• John and Matine Yuksel moved from San Francisco to the Midwest in 2020.

• The brothers and business partners lived in Iowa and Cincinnati while founding their startup.

• Sometimes they miss living in California, but love the friendly people and affordable prices of Cincinnati.

This essay is based on a conversation with John Yuksel, 33, and Matine Yuksel, 29, two brothers who moved from San Francisco to Dubuque, Iowa, in 2020 to start Beltways, an accelerated pavement company. The brothers then moved to Cincinnati in 2022. Their company is based nearby in Northern Kentucky.

John: We are children of immigrant parents who grew up in southern Arizona.

I always knew I wanted to be close to my brother. He's my only sibling. After college, we lived in San Diego for a few years and then moved to San Francisco in 2018.

Death: San Francisco is incredible. I've never seen such a diverse environment there and it's a world-class environment for companies, especially in technology.

John: Matine worked for Walmart e-commerce and later got a job at Apple. I worked as a lawyer.

We paid an incredibly high rent, but had the best view of the Pacific and saw the sunset outside our windows every night.

But San Francisco was in the apocalypse. During COVID, the streets were empty. It felt unsafe. My car was broken into several times.

Death: COVID helped us rethink and reprioritize things. Instead of working on bringing the next generation iPhone to market, I wanted to build a new product that few people have ever heard of.

John: Beltways is actually our father's dream. Forty years ago, he lived in Istanbul and realized that today's forms of mobility were not moving people efficiently. He came up with a modular design to make pedestrian routes ten times faster.

John and Matine Yuksel with their parents.Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel

My brother and I always wanted to do something together and years after our father came up with the idea, we started looking into it.

Death: We founded Beltways in July 2020. We quickly realized we had to move out of San Francisco. It would have been far too expensive to do what we needed to do there.

John: It wasn't the right place for our startup. We're a large hardware manufacturing startup. It made much more sense to be near industrial technology clusters. We wanted to be in the Midwest, where manufacturing is still profitable.

Death: John met someone with experience in the sidewalk business and he offered us a deal in Iowa.

We moved to Dubuque, Iowa in 2020

John: It was a very small town in the middle of the cornfields, an hour and a half from any airport. Dubuque is a beautiful, quiet town on the Mississippi. We could drive anywhere in the city in two minutes.

We practically lived in a mansion. We had a three-story, four-bedroom house for half the price of our condo in San Francisco.

Death: The snow was definitely a change. We got our share of physical activity by shoveling snow.

It was a different way of life. We had to be focused and Iowa was good because we didn't have too many distractions. The two years we spent in Iowa flew by.

The brothers said they had to adjust to small-town life after moving to Dubuque, Iowa.Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel

John: We built the prototype for the fastest walkway in the world when we lived there. It was a thirty-meter-long system and earned us our first VC check.

This was a huge milestone for us. We put all our money into this company. We quit our regular jobs. We refinanced our house. There was nothing more fulfilling than turning our father's invention into a commercial venture.

Death: It was a surreal day when he came out and rode the system for the first time. It was the icing on the cake to see his enthusiasm for something he dreamt up so many years ago.

John: We had to look for a new location for our company. The next step was to pilot our walkway. We were invited by several airports to do a pilot demo of our system.

We knew that CVG Airport in Cincinnati had a real track record of innovation and startup support. The area was also beneficial for manufacturing. It's super cheap. The facility we're currently in is just a little more expensive than my rent in San Francisco and is 20,000 square feet.

We moved to Cincinnati in 2022

John: We even moved our parents here. We wanted our father to work with us and be a part of the company personally. Our parents live three floors below us in our building in the Mount Adams neighborhood.

When we moved to Cincinnati, we felt like we were back in a big city after two years in Iowa. We have big sports teams and a big major airport. The climate is much more temperate.

The winters have been pretty mild so far. The spring is lush and green. You can kayak down the rivers and there are great hiking trails nearby. The air quality is great. And the summers aren't 120 degrees like Arizona.

I met my partner and now I have a child who was born here in Cincinnati. The city has become home for us. The company is here, the whole family is here.

John and Matine Yuksel enjoy a football game in Cincinnati.Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel

Sometimes we miss living on the coast. California is a beautiful place. We love the climate and the diversity of the people. San Francisco is where technology starts and flows out. It really is the birthplace of many amazing things.

Death: But the tech scene in Cincinnati has also been very good to us. It's growing. It's a tight-knit startup community. From the moment we got here, the community was so welcoming.

John: And it's much cheaper here.

Bringing our father's dream to life was incredible

Death: We started Beltways in a modest garage in Tucson, where my brother built prototypes himself. Now we're in a 20,000-square-foot facility here in Northern Kentucky, right next to our first airport customer. And we manufacture in the USA.

John: Our goal is to become an official partner of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and to provide temporary high-speed transportation.

Cincinnati is a great place to raise a family and run a business, and we can see ourselves staying there for the foreseeable future.

But our ultimate goal is to make our sidewalks commonplace and to spread this technology around the world. Wherever we need to go to make that possible, we will. This is bigger than us.

Read the original article on Business Insider

The post We’re millennial brothers and enterprise companions who left San Francisco’s tech bubble for the Midwest manufacturing scene. We by no means would have been capable of afford to launch our startup in California. appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

The original “Mary Poppins” is being called “racist” in a controversial op-ed in the New York Times.

The op-ed, penned by Linfield College Professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, accuses actress Julie Andrews of sporting blackface in the iconic chimney sweep scene where they perform the song “Step in Time.”

“When the magical nanny … accompanies her young charges, Michael and Jane Banks, up their chimney, her face gets covered in soot, but instead of wiping it off, she gamely powders her nose and cheeks even blacker,” he writes. 

Backlash on social media was swift, with many saying the claims are ridiculous.

But Pollack-Pelzner is standing by his work, writing on Twitter that the “chief reason I wrote this article was the hope that a Disney exec would read it, take another look at the forthcoming ‘Dumbo’ remake, and ask if there was anything just a little bit racist they might want to rethink before it hits the big screen.”

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The post Is ‘Mary Poppins’ Racist? Critic Says Iconic Chimney Sweep Scene Is ‘Blackface’ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Chloe Sherman’s new book and Berlin exhibition features her raw documentary photos of femmes, butches, punks and studs in the city’s vibrant Latinx mission district

June 28, 2023

When she was in her early twenties Chloe Sherman stumbled across a photo book and realized what she was looking for. It was 1991 and photographer Del LaGrace Volcano had just published love bites, a release that is widely regarded as the first photographic monograph of lesbian sexuality from an insider’s perspective, sparking controversy and censorship in both mainstream and gay media for its sex-positive portrayal of lesbian communities in San Francisco, London and beyond.

12Renegades by Chloe Sherman

“I was flipping through the pages and I wanted to meet these people,” Sherman tells AnOther. “This book was like my temporary Bible. I hadn’t found a community that I could really relate to, so I thought: where should I go? San Francisco was the focal point, so I headed there looking for a scene as interesting as the one I saw in the pictures.” The New York-born photographer, then living in Oregon, was visiting I traveled to San Francisco with a friend and the following weekend moved to the city’s bustling Latinx Mission District.

There, in the beating heart of the city’s queer subculture, she found her people. In the decade that followedSherman lit her own world of femmes, butches, punks and hunks, I’ve taken enough pictures to fill an entire closet with 35mm negatives. Now Sherman has published renegades. San Francisco: Queer Life in the 1990s, A book and an exhibition being shown for the first time outside of the USA at f3 – freiraum für fotografie in Berlin. “I always knew it was a unique time that I wanted to capture and cherish. It was on purpose, but I never imagined how historic this era would feel so quickly.”

In my Chevy Nova, Ace Driving, 1997© Chloe Sherman

Sherman moved like “a spy in sight,” as her friends described her, slipping into view again and again, using reel after reel of film in cafes, bars, bedrooms, tattoo parlors, beaches and the streets. She caught her friends mid-laughing, mid-step, mid-dance, mid-bustle, and mid-hug with the aim of preserving that “Liveliness, joy, tenderness and resilience” she looked around. “I always had my camera with me and took lots of photos. Every night of the week there was a club, an event, a band, a place to go and we did that,” she recalls. “It was essentially my extended family, and that’s why this work became so voluminous.”

As Sherman admits, San Francisco has always welcomed the offbeat—the artists, misfits, hippies, and renegades who went west. But the ’90s were a seminal period in the city’s queer history. “It was shoddy and homemade, raw and experimental and vibrant,” she explains. “There was gender research. The community loudly and proudly embraced gender diversity in public before there was even a vocabulary for it.” By blowing up gender binaries, Sherman’s colleagues departed from the more essentialist feminism of the ’70s and ’80s, leading to “clashes” with older lesbians who rejected their acceptance of male fashion and expression. “We were a new generation and created a new starting point,” Sherman recalls.

rear view Seat, 1997© Chloe Sherman

Like Del LaGrace Volcano before her, Sherman joined the San Francisco Art Institute mid-decade and merged her appreciation for formal art with a raw documentary styleIt captures the hustle and bustle of street and night life with a careful look at composition, color and the flow of movement across the image. “I photographed the outsiders. A group of people who aren’t accepted in mainstream society and don’t appear in movies or on magazine covers,” she explains. “But to me they were beautiful and it was important to me to present this beauty in a formal way.”

Sherman never left San Francisco. But the city she fell in love with, particularly the working-class Mission District, has been gentrified almost beyond recognition since the tech boom of the early 2000s. “San Francisco has traditionally been very accessible, and as inevitable as change is, it’s sad to see what I think are the most interesting people being pushed out. Your absence leaves a void.”

renegades. San Francisco: Queer Life in the 1990s by Chloe Sherman was published by Hatje Cantz and is available now. the accompanying Exhibition is on show at f3 – space for photography in Berlin from 30 June – 3 September 2023.

The post In Footage: The Rebellious Lesbian Scene of 90s San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Ashleigh Banfield and Liz Jassin

6 months ago

(NewsNation) – A HVAC technician was reportedly at the scene at the University of Idaho, and some are speculating that the technician could help with the investigation.

Veteran investigator Mike King, who hosts the Profiling Evil podcast, told NewsNation’s Banfield on Wednesday that people should wait with speculation until more information is released.

“You’re getting pretty close to the apparent end. Could it be that they are beginning to look into disaster recovery? Or maybe the heater has failed?” said King.

Murders in Idaho: Police search for white Hyundai Elantra

King, who was the head of a cold case division, says he doesn’t think the Idaho case “is remotely cold in any way.” King anticipates the students will receive more information through interviews after they return from the Thanksgiving holiday.

“That means you have to treat it like an unsolved case and start committing all available resources to support it. And this department has done a pretty impressive job of mobilizing state and federal resources to support it. “It doesn’t seem like there are any real egos standing in the way of trying to find out the truth,” King said.

On Wednesday, police said they needed help locating a white Hyundai Elantra (model year 2011-2013) that was seen near the University of Idaho crime scene.

The post Why was HVAC contractor on the crime scene? appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Rotimi speaks appreciatively of the relaxed nature of his relationship with the organization — how inspired he is by his fellow artists, and particularly the flexibility it affords him to create work at his own pace, rather than by an organization-imposed deadline or including a guideline for producing commercially viable work.

“It’s a[kind of]freedom,” he notes, “not feeling pressure to conform to a certain standard.”

SPACE 124 in the Artaud project. (Courtesy of SPACE 124)

Project Artaud: collective power writ large

Founded in 1971, Project Artaud (499 Alabama St.) is one of the oldest artist-run live work spaces in the country. It serves as a home for nearly 100 members who lead the project together while nurturing their individual artistic and creative practice.

As you would expect from an organization named after the influential French theater maker Antonin Artaud, building performance spaces was an important part of the project’s creators’ vision. Today, the impressive industrial building (once the headquarters of the American Can Company) houses several public venues managed by tenants and one – SPACE 124 – managed by the project.

With each space and theater group operating independently, Project Artaud is a place of endless possibilities. Each week, audiences can discover the highly specialized work of the Theater of Yugen, a touring powerhouse or new musical at the 244-seat Z Space, gripping new works by local playwrights at the Z Below, a celebration of dance works at the Joe Goode Annex, or the heady Heights of an aerial performance at SPACE 124.

While each space has its own vibe and audience, cross-pollination is part of the overall ecosystem. Fury Factory – a biannual festival of ensemble performances curated by jokesFURY prior to its dissolution in 2021 – cleverly capitalized on their proximity, presenting multiple touring and local artists, workshops and talks simultaneously and in close proximity to each other. But even without a festival on site, the venues are linked by a shared history and Project Artaud’s focus on creating and preserving artistic space together.

“I’m so glad I was a part of that time,” says Lizzy Spicuzza, a Project Artaud member since the early ’80s and current program manager of SPACE 124. “It’s also part of my story.”

The Stage Werx Theater offers a 70-seat space in the heart of the mission. (Ty McKenzie)

The Stage Werx Theater at 446 Valencia Street is not a multi-stage venue. But one look at what’s on offer suggests it has to be – it’s home to such a wide range of artists and performance styles.

Would you like to perform a musical about a cat allergy? Exploring the surrealist medium Exquisite Corpse as an ensemble production? Reading the works of HP Lovecraft naked on stage? Ty Mckenzie, owner of Stage Werx, a staple of the San Francisco underground, won’t tell you no.

As the seemingly tireless engine working behind the scenes to create this supporting microcosm, Mckenzie had to learn to do whatever it took to (literally) stop the lights (literally).

The only thing I don’t do is plumbing,” she says of her workload. “I can plumb, but I drew a line. I do everything else – from accounting to production, from electrics to roof repairs.”

A staple of the Stage Werx calendar is improv including (up until this year) Endgames Improv and currently the delightfully wacky Cirque Oui-Et! (or Circus Yes-And), who mix their long improv shows with burlesque, puppetry, drag and clown. And similar to a separate improvisation show, the guiding principle of Stage Werx could be described as a “yes and”.

Mckenzie, the human embodiment of this principle, still doesn’t pay for her work at Werx, instead focusing on the ephemeral rewards of a job well done – and the satisfaction of supporting local artists.

“I love the work they do here and it fills me with boundless energy to provide a clean, well-run, state-of-the-art venue so they can focus on their craft. It’s a love-love situation,” she says. “And who doesn’t want to spend their days surrounded by love?”

The post The Phases Protecting SF’s Indie Theatre Scene Alive appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

As the 1950s wound down, the proliferation of mass-produced, heavily marketed light lagers took an increasing toll on America’s—and San Francisco’s—small brewers. But a number of local establishments still proudly featured Anchor’s signature product, in particular the Crystal Palace Market between Market and Mission at 8th Street. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it was a “sprawling, pungent, cheap and exotic carnival of delicatessen and delicacy.”

During the 1940s and 50s, Austrian Joseph Erdelatz served Anchor Steam and hot dogs at his bar in the southeast corner of this vast, colorful marketplace. Locals called it the “Steam Beer Parlor,” scarcely imagining its pivotal role in Anchor’s or its beer’s survival. For had it not been for the Crystal Palace, there might never have been an Old Spaghetti Factory, and without the Old Spaghetti Factory and its charismatic owner, Fred Kuh, there might be no Anchor Steam Beer today. Fritz Maytag, who tells the story better than anyone, shared it with me a few years ago:

Ah, Fred. A man of good taste. He had lived in Chicago and been to the Sieben’s Brewery, where I later bought our bottling line. They were the last brewery in America to have a restaurant in the brewery, a little Bier stube. And when he came to San Francisco for a visit, on the way into town from the airport, the very first thing his friend did was take him for a visit to the crystal Palace Market, sort of the equivalent of today’s farmers’ market. He recognized it immediately as similar to the great traditions of good food in Europe. Then his friend took him to the taproom at the crystal Palace Market, where they served Anchor steam on draught. Fred told me that he vowed that day, in the bar, drinking Anchor steam, that he would move to San Francisco, open a restaurant, and serve only Anchor steam Beer on draught.

And Fred Kuh served, on draught, Anchor Steam Beer only, all the years he was open. He had bottled beers, but no other beer on draught ever. And it was a booming place with young people. It was a target for the brewers. Imagine all the salespeople from Budweiser, Coors, and Miller, who would call on Fred at the Old Spaghetti Factory and tell him that he couldn’t possibly survive as a business if he didn’t have their beer on draught. And he told them all to go jump in the lake.

Fred Kuh had made good on his vow.

__________________________________

Reprinted with permission from The Anchor Brewing Story: America’s First Craft Brewery & San Francisco’s Original Anchor Steam Beer by David Burkhart, foreword by Fritz Maytag, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The post The Mannequin for America’s Trendy Craft Beer Growth? Contained in the Small-Brewer Scene in Nineteen Fifties San Francisco ‹ Literary Hub appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

(NewsNation) — A HVAC utility repair man was reportedly at the University of Idaho crime scene, and some are speculating that the technician might be helping with the investigation.

Veteran investigator Mike King, who hosts the “Profiling Evil” podcast, told NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Wednesday that people should wait until more information is released before speculating.

“They’re getting pretty close to what appears to be winding down. Could it be that they’re starting to look at disaster cleanup? Or maybe the heat went out?” King said.

Idaho murders: Police looking for white Hyundai Elantra

King, who has been a director of a cold case unit, says he doesn’t believe that the Idaho case is “in any way shape or form close to being cold.” King believes that more information will come from students in interviews now that they’ve returned from Thanksgiving break.

“That said, you got to treat it like a cold case and start bringing all the resources you can to support. And this department has done a pretty impressive job of rallying the state and federal resources to back them up. It doesn’t look like there are real egos that are standing in the way of trying to find the truth,” King said.

On Wednesday, police announced that they need help locating a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that was seen near the University of Idaho murder scene.

The post Why was HVAC contractor on the crime scene? appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

As the 1950s wound down, the proliferation of mass-produced, heavily marketed light lagers took an increasing toll on America’s—and San Francisco’s—small brewers. But a number of local establishments still proudly featured Anchor’s signature product, in particular the Crystal Palace Market between Market and Mission at 8th Street. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, it was a “sprawling, pungent, cheap and exotic carnival of delicatessen and delicacy.”

During the 1940s and 50s, Austrian Joseph Erdelatz served Anchor Steam and hot dogs at his bar in the southeast corner of this vast, colorful marketplace. Locals called it the “Steam Beer Parlor,” scarcely imagining its pivotal role in Anchor’s or its beer’s survival. For had it not been for the Crystal Palace, there might never have been an Old Spaghetti Factory, and without the Old Spaghetti Factory and its charismatic owner, Fred Kuh, there might be no Anchor Steam Beer today. Fritz Maytag, who tells the story better than anyone, shared it with me a few years ago:

Ah, Fred. A man of good taste. He had lived in Chicago and been to the Sieben’s Brewery, where I later bought our bottling line. They were the last brewery in America to have a restaurant in the brewery, a little Bier stube. And when he came to San Francisco for a visit, on the way into town from the airport, the very first thing his friend did was take him for a visit to the crystal Palace Market, sort of the equivalent of today’s farmers’ market. He recognized it immediately as similar to the great traditions of good food in Europe. Then his friend took him to the taproom at the crystal Palace Market, where they served Anchor steam on draught. Fred told me that he vowed that day, in the bar, drinking Anchor steam, that he would move to San Francisco, open a restaurant, and serve only Anchor steam Beer on draught.

And Fred Kuh served, on draught, Anchor Steam Beer only, all the years he was open. He had bottled beers, but no other beer on draught ever. And it was a booming place with young people. It was a target for the brewers. Imagine all the salespeople from Budweiser, Coors, and Miller, who would call on Fred at the Old Spaghetti Factory and tell him that he couldn’t possibly survive as a business if he didn’t have their beer on draught. And he told them all to go jump in the lake.

Fred Kuh had made good on his vow.

__________________________________

Reprinted with permission from The Anchor Brewing Story: America’s First Craft Brewery & San Francisco’s Original Anchor Steam Beer by David Burkhart, foreword by Fritz Maytag, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The post The Mannequin for America’s Trendy Craft Beer Growth? Contained in the Small-Brewer Scene in Nineteen Fifties San Francisco ‹ Literary Hub appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

If you blink when walking down Bush Street in the Financial District, you might just miss Belden Place. An alley in the middle of a block dominated by high rises, the lunch and dinner destination is understated.

Restaurants line old brick buildings The dining spots vary in formality; some are tended to by waiters in black ties while other servers are in T-shirts.

The establishments set up tables and chairs that reflect their character — some wooden, covered in white linens, and others metal and colorful.

“It’s nice to have this little walkable area here,” said a woman named Malia who works on the other side of Pine Street.

While outdoor dining became a signature of the pandemic, alfresco has been a Belden signature for decades. Some tables sit empty, even during mealtime rushes, as — like many segments of the restaurant scene — Belden Place has not yet fully bounced back from COVID-19.

“This reminds me of the UK, of the pub environment,” local Noah Lakritz said. “Each restaurant has their own al fresco dining options. This city has a lot of offshoots, alleys like this; the vibe is good.”

“I was here yesterday at 12:30 pm, and it was packed,” said the restaurant supplier.

A bump in foot traffic and subsequent sales indicate that Belden Place, the home of the original parklet, is returning to its iconic status.

Restaurateurs argue it’ll take more than an in-person workplace comeback to help them flourish, however. They attest it’ll take city and business leaders thinking outside the box.

Businesses in the small square went from being shut down entirely to offering a limited to-go service. Finally, businesses to being able to open back up outside — an era that brought face covering and vaccine card requirements. Today, even with San Francisco’s COVID-19 infection rates facing a slow rise, restaurants are finally making money off of their full menus inside and outside their establishments.

Getting to this point was step one.

“We went back and forth with the law, with the regulations. It was tough,” said Cafe Tiramisu proprietor Guiseppe Scoppetto said.

Toy Soldier owner Johnny Metheny agreed, calling the winter wave of 2020 a “financial disaster” that forced him to lay off workers he had just brought back right before Christmas. He said that one would need a psychologist and a CPA to unpack the stress that business owners endured throughout the last two years.

“It was emotionally draining. Every day I was waking up wondering what was going to happen,” Metheny said. “I’m having more fun now, I feel like, than I have since my 20s and 30s because after surviving I have the biggest smile when I walk in. When I see all the employees working, I get so happy.”

To offset these challenges, businesses came up with new practices such as installing parklets or posting menus and flyers with QR codes. Scoppetto, Metheny and their peers learned how to make money off of making people comfortable.

Moving beyond relying on the mass arrival of tech workers and the money they are willing to spend in the city again is step two.

“You can tell people are tired of staying home. But we need to bring people downtown, more tourists. The city is supposed to take care of that. Without tourists, there is no business.”

Managing the message

Peter Quartaroli, managing partner of Sam’s Grill, has kept alive a legacy business that had just hit its stride right before the pandemic began. Additionally, he joined the board of the Downtown Community Benefit District, where he has met with others invested in the vitality of The City’s core in brainstorming about its reinvention. (Examiner owner Clint Reilly is an investor in Sam’s.)

“What is our message? How will we be viewed? How do we grow and keep going downtown? I do believe that the sense of community is a big part of that,” Quartaroli said. “The restaurants who rely on that are wonderful and have longevity but when something like this comes up, it can be hard to keep going.”

What it comes down to, Quartaroli explained, is reminding people of the value of the elements of a world-class city. This means presenting entertainment and dining in a safe and welcoming environment: A multi-pronged agency project to refresh Belden Place through improved lighting and fire safety equipment.

“We are hoping to have a whole bunch of string lights going down Belden and to raise the gate out in front to block off traffic, a little loading zone perhaps on either side or a drop-off area, maybe some cobblestone streets or some nice art (such as) stained concrete to make it visually appealing,” he said.

Mostly, the project will act as a prototype that makes alleys a warm place for pop up or regular businesses rather than a dark and intimidating shortcut.

This will personally benefit Quartaroli and his staff, who dealt with an incident of Arson on their section of the alley on an early Sunday morning in late April. Two men with a blow torch, hoodies and a mask watched as the flames they set nearly took the building entirely.

“We’ve dealt with the damage of it plus a couple of break-ins, a little vandalism but in downtown you have to be resilient,” he said. “We’re old and stubborn and want to be here. We are here for the long haul.”

Attracting more patrons to the area with these features could help to offset the high prices that proprietors now face. Metheny said that inflation and trucking shortages posed issues that never existed before the pandemic, ones that required maneuvering and creative thinking to get doors open and keep them that way.

“One of the things I wanted to keep going was the simple concept of good, fresh food. We stick to the program and provide people what they want and don’t overprice,” Quartaroli said. “Crab is crazy this year but you can’t skimp on that quality, so I took it off the menu for a while. I don’t want to charge that, I just can’t.”

Metheny experienced his friends who owned restaurants coming together to support one another.

“We had gone through a battle together. We almost became family,” the owner, who also runs The Blue Light on Union Street.

Something similar must happen with the Belden Square proprietors, contended by Quartaroli, as their interests are shared.

“(It’s about) talking through it with the department heads from different city agencies and saying, ‘This is what we would like to see. How can we work together and make this happen?’” Quartaroli said. “We can come up with solutions instead of pointing fingers.”

mhartman@sfexaminer.com, @_melissahartman

Giuseppe Scoppetta, co-owner of Cafe Tiramisu at Belden Place, said working with The City how to operate the restaurant during the early stages of the pandemic was “tough.” (Craig Lee/The Examiner)

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First Alert Weather Friday Morning ForecastTemperatures in 60s, sunny skies for the weekend

9 hours ago

Marin County Renews Call for Conservation as Dry Winter Drags OnMost of the Bay Area remains in a severe drought and the outlook for rain in the near future isn’t looking good. Andrea Nakano reports. (2-3-22)

16 hours ago

Severity of Omicron Surprises Sufferers Who Expected It to Be MildMany who have contracted the omicron variant of the coronavirus were caught off guard when their symptoms worsened and lingered. Maria Cid Medina reports. (2-3-22)

16 hours ago

New Evidence Informs Hunt for Suspect Who Assaulted 49ers FanOfficials said they have new video evidence showing the attack outside SoFi stadium that left a San Francisco 49ers fan from Oakland in a coma. Sara Donchey reports. (2-3-22)

16 hours ago

PIX NowHere’s the latest from the KPIX newsroom. (2-3-22)

20 hours ago

Surveillance Video Shows Suspect in 49ers Fan AssaultPolice are combing through security video of an altercation at SoFi Stadium that led to pushing between Oakland resident Daniel Luna and another man who is now being called a suspect. Juliette Goodrich reports. (2-3-22)

20 hours ago

Oroville Mass Shooting Suspect Had Outstanding Warrant in Bay AreaThe man arrested for a mass shooting aboard a Greyhound bus in Butte County had at least one outstanding weapons possession warrant out of Alameda County. Andria Borba reports. (2-3-22)

20 hours ago

San Francisco Moves to Increase Safety in Sunset District for Lunar New YearAs Bay Area residents continue to celebrate the Lunar New Year, there’s a push to strengthen some safety measures to protect possible targeted victims. Kenny Choi reports. (2-3-22)

21 hours ago

Los Gatos ‘Party Mom’ Denied BailThe alleged Los Gatos “Party Mom,” Shannon O’Connor, was denied bail and will stay in custody as she awaits trial. Len Ramirez reports. (2-3-22)

21 hours ago

SF Police Chief, DA Feud Over Use-of-Force InvestigationsSF DA Chesa Boudin refuted allegations by police chief Bill Scott in a dispute over a case of an officer accused of beating a Black man while responding to a domestic-violence call. Wilson Walker reports. (2-3-22)

21 hours ago

Woodside Blocks New Housing, Cites ‘Endangered’ CougarsA wealthy Bay Area town says it should be exempt from a new housing law and is using mountain lions as an excuse. Max Darrow reports. (2-3-22)

21 hours ago

First Alert Weather Thursday Evening ForecastChief meteorologist Paul Heggen has the Bay Area microclimate forecast. (2-3-22)

21 hours ago

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