If you live or pass by Irving Street’s quieter retail zone midway between 9th and 19th avenues, you might have stumbled upon the diminutive Hollow. The cafe and its neighboring boutique, Dandy, are run by husband-and-wife co-owners who also happen to be Inner Sunset residents. We recently explored the two shops and chatted with the owners about their offerings, the neighborhood, and the challenges of trying to do big business in a tiny space.
Hollow On The Inside
Step inside Hollow and you’ll find Ritual coffee, homemade cupcakes, buttery empanadas, and quirky baubles. Magnifying glasses, animal head salt shakers, and other curios line the walls, and tucked away in a back room is an apothecary’s shop of soaps, balms, and more.
Nowadays, with the prevalence of Yelp, food blogs, and social media, stumbling on a new find is rare, but Hollow’s co-owner, Dawn LaMontagne, likes being enough off the beaten path that passersby can still be surprised.
“People are super stoked when they find it," LaMontagne told us. "They're like, 'Oh I had no idea this was here.' ”
Hollow’s menu also includes biscuits and housemade vanilla marshmallows from Biscuit Bender, cookies, and tea drinks. The most popular items are Hollow's oatmeal cake and chocolate Guinness cupcakes, which Dawn and her husband/co-owner, William, bake themselves at an off-site kitchen.
Photo: Hollow Cafe
Photo: Dandy
"An Escape From The City"
Dawn and William live three blocks from the cafe, and wanted Hollow to feel like an escape. When people stay in the city without getting out into nature, Dawn said, sometimes they can "get a little bit agro." Hollow's dark wood and low lighting mimic a forest hideaway.
"Because the space is small, we made it green and woodsy, kind of as an escape from the city," she said. "Like a hollow in the woods.”
Before opening Hollow, Dawn worked for an interior design firm. She liked design, but wanted to broaden her experience beyond the small subset of people with whom she interacted with.
“I was just dealing with this one slice of life, and here it reminds you of traveling in the sense that you meet people from all over,” she said, noting the range of places customers visit from, particularly tourists who come over from Golden Gate Park. Visitors read about Hollow on various websites and in travel guides, including Lonely Planet's guide to San Francisco.
Photo: Caitlin Harrington/Hoodline
Photo: Caitlin Harrington/Hoodline
Dawn used to walk her dog by the space years ago, when it was a hair salon. She and William had always wanted to start a small business, so when the spot opened up, they saw their opportunity. Six and a half years ago they opened Hollow.
Initially, people asked Dawn why she didn’t open the cafe in a busier, trendier spot, like the Mission. "Why can’t there be something cute here too?" Dawn countered. "And people really responded to that.”
Making The Most Of A Small Space
“People walk in and say, 'This is a great space,' but from a design perspective it's really bad," she said, noting the tight spaces and low ceilings. These attributes, which give Hollow its cozy, almost cave-like feel, are part of its charm, and part of what make it feel like a world apart from the city. For a business owner, however, they pose unique challenges.
“We did sandwiches for a really tiny bit, but [we had to think about] what could work in the space where it would still feel beautiful and we wouldn't have stuff everywhere.” They now serve Nucha empanadas—which are more portable and easier to work with—and sell gifts, which help attract foot traffic.
Photo: Caitlin Harrington/Hoodline
Photo: Caitlin Harrington/Hoodline
A Dandy Expansion
As the business grew, the cafe's small size became challenging. They only had room for one little refrigerator, for example.
"We couldn’t get milk delivered. My husband would go to the store and schlep back milk,” Dawn said. As things got busier, the smaller gift items they sold would sometimes get toppled over when a line developed.
So when the cigar shop next door moved out and the landlord offered them the space, they took it.
“We weren’t necessarily thinking of opening a new space,” Dawn said, but they decided that in order to grow they would have to. That space became Dandy, a housewares and home decor shop and design studio that opened in late 2013. They moved some of the merchandise that used to be at Hollow over to Dandy, and Dawn uses the space for her interior design work, including cabinet design and fabrication.
“Now I'm a dealer of those. So just this little tiny space allows me to do that.”
Photo: Dandy
Photo: Dandy
Though similar to Hollow in its coziness and some of its decor, the lighter wood and brighter colors give Dandy its own distinct feel.“[Dandy’s] very light and bright, whereas Hollow’s more woodsy,” Dawn noted.
She still lives three blocks away, and a lot of her life takes place in that small geographic space. She's adept at getting a lot out of a little though.
“My life is very old-fashioned. I can walk down here and go to these little stores. It’s all right here in this three-block radius.” But Dawn appreciates that Hollow and Dandy have exposed her to many different kinds of people, which has made the small geographic area feel much more broad.
“When you first interact with people you wouldn’t normally, sometimes they surprise you, and I really like that.”
Hollow is located at 1435 Irving St. It's open from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am from 6pm on weekends. Dandy is open Fri. - Sun. from 12pm to 5pm.
