San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Guide Book
The fresh air of the Outer Sunset.
On a relaxed Friday afternoon, two workers at Case for Making, an art store and workshop space in the Outer Sunset, are mixing watercolors in the back. The colors are bright, and so is the mood, powered by atypical sunshine and high temperatures.
“I used to live in the Mission,” says one of the workers, Michelle Lam, “but it’s so busy. The Sunset is multigenerational, which makes it unique. I get off the bus from downtown, breathe in the Sunset air and just relax. It’s all about the air.”
In recent years, more creatives and young families have been doing just that: Arriving in the Outer Sunset, breathing in the salty aroma and letting it linger. The neighborhood is a land of many faces, foggy and cold to newcomers, sandy and enticing to surfers, residential and familiar to the city’s largest Asian American community.
Its zoning restrictions dictate rows of two-story, single-family town houses, the luckiest of them facing the beach. It remained one of the last frontiers of city affordability. In recent years, however, the prospect of multi-unit housing and new eateries, coffee shops and boutiques are descending upon the neighborhood. Once known primarily for the dumpling promises of Noriega Street, and more recently the lines at foodie hot spot Outerlands, the Outer Sunset is on the verge of becoming city-wide trendy. Less-rosy scenarios, like the rapid change in the Mission District, come to mind, but the new business owners of the Outer Sunset highlight the homegrown aspect and speak of community.
Case for Making, with its creative workshops and adorable paper goods, opened in the neighborhood in 2014, following Outerlands and the General Store, both in the neighborhood since 2010. Last summer, Black Bird Bookstore, outfitted with a garden and inviting children’s nook, inserted itself into the narrow space between Outerlands and Trouble Coffee. Owner Kathryn Grantham lives in the neighborhood and defines Black Bird on its website as a “community bookstore open for all.” The store has held a number of workshops and story times, readings and events, partnering with other local businesses like the publishing house Carville Annex. General Store, meanwhile, opened a second San Francisco location a few blocks away. The polished space immediately became an Instagram sensation thanks to its easily recognizable round niches and shelves of ceramics. The new location is primarily home-oriented, with furniture and decor dominating.
Another design destination is the freshly minted Field Theory, an airy space not unlike a stylish apartment, with a mix of vintage and new furniture and art, located next to Chu Supply, a construction-materials store. Field Theory owner and interior decorator Leah Harmatz has lived in the neighborhood since 2014, when she moved from downtown. The store, which hosts neighborhood happy hours and events, occupies what used to be a boardedup storage space since March. Harmatz says she couldn’t possibly afford the rent in other parts of town.
“There’s definitely a lot of new business here,” she says, “but also a very strong sense of community. Some people are scared of the change in the neighborhood, and I see the occasional ‘gentrification’ sticker sometimes, but I feel like small businesses are just trying to make the neighborhood better.” As an interior designer, Harmatz has witnessed an influx of new people moving to the Outer Sunset, but the long-term residents, she says, are supportive. “People who have been here for 50 or 60 years come in and say they’re happy something is finally open in this location.”
“The neighborhood has changed quite a bit, especially in the last five years,” echoes boutique owner Karen Luu, who says that the change is for the better. Luu’s namesake business has occupied a small space on Judah Street since 1992, focusing on wholesale. But the extra foot traffic in the neighborhood prompted Luu to open a retail storefront. “It’s still a pretty residential area, but it’s getting busier,” she says. On the flip side, she says, “It’s the same dynamic everywhere. People move in, people move out. Everywhere’s getting more expensive, including here.”
A few streets south, toward Parkside, another cluster of new stores and cafes on the same block of Taraval has seen increased foot traffic. Avenues San Francisco, a surf shop-meets-coffee-shop; the slick cocktail bar White Cap; and Tunnel Records and Beach Goods, a cheerful record store and boutique, are across the street from an upcoming bread project from Outerlands.
Andrea de Francisco, an Outer Sunset resident since 2013, is half of the husbandand-wife duo behind the year-old Tunnel Records. Balancing a newborn as she chats, she says, “We see more young families moving in, which some can argue can be good or bad, but I think it’s great. It’s very different than the change that’s been happening in the Mission. Outer Sunset stayed very low key and family oriented, and everyone who’s opening businesses here lives in the neighborhood.”
Next door, Eddie Choi, the owner of Avenues, is still in the process of finishing up the store’s backyard, meant for gatherings and art shows. The front of his store greets the visitor with pastries and musubi-inspired “grab and go” seaweed rolls and coffee, emulating the same beachy, easygoing vibe that made another new neighborhood establishment, Hook Fish Co., an instant success. Surfboards, travel books and camping souvenirs fill the rest of the space. Choi, who has lived in the Outer Sunset for 15 years, is conflicted about the change the neighborhood is going through.
“I do believe there is a general sense of positivity toward the direction things are moving,” he says. “However, I would say that there is some concern toward a vast cultural shift, similar to points of discussion with other areas of the city. I hope we can keep the smalltown vibes as well as learn from what we’ve seen in other redeveloped areas of the city.”
Meanwhile, White Cap’s latest cocktail menu is themed after a garage sale, referencing old lava lamps, romance novels and other items whose time in the limelight has passed. Many residents here hope it’s only a harmless metaphor.
“The Outer Sunset stayed very low key and family oriented, and everyone who’s opening businesses here lives in the neighborhood.”
Andrea de Francisco, Tunnel Records