“Bayview Buzz” is a recurring column on changes, tidbits and other news from Bayview. Got news? Send tips to marina@missionlocal.com.
For years, Bayview-Hunters Point has had to do without a traditional bookstore, leaving Third Street’s Linda Brooks-Burton Library as the neighborhood’s main source of books.
That’s about to change, says Vanessa Lee, owner of Smoke Soul Kitchen. Lee recently filed a permit application to open Chapter 3, a bookstore and cafe, at 4512 3rd Street, between La Salle Avenue and Third Street.
Lee went to school in the Fillmore, just a five-minute walk away from the legendary Black-owned bookstore Marcus Books.
“I saw how it brought the community together,” Lee said of the bookstore, which left the Fillmore in 2014 and is now based in Oakland.
She remembers, as a kindergartner, reading a poem at a spoken-word event there. “I wanted to put together a place that people will really like and that we deserve.”
Like Marcus Books, Lee plans to host readings, arts, and performance events, as well as provide a place where customers can exchange used books by Black authors for a new read.
The last bookstore in Bayview-Hunters Point, Just A Touch Christian Bookstore, closed more than two years ago after the store struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and only offered select books related to Christianity.
The hybrid cafe and bookstore will take over a former MetroPCS storefront, which closed shortly after the pandemic. Lee also plans to serve food at the cafe, including brunch on the weekends, and host a wine bar at night. “It’s a fun, fun space,” said Lee.
Chapter 3 is one of nine Bayview businesses awarded Storefront Opportunity Grants this year from the city’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development.
The news of the grants comes shortly after the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center and the Harvard Business School published a joint project on how to bring more business and foot traffic to Bayview’s Third Street corridor, which has struggled to recover from the pandemic.
The study recommended expanding the neighborhood’s arts and music scene, including supporting the opening of a bookstore or cafe. With Chapter 3, Third Street is gaining both.
Those nine new Bayview businesses awarded grants by the city make up approximately 23 percent of all grants awarded by the Office of Economic & Workforce Development during this particular grant cycle.
The other eight include a long-awaited pharmacy, the new Bayview Makers District Makeshop and Market, and seven new restaurants and cafes, including an oyster bar, a coffee shop, and a Panamanian Southern restaurant named Properly Seasoned Kitchen.
Chef Kyle McGrath has been operating Properly Seasoned Kitchen as a pop-up for years, most recently in Oakland, but has dreamed of his own brick-and-mortar restaurant for decades.
“I had been trying for a while,” said McGrath. “I put in the work to run a business and run food as well, I have been tugging away at this for so long.”
The grant, McGrath says, was “a tremendous help.”
The Office of Economic and Workforce Development ushered McGrath through the granting process and worked closely with him to connect him to local tradesmen to remodel what was the former restaurant space of Golden City Inn Chinese Cuisine at 5131 Third Street, at Third Street and Shafter Avenue.
Properly Seasoned Kitchen will offer a mix of upscale and fast-casual menu items.
“It’s a kind of soul food and everything cuisine,” said McGrath, who is also applying for an alcohol license to add a full bar. “It’s going to be a real destination,” said McGrath, adding that he expects to open in mid-September.
Earlier this year, the mayor’s office eliminated many of the constraints that were formerly required to throw a block party in San Francisco, including waiving a mandate to appear for a public hearing, and digitizing the permit application process.
That, plus the neighborhood’s characteristically sunny weather, has made for a summer of block parties. Up next, Punkin’s 1 Stop Beauty Bar is hosting another block party on Saturday, July 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Expect cotton candy, candy apples, and a big bouncy castle at Mendell Street and Newcomb Avenue.
“You know what makes this neighborhood so special?” said Stephanie Pelesauma, who is helping put on the block party, in an Instagram video posted to the beauty supply store’s social media. “It’s the history, the culture, but it’s also the people — so we need you to come out and build community with us.”
“Get on the dance floor. Let’s get our groove on,” urged Pelesauma.
