“Richmond Buzz” is a recurring column on changes, tidbits and other news from the Richmond. Got news? Send us tips at tips@missionlocal.com.
Well, the sunshine came and went with the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. On the west side, grey skies loom in and out. But the Richmond District is buzzing with local business news. Here’s what we found along the neighborhood’s commercial corridors.
Another annual SF Art Week is upon us, and at least two Inner Richmond galleries are in on the festivities.
The 220 Clement Street gallery and bookstore Park Life has installed a shop at FOG Design+Art festival at Fort Mason, SF Art Week’s central event. It will be selling a selection of their books, knick-knacks, and curated art, like San Francisco artist Rico Duenas’ lamp sculptures.
If FOG fair’s $40 daily price of admission feels prohibitive, this year the Minnesota Street Project has introduced Atrium, a free alternative festival exclusively featuring local galleries.
Though many of the participating galleries are based in the foundation’s Dogpatch warehouse space, a selection of additional galleries in the Atrium lineup will include Clement Street’s own Public Land.
The plants-and-wares store will be showing works by four local artists in a space at the Minnesota Street Project.
On the subject of art, both of the (Richmond-adjacent) Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are worth paying a visit soon: the first late-night festivities of the year are on at the De Young Museum Thursday, and the exhibition “Drawn to Venice” at the Legion of Honor Museum begins this week.
The Balboa Theater, at 3630 Balboa St., celebrated a small victory this week, having successfully installed a “changeover” film-projection system without hiccups. For the uninitiated in analog film projection, this means no more intermissions while the theater’s projectionists change reels. Finally: somewhere to catch “Johnny Mnemonic” on 35 millimeter film, uninterrupted.
In other Balboa Street movie news: Filmmaker Kathy Trinh has chosen La Promenade Café at 3643 Balboa St. as a site to promote her upcoming documentary “Dragon Babies.”
The film, sponsored by the Bay Area Video Coalition, chronicles Trinh’s search for her kindergarten classmates, 30 years on. At La Promenade on Jan. 24, expect a free sneak peak of the documentary, and fundraising efforts like raffles.
Down the street at 3434 Balboa St., Simple Pleasures Cafe trivia night — “Simple Trivia,” as it’s affectionately called — has returned after a winter hiatus. Employees said they’re excited to see local quizmaster and man-about-town Rick Judge back on the mic. Stop by on Tuesday, Jan 27 at 6 p.m. for the first installment in a couple of months.
On outer Clement Street, two small businesses enjoyed the spotlight this month, thanks to a local influencer. It all started when San Francisco-based social media personality Hansel Fernandes, who goes by @hellahansel online, posted a video of a visit to The Art Bistro at 2960 Clement St., captioned “The Best Thai Tea On Earth.”
The area is home to a handful of local businesses, and is quiet but likely buoyed by its proximity to Lincoln Park and nearby public schools.
Soon after, Fernandes received a DM request from a 10-year-old named Tawheed, whose family runs Bistro Mediterraneo across the street, to return to the corner of 31st Avenue and Clement Street, this time to visit the Middle Eastern deli.
Fernandes complied, and posted another video. That second video has received more than 60,000 likes on Instagram. In it, Tawheed’s face lights up when he recognizes “Hellahansel.”
“He’s a really kind boy,” said Abdul Tawab, Tawheed’s uncle, in between helping patrons at the relatively crowded cafe Tuesday afternoon. Tawab helps run the family business, and he estimated that they’ve seen a 10 percent uptick in business since the video was posted last week. He also said the video helped his nephew gain confidence socially.
We’ve got news regarding Hologram, a forthcoming bistro-cafe at 2512 Clement St. Last month, we reported that the business was registered under the same LLC as Malama Matcha, an SF-based distributor of the specialty Japanese green tea which can be found inside coffee shops like Snowbird in the Inner Sunset.
Turns out, Snowbird and Malama are both under the ownership of partners Eugene and Anna Kim.
Eugene Kim said they’re going for a new “fast-casual” concept with Hologram, developing a menu of breakfast items that takes advantage of the space’s full kitchen. But they’ll still sell Snowbird Coffee and Malama Matcha at the new space.
“It’s still in the same family tree,” Kim said. They’re shooting for an opening date before the end of March.
Mai’s Vietnamese Restaurant is back! As we reported in December, the restaurant closed with only a sign in the window citing a “medical procedure.” After a two-month closure and a successful knee-replacement surgery, the restaurant at 316 Clement St. is back to serving classic imperial rolls and delicious cold rice noodles.
Big news out of Peet’s Coffee this week as the Bay Area-founded company announced that it will be closing several locations across town.
Employees at the 5201 Geary Blvd. location said they hadn’t heard anything from higher-ups about their location, and were cautiously optimistic about remaining open.
At 5801 Geary Blvd., restaurant/cafe AyDea has closed indefinitely. AyDea calls itself the “First & Only Tatar cafe in the USA,” serving up delights from the modern-day Russian Republic of Tatarstan.
But it has put a hold on serving its lauded halal meat pies and breakfast sandwiches, at least to the general public: According to an Instagram post earlier this month, it’s still open to catering events, and will be at the San Francisco Slavic Fest at the end of the month.
Let’s hope February sees Tatar’s return to Little Russia. AyDea did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Next door, the stylists at Krave Salon at 5809 Geary Blvd. have relocated to Twin Star Salon at 1100 Clement St., according to a sign posted on Krave’s window. Krave’s former Geary storefront remains empty.
At 5901 Geary Blvd., a new flower studio appears to be emerging. It’ll be a shared space between three entities: Two designers and one “School of Bloom,” offering workshop classes to the public.
This new florist arrangement comes after a couple of years of hardship in the space. In 2023, the space was to be a brick-and-mortar for Saltwater Bakeshop, which sells baked goods out of popular farmer’s markets like Clement Street and the Ferry Building.
In 2024, they struggled to cut through red tape and get through the city’s permitting process. Saltwater never opened its doors on Geary Blvd., but frosted glass windows bearing a previous bakery tenant’s name remain.
A few blocks down at 5527 Geary Blvd., City Discount Market #2 appears to have closed. The status of the business is unknown, but commercial refrigeration appliances inside the store could be seen unplugged and removed.
Inside Abraham Farmers Market grocery store, a new eatery is in the works. An outpost of Zee’s Munchies will soon be in operation inside of the 3931 Geary Blvd. grocery store.
Zee’s currently serves modern Dubai-themed pancakes, crepes, and other confections out of a food truck in Oakland. Abraham’s buyer, Mahmoud Gebrail, said Zee’s is hoping to have the operation up and running in the next few weeks.
Dungeness crab season is officially upon us, and Seafood Center at 831 Clement St. has plenty of live crabs in the window to prove it. And, at $6.99 a pound, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal anywhere in town.
But some 30 blocks west, at Gus’ Discount Tackle, shop owner Stephanie Ernst Scott knows that the best (and earliest) way to get your hands on a crab is to go non-commercial.
She’s been selling crabbing materials to individual buyers since November. Her customers, Ernst Scott said, have been finding success crabbing at Ocean Beach just a few blocks from the store.
“I have gone through 4,000 crab nets, which is a lot, and I’ve gone through probably 2,000 of those crab snares,” Ernst Scott said, pointing to the wire contraptions. “That’s a lot!”
That’s all the Buzz we got, from high art to bottom feeders. Got a tip? Email us at tips@missionlocal.com.