Mission

Most of the Bay Area is masking back up, at least in some situations, and tensions are high as COVID cases and hospitalizations tick up. But things continue to reopen, and events are still happening.

We have news of a taker for the prominent corner space that was briefly home to AL's Deli (598 Guerrero St.), and beloved doughnut spot The Jelly Donut at 24th and South Van Ness is finally back alive.

A new wine bar with dance bar aspirations is coming to the former Thieves Tavern space at 496 14th Street (at Guerrero), and it's called Bar Part Time.

The Church and Market Safeway has moved all its shopping carts inside the store after 160 carts were stolen in recent weeks.

Castro arcade bar and restaurant The Detour is set to reopen Monday, July 5, after hitting the pause button in October and temporarily closing due in part to COVID-19.

Construction on the final phase of the Upper Market Street Safety Project is set to begin Thursday, July 1. The project aims to increase safety and comfort for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike on Upper Market Street between Octavia Boulevard and Castro Street. 

Early Friday morning, the driver of a vehicle crashed into and destroyed two parklets at Church and Market streets. 

As (some of) the masks come off, here's some news this week about more things reopening in SF and elsewhere around the Bay.

Osito, a much-delayed restaurant with a celebratory, communal tasting-menu concept centered around live-fire cooking of meat and fish, is finally taking shape and aiming for a fall opening at 2875 18th Street (at Florida).

On Monday, the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District (Castro CBD) voted to scuttle its proposal to install a private network of 125 security cameras.

A new board game shop as moved into the former Comic Book Beardies, a new sushi spot has opened in the former Miyabi space, and more.

Two new murals from queer, Black and Latinx artists will be completed soon at prominent locations in the Castro and Duboce Triangle neighborhoods.

At long last, the Mission District's beloved indie movie house, The Roxie Theater (3117 16th St.), has a reopening date and a reopening movie: 'Cinema Paradiso' (1988).

Castro residents will soon have another cafe option in the neighborhood. Mission Bay-based mobile cafe Spro Coffee Lab will be opening its second location at 500 Church St., formerly Mauerpark.

The beautifully restored and boozy movie theater will bring back the light, camera, and action in July, though no specific dates or films have been announced.

After months of delays, the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit (Castro CBD) held a virtual town hall Tuesday about its proposal to install a private network of 125 security cameras, and it was highly contentious.

The 30-year-old palm tree that served as the namesake for the Mission’s Lone Palm bar has met its demise, but a new palm tree is apparently in the works.

Liholiho is temporarily moving the Dear Inga space on 18th Street, a new Japanese fine dining spot from a former Californios chef is taking the La Folie space in Russian Hill, and Oakland is getting a new ghost kitchen food hall.

Beloved Mission District bar El Rio is finally reopening its patio, 12 and a half months after it was forced to close along with the rest of the bars across the city in March 2020. Thursday, April 1 is the big day — and the patio will reopen for table service at 4 p.m.

Next week, the Tenderloin community-based support organization Hospitality House will host its 36th annual art auction to support its Community Arts Program (CAP) in a new format that offers online bidding, a virtual live-auction event, and display of the works for sale at five local galleries.

A three-year saga on the fate of the ficus trees on 24th Street is coming to an end, as the removal of 33 trees has started, though most of the other ficuses are merely being pruned.

The Mission Community Market — an open-air farmers' market that regularly features local farmers, small neighborhood businesses, community programs, and the occasional live-music act — is expected to return Thursday for the first time in 2021.

The 7-Eleven convenience store at 3998 18th St. (at Noe St.) has permanently closed, and Hoodline has learned its last day in business was Thursday, March 4.

Starting Monday, Mission businesses Zeitgeist and Burma Love are offering a brand new lunch service at Zeitgeist (199 Valencia St.), with bento boxes delivered to the door of the beer garden.

Two bars, two different fates. Over in Bernal Heights/La Lengua, next-door bars El Rio and Virgil's Sea Room, which almost share a backyard were it not for a fence, have arrived at diverging moments in this COVID year.