Another Adventure to San Francisco

Today, I went to San Francisco for several reasons. First, was to have lunch a La Taqueria on Mission St. then have a slice of pie at my favorite spot there, Mission Pies. It was good as always. I had a slice of Peach Raspberry. Makes me smile....

Mission Pies

   

 Mission Pies fits the new style cafe look perfectly, with its re-purposed old materials mixed with the new and the solid Victorian home feel. It follows the locally sourced food and art trend too. There's an energy there that's undeniable. Great independent. Good food to boot. 

Then I went to meet my friend Ric Lopez, he and Carl are shop owners in Glen Park, to look at spaces there and talk about the possibilities. I like the neighborhood's potential because of the BART station and its sleepy undiscovered status compared to say Bernal Heights for instants which is seeing and influx trendy young folks. The people in Glen Park tend to be a bit older in general right now and the energy and people traffic is muted compared to the Mission District down the hill. I think this could change though if the right kind of businesses open up there and begin to add more interest to the area. They need some artisans to move in and make the place interesting to visit. If I can get there ahead of that it would be wonderful.

The spaces available are pretty limited right now though and there are three cafes in Glen Park already. That might seem crowded but its not because one of them has no business at all hardly and one is on the opposite side of the BART station away from the downtown. Bello's Coffee, the franchise, is centrally located and the most popular of the three; but its small and kinda of hard to see right next to the bank. No reason to cower away though because there's enough people traffic for all to be doing well. Both Cups and Pebbles Cafe are suffering from a lack of "place". Bello gets it and so it has a little following that keeps it busy. I'd be interested in Bello's numbers.  There are few little restaurants in Glen Park that call themselves cafes but they are restaurants to be sure and they treat their customers in that fashion. One reason Glen Park maybe so untouched by the hipster crowd is that there seems to be fewer apartment rentals in Glen Park than in say the Mission Dist. for instance. This could be a hindrance to business growth for the neighborhood. The BART station is what's keeping hope alive, but the local businesses need to make use of it. The farmers market Glen Park is hosting now should go someways towards helping but they need more events like that. 

Glen Park BART station

After leaving Glen Park I took a short detour over to Bernal Heights to look at a space there. Then I went to Cheryn's Auctions to see about a refrigerator and ice maker. I missed to chance to get a Manitowoc QM-210 in very good shape for $1000. I felt a little sad about that but I wasn't prepared to buy right then, so it was sold to the guy standing next to me. Bluh!  After that debacle, I went to Philz Coffee on Folsom St. and snapped this lovely shot.

Philz Coffee at 24th & Folsom St.

Felt like I could have been in a little cafe in the Bahamas. Love the tropical feel to the place. Philz Coffee tends to decorate somewhat on the kitsch side which I don't care for normally but this location has a certain coziness to it in spades. Again with the mix of old and new, recycled furniture, and attention to design. The place was packed as you can see even though it was after 3pm, when the evening crowds hadn't arrived yet. I guess I must be in love with the formula because I see many of the same elements in all the most popular cafes. It doesn't strike me as fad either. I think they are genuinely tapping into the second home feeling people want. Again is goes back to providing a "place" people want to be.