“Richmond Buzz” will be a recurring column on changes, tidbits and other news from the Richmond. Got news? Send us tips at tips@missionlocal.com.
The Richmond has seen better weekends.
Light rain didn’t seem to slow things down, but the San Francisco power outage left many neighborhood residents and small businesses in the dark, all through what are often the busiest two days of the year. And, on already dangerously unlit roads, Waymos halted traffic.
Power was fully restored as of Tuesday morning, and the utility was offering residents $200 and businesses $2,500 in bill credits. We hit the streets before, during, and after the blackout, rain and shine, to bring you the latest buzz from the re-electrified avenues.
Much of Balboa Street lost power for almost 48 hours. Legacy business Cinderella Bakery at 436 Balboa St. had no electricity for two days and had to toss all of its prepared goods, according to owner Mike Fishman. They planned to “start from scratch” this week, Fishman said.
Next door, at 448 Balboa St., local artist, photographer, and SF art world phenom Michael Jang had his window shade up at his less-than-nondescript studio, which quietly opened in the fall of this year and is typically shuttered. Jang confirmed that the activity inside precipitated another garage sale — the last of which was held in the Mission and attracted a line down the block — but he’s since postponed the redux affair.
About 30 blocks west, The Laundromat at 3725 Balboa St. lost out on over $20,000 in sales over the weekend, according to Alex Wolfert, one of its managers. Some 3,500 bagels that overproofed without proper refrigeration accounted for around half of the loss.
“And we had to throw out every single thing in the walk-in,” Wolfert said. “We had to get another Recology service to do a whole ’nother load because of how much stuff we had to throw away.”
Outer Balboa bottle shop Slake at 3239 Balboa St. missed out on the crucial holiday sales, according to the shop’s owner Daniel Lovett.
“PG&E fucked us,” Lovett said. “We’re not talking about 120 bucks worth of cheese, dude. We’re talking about anywhere between 12 and 15 grand in sales that I’m not getting back.”
The nearby Balboa Theater at 3630 Balboa St. had to cancel six screenings Saturday, and postponed its annual holiday party, which was scheduled for Sunday.
“The theater itself isn’t losing that much money,” said Harry Nordlinger, theater projectionist and manager. But, he noted, employees like himself lost out on crucial holiday tips and wages.
Similar story for clothing store Eye and Hand Society at 3425 Balboa St.: the store’s owner Eric Lindsey had to close up shop and cancel a closet sale event. The shop wasn’t making any money off the event, but Lindsey estimates that the shop lost out on a couple thousand dollars’ worth of sales.
“We’re trying to push people to continue to shop even after the season,” said Lindsey, who is also president of the Balboa Village Merchants Association. “Just to help us recoup whatever losses we can.”
With Laundromat back in full swing, they might be the Outer Richmond’s best bet for bagels — unless you find yourself along inner Clement near Batches, or venture to Presidio Heights for Boichik.
House of Bagels at 5030 Geary Blvd. closed this month for renovations. They’ll be back to serving New York-style bagels (if such a thing can exist in the Bay Area) by April, according to a sign posted out front.
On The Run Market at 4800 California St. and 10th Avenue appears to have gone, well, on the run. The corner store closed and left behind an empty space earlier this month. But the net number of corner stores in the area has stayed the same: just a few blocks south, State Market at 4751 Geary Blvd. and 12th Avenue reopened over the weekend after over a year’s closure. If nothing else, the corner store balance of the universe has been restored.
The same cannot be said of gas stations and auto repair shops. Marathon at 4501 Geary Boulevard went under construction last week, and the skilled mechanics there said they’ll be closed until mid-April.
The last night of Hanukkah on Sunday brought miracles of light to some lucky blocks. Storefronts along inner Clement Street were mostly spared from the outage: Dim Sum spots like Good Luck and Wing Lee lost no business over the weekend, with power to cook and keep food hot; the showcase fridge at Schubert’s Bakery also had power to keep cakes and pastries cool. Chinese-Jewish Christmas sales went on without a hitch, courtesy of Mamahuhu at 517 Clement St. and their red bean babka.
Richmond denizens sought refuge (and juice for their phones) at watering holes like The Bitter End and Steins well before the Richmond Rec Center on 18th Ave. became PG&E’s dedicated Community Resource Center; and restaurants like Hamburger Haven and Sewa Nepalese and Indian Cuisine kept neighbors (including this hungry reporter) fed.
Oh, and lest we forget the fine folks at Hi-NRG — the trendiest cafe in the world, by all metrics — had no issue caffeinating the masses, spinning vinyl, and selling fancy new merch.
This also meant that popular gift stores like Green Apple Books, Foggy Notion, Fleetwood, and Park Life were able to keep the lights on during the busy holiday weekend.
“It’s the busiest weekend of the year so it’s nice to not have to be closed,” said Park Life co-owner Jamie Alexander as he restocked ceramic vases on the shelves of the crowded store.
Vintage clothing store Rotations at 57 Clement St. was one of a small number of unlucky stores on the commercial strip to lose power Saturday. They kept their doors open in the foggy solstice daylight.
The neighborhood shops are still looking out for each other. At Park Life, Alexander said he “was more concerned with all the other businesses and the restaurants that couldn’t be open” than he was worried about his own shop losing power.
“The Balboa [Theater] is kind of okay,” Nordlinger said. “If you’re a fucking retail shop and you lose power on Saturday and Sunday before Christmas, that could be devastating for your entire year.”
Lovett, whose bottle shop lost immeasurable foot traffic, also pointed beyond his own store. “This is about our little economy here in San Francisco, and I’m just one small little rock in the stream,” he said. “But yeah, it was absolutely brutal.”
Many more storefronts than can be listed here lost a day or two of business. Consider spending locally into and after the new year.
That’s the buzz this side of town, at least until this Long December ends. Got tips? Email us at tips@missionlocal.org.
Happy holidays!