Beloved Yellow Moto Pizzeria at 18th and Valencia streets is having its last day of service today after five years at the corner.
“I’m heartbroken, really,” said Allison White, 40, wife of Yellow Moto owner David White. “It always felt like an extension of my home, and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye.” Allison and David’s kids used to hang out in the back of Valencia Street Vintage, a small business right next door to Yellow Moto that Allison owns.
In earlier press interviews and on Friday, White and her husband David said that business has slowed. But other factors played into their decision.
The family that used to live four blocks away, at 14th and Guerrero streets, moved across the ocean to Valencia, Spain, in August.
“We did it for our kids. We have three kids, 8, 11 and 12,” said Allison White, who travels back to San Francisco every three months. “And ironically, my shop is Valencia Street Vintage, but we live on San Francisco Street in Valencia.”
On top of that is the passing of the good old days.
The couple started at Yellow Moto’s location at 702 Valencia St. in the spring of 2019 as Flour + Water Pizzeria, which was rebranded as Yellow Moto in mid-2022. The place was named one of the top 50 pizzerias in the country in 2023.
“We’ve seen a significant change in the last few years” on Valencia Street, said Allison White, whose husband is in Spain and was unavailable for an interview. “That sense of community … hasn’t gone away. There’s just less volume of people in this neighborhood, for some reason. Whereas I feel like other neighborhoods are not having that issue.”
According to city data, however, the Mission is faring relatively well: Retail vacancies in the neighborhood hover at 4.3 percent, less than half the citywide average of 9 percent, according to the San Francisco Planning Department. Sales tax revenue in the Mission, meanwhile, which is a gauge of commercial activity, is back to pre-pandemic levels, unlike the rest of the city.
An atmospheric river that flooded Yellow Moto in December 2023 also took a big bite out of its traffic.
Back in Valencia, Spain, the White family has also been coping with torrential rains, which have recently claimed more than 200 lives. While Allison returns to San Francisco, David is staying in Valencia to care for the kids.
White said they tried to be creative to save the business, changing opening hours and staffing schedules, but there are simply not enough customers to let them balance the rising cost of goods while maintaining reasonable prices.
Allison, for her part, thinks the Mission needs better PR. “There’s still magic here. And I don’t know why people aren’t coming to experience it,” she said. “There’s a narrative like, ‘If you come here, you won’t find any parking. You will get jumped.’ None of that is true.”
She’s also tired of the endless discussion on the Valencia bike lane.
“Every time I go, everybody’s always like, ‘Oh, you have to deal with the bike lane,’” she said. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I really don’t. I want to move forward. I want to go where it’s warm.”
And that may have played big in the decision. On Friday night, the restaurant appeared to be doing a brisk business and its tables are often filled.
Employees at the nearby Mission Pet Hospital were surprised when they learned about Yellow Moto’s upcoming closure from a Mission Local reporter. The place is usually full, they said.
That’s true, an employee of Yellow Moto’s other neighbor, Korean restaurant Matko, added. But that still means a slowdown for the pizzeria since, just two years ago, they would see lines of people waiting for a table, she added.
After announcing its closure last weekend, Yellow Moto has been filled with locals who came to say goodbye, according to waitress Aydo, who also handles some social-media work for the restaurant. Wednesday, for instance, saw some 60 reservations and more than 200 customers, including one who tipped an extra $50 for a $50 meal. That was a young couple who had had their first date at Yellow Moto, said Aydo.
Yellow Moto will stay open on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. It will keep rolling afterward if people are there, according to Allison, who said she will miss the community, the regulars and the mozzarella sticks. (Meanwhile, Valencia Street Vintage will remain open, unaffected by the pizzeria’s closure.)
“I don’t think any of us ever want this to happen,” said Allison, eyes glimmering with unshed tears. “I am hopeful that things will change. Unfortunately, we just can’t stick around anymore to wait for it.”
“But I feel like the neighborhood will bounce back.”
Sorry i was just in Hayes Valley and this is a real gem of a neighborhood. I live in the mission for 36 years and i never seen the place like this. And blaming the red bus lanes, the bike lane (good one!) for the ongoing problems is ludicrous. Pretty soon we will have dispensers of Narcan at each corner street and it will be mandatory to carry one on you ; Valencia will officially become a racing lane for kids racing their unlicensed motorbikes .The vibe is gone in the hood.Let’s get real and close the police station on 18th st, they are useless.
I call b.s. on this comment. When I moved to SF in 2000 the mission as a whole was sketchy. Valencia was not as bad off as Mission St., but it was still shabby. And since about 2006, it was way worse in 2020 during and after the pandemic when up and down 16th from Valencia to Potrero was a graffiti’d up tent city. Hilary Ronen could not give af. As for the bike lane, if nothing else you can blame it for p!ssing off at least half of the residents. So much for “community”-based decision making.
“the bike lane ” is aesthetically jarring, turning Valencia into a transportation facility with a significantly diminished sense of place and destination. It’s got to go, the sooner the better.
Spain is doing well. Not sure the same can be said for France, Italy, or UK. I’d be stoked, if I were them.
There are too many pizza joints on or close to Valencia, but anyway good luck in beautiful Spain!
Regular people can’t afford the rent in the mission anymore. It has nothing to do with bike lanes or bus lanes. Rich people just order their food to their wrought iron gates and never go out. Work remote, you don’t need to commute. If you have enough income you don’t need to walk for your groceries, meals, or sundries. Just order everything off Amazon or Uber eats and go on vacation to Mexico or Europe if you want to go outside. It’s not the bike lane that’s killing public life, it’s just what our society is moving towards as it becomes perpetually online.
More power to you. I admire what you do. Keep journalism alive and well.
Congratulations.
We will miss Yellow Moto dearly. We loved their pies and apps, and the vibe of the restaurant was always warm and buzzy. Good luck in your next adventures near or afar.
apparently a new restaurant is already lined up for the space ..
People are put off coming to the Mission by the deplorable conditions at the 16th St Plaza. It’s looks like the Tenderloin /3rd world moved in. I was by Moto today, sunny warm day, it was quiet.
Between that bloody bike lane, and the red bus lane on Mission the city really screwed the neighborhood.
I’m tired of hearing “the revenue is fine”, you can see it on the streets – the regular people are gone! When regular people are gone, crime goes up. Today I had to call 311 about a guy strung out lying in the road 1/2 block from here. It’s been a really rough 5 yrs since the pandemic for all these business owners and residents, we need leadership (Sup & Mayor) that are going to be businesses friendly and bring people back. It will reduce crime. Quit pandering to the thieves selling stolen goods on Mission St.
I am not a business owner in the Mission, and you don’t have to be to see this.
Best of luck to the family. it’s been a tough time for the neighborhood, and it takes guts to move on and start over.