If you read past the AI news, today’s Twitter tea was this article from Mission Local about Cinderella Bakery opening in the Mission. Headline: this is great news. City favorite Cinderella will open on 24th Street by the end of the month. Their Richmond storefront has been there 70 years. If you haven’t had the sour cream cake, I strongly recommend. I keep their pelmeni in my freezer.
If you dig a little deeper, you’ll read that the Cinderella owner bought the property intending to open a second storefront in 2018. 8 years ago! Yes, pandemic closures & obtaining bank loans made opening difficult, but so did a lengthy city code adherence process. I understand the need to maintain neighborhood character and prevent chains or big box stores from ruining the Mission. I also believe that if a storefront is going to be vacant and a 70-year-old one-store bakery wants to open their second location in that space, the city should make it easy for them to do so. If you know more about this saga, please DM.
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Grab Bag (almost all San Francisco today!):
Goddess Emily Sundberg wrote today about where former Substack employees work. Former COO Fiona Monga and former VP of Product Sachin Monga are working on Porches, “a dedicated app for Petaluma with original storytelling and live programming.” I love the idea, I love the design, and I’m excited for what’s to come. I think we’re going to continue to see more technology and social platforms encouraging + enabling offline connection.
“The San Francisco Bay Area has not been in drought for almost 1300 days.” You may add 15 sec to your shower tomorrow in celebration.
Neil Mehta of Greenoaks Capital continues to purchase vacant storefronts on the Fillmore Corridor. Via his nonprofit Upper Fillmore, Mehta just purchased 2035-2047 Fillmore Street. Mehta’s known for reviving Clay Theatre.
Reader Dylan K. sent a note about last week’s post on the San Francisco Bar Pilots, below. Thank you, Dylan K., for nudging readers to watch The High-Stakes World of San Francisco’s Bar Pilots.
Tartine is opening in Marin. They previously announced another new location in downtown. Blue Bottle and Tartine halted their merger in 2015 (seems like to the detriment of BB, and the success of Tartine). More than a decade later, Tartine seems to have renewed growth ambition. I’m curious to learn more.
In our only non-SF news of the day & apropos of nothing, I’m excited about Ari Emanuel’s memoir coming out in September. Can Hollywood’s power broker get his brother to the White House?