eat at food trucks, but when I heard one in my neighborhood was robbed I stopped by it and donated $5.00 just to show them my support.
Don’t forget to tell us that Crime Is Down.
Defund the police???
Asking a genuine question here, as a relative newcomer (2021) to living in the Mission: what has a more corrosive effect on our neighborhood (meaning it’s people, businesses and culture): robberies or gentrification?
If only we could gentrify the Mission, but residents keep voting for lax DA’s and enabling politicians, so we end up with robberies and no consequences. That’s the serious answer.
Thankfully the DA was recalled, but finding for the police is so low at a time when we need cops to prevent and address crimes. Crime spreads…. I don’t any of us want that.
You’re still going on about Chesa, huh? That was two years ago. Our current DA has had all of that time to turn things around, and yet, there’s really nothing to show for it.
The simple fact is that the police have been on strike since George Floyd. We don’t need more police. We just need ones that are willing to do their job. We need ones that are smart about coordinating their movements to apprehend side-show participants and burglars. We need ones that live in the communities they patrol and have a vested interest.
You’re really asking for more gentrification?
The problem is that people used to be longtime residents of the Mission and respected neighborhood spots. Gentrification does nothing but kill the familiarity and history of the area.
I guess my question is more, which is the bigger problem? When someone like myself (an immigrant) moves into the Mission because I can afford the (eye-popping) rent? Or burglars that rob a local business three times in one week, putting it out of business?