Mission Buzz is a regular update on changes, tidbits and other news from the Mission’s commercial corridors. Got news? Send to tips at tips@missionlocal.com.
The reopening of the San Francisco Public Library’s Mission Branch is now slated for October, according to an update given by the library’s facilities director, John Cunha, to the library commission last week.
Andrew Sohn, an architect at the Department of Public Works and the project’s director, told Mission Local in October that the renovation was expected to be mostly complete by March of this year, with an opening date to follow shortly after.
The latest delay comes as a result of utility hookups, according to Rachel Gordon, the Department of Public Works’ spokesperson.
“PG&E energization is happening this week, so we are just now getting power. Power hookup was the primary driver of the delay,” Gordon wrote to Mission Local. “Once power is on, we can start to commission all the building systems. The interior casework and finishes also could not be completed without the power.”
The 110-year-old building, one of seven libraries deemed a San Francisco landmark, closed for renovations in 2020 but pandemic-related delays meant that construction didn’t start until the summer of 2023.
Mission Local reported in 2024 that the construction was delayed by months due to neighbors’ concerns about over “shoring” and “pinning” of the structure, amongst other factors.
During last week’s presentation, Cunha said the project’s budget is now at $40.7 million. This is up from the total cost of $34.08 million posted on the Public Library’s website. Gordon said in October 2025 that the construction cost alone was $24.7 million.
Mission Local reported in 2018 that the renovations had a price tag of $19.8 million when they were first unveiled to Mission residents.
In a recent email, Gordon said the project’s preliminary estimate was $30 million, with a working budget of $34 million. She also attributed cost escalations and delays to multiple factors such as: a revised shoring design; an increased number of ceiling access panels due to DBI inspection requests; the addition of refrigerant piping; an added domestic water backflow preventer; unforeseen site conditions for demolition; unforeseen site conditions for the revised structural engineering and construction delays due to utility cutoffs and startup at the beginning of the project.
Galería De La Raza was recently selected as a grantee in the first cohort of the Culture Keepers, a storytelling and media project funding the work of 21 artists and two cultural hubs from across the Bay Area.
The Mission institution, which was founded in 1970, also participated in the selection of some of the 21 artists forming the first Culture Keepers’ cohort. Grantees La Chucha, Shanna Strauss & Jess Sabogal, Violeta Luna and Paola de la Calle have all previously collaborated with Galería De La Raza.
The nearly $1 million grant for the entire cohort is founded by Tao Rising.
Galería De La Raza will use the multi-year funding as part of its operational revenue.
“The selection is an affirmation of the work that we’ve historically have been doing for more than 56 years,” said Galería De La Raza’s executive director, Ani Rivera. “To be seen as a thought partner, as a contributor to the larger arts and culture ecosystem is really powerful.”
The selection is also important, Rivera said, because it uplifts the organization’s voice at a time when they move to raise $3 million dollars for the acquisition of their second location at the commercial space of Casa Adelante at 16th and Folsom streets.
Currently, Galería has a lease to purchase agreement with Mission Economic Development Agency and Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation.
Neither Rivera nor Culture Keepers disclosed the amount Galería De La Raza was awarded.
Just a couple of weeks after taking over the former home of We Be Sushi at 538 Valencia St., near 16th Street, KiKu Sushi & Vegetarian filed for an on-site beer and wine alcohol application for another spot: 600 York St., at 18th Street.
The York Street outpost will be KiKu’s fourth location. In addition to the former We Be spot, it has locations in Berkeley and Lafayette.
The application is a person to person transfer from “Chez Bobo LLC,” the entity that owns Bobo’s Bistro, aVietnamese restaurant that currently occupies the space.
The wait for piroshki, pirogi, pelmeni and borscht for Mission District residents is nearly over. Cinderella Bakery will open its outpost at 24th and Alabama streets in late July, according to Lisa Nourse from Lisa Nourse Public Relations & Strategy.
Since 1953, Cinderella has been serving Russian goods to San Franciscans at 436 Balboa St. in the Inner Richmond. In 2017, the bakery was recognized as a legacy business.
Cinderella’s opening on 24th Street has been years in the making. In 2018 Mike Fishman, Cinderella’s owner, bought a building at 2937 24th Street that had a contentious history — some members of the family wanted to sell the building, and one had, until a month before the sale, operated a bakery out of the ground-floor commercial space called La Victoria.
At the time, outraged neighborhood activists demanded that Fishman make the space be available for La Victoria to return.
By May 2025, however, at least one of those early critics, Erick Arguello, president of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District’s board, welcomed the bakery to the neighborhood. Earlier this year, District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder successfully nominated La Victoria, now operating at 3249 24th Street, at Capp St., as a San Francisco Legacy Business.
The eighth annual SF Porchfest is this weekend, Saturday May 30th.
The free music festival turns porches, sidewalks and garages to music stages between the hours of 12 and 6 p.m. As many as 18 locations will be participating, from private residences, to neighborhood businesses like Radio Habana, The Chapel and Señor Sisig.
Additional information and full schedule can be found here.