San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
VACCINES BRING HOPE TO NEIGHBORHOOD
City Heights businesses look back at ‘disaster,’ ahead as more get shots
It’s been a year since the coronavirus laid waste to San Diego’s nightlife scene. But on a recent Friday evening, the crowd at Brooklyn Bar & Grill in City Heights seemed at ease in their surroundings.
People pulled down face masks as they sipped drinks on the establishment’s recently reopened patio. Many patrons had been vaccinated against the still lurking virus.
“It’s important to get out a little bit. It’s a little sanity,” said Sara Gonzalez, who shared pleasant drinks with a friend. The 39-year-old school counselor from National City recently received a COVID-19 vaccine but said she remains cautious.
Downstairs, owner Bill Lutzius felt a swirl of conflicting emotions as he sipped a beer in his empty dining room. Indoor restaurant service is still off limits in San Diego, although that could change in the next week.
The 63-year-old Brooklyn native recently got his own appointment to get a vaccine. As a foodservice worker, he joined the roughly half a million San Diegans, including schoolteachers, who became newly eligible to get the shot.
It’s been a miserable, uncertain year for places like Brooklyn Bar and its diverse neighborhood. For the past nine months, the Union-tribune has chronicled business owners, workers and residents on the blocks around the intersection of University and Euclid avenues as they struggled with the pandemic.
“I feel really bad about all the places that are going under,”
Lutzius said, “and all the people I’ve laid off. I would say it’s been a disaster, a real disaster the last year.”
In May, the jobless rate in San Diego topped a record-setting 15 percent. Over the summer restaurants endured a cycle of opening and closing to adhere to frequently shifting rules. Then, after Thanksgiving, things got even worse as the region saw cases spike to new heights. Only recently have infections started to taper off.
Still, unemployment had dropped to 6.6 percent according to the last count in December,
while government relief and small business loans stabilized many folks. As the holiday virus spike recedes, vaccination efforts have picked up steam, leaving many more optimistic about the future.
Even with many restrictions still in place, downtown San Diego was buzzing with activity last weekend, from crowds at Seaport Village to packed outdoor dining in Little Italy.
On that recent Friday night, Brooklyn Bar & Grill had a thin but steady stream of customers, and Lutzius acknowledged feeling hopeful turnout would continue to grow. “June, July everything ’s going to come full circle,” he said. “It will be back to normal. I have to believe.”
Bartender Kevin Mceuen chimed in that the establishment would’ve been busier except that the Black Cat Bar down the street had just reopened that night.
“People are more positive with the vaccine coming out,” said the 36-year-old San Diego native, who’s been able to find work through most of the lockdown. “My roommate is the manager at The Office in North Park. They’re talking about opening next month.”
Those who’ve survived in the local hospitality industry could be well poised to rake in business if pent-up San Diegans flock to nightlife venues as lockdown restrictions ease.
“I feel like it’s coming,” said Mceuen, who is also scheduled for a vaccination this week. “Sooner the better, but to be honest with you, a lot of bars have just been like ‘Screw it. We’re letting people stay inside.’”
Next door, at the Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant, Shimeles Kibret and his wife, Yetanyet Abebe, have followed the rules, not allowing customers to eat indoors. On Friday, they were busy tending to the takeout orders that have kept them afloat over the last year.
They also looked forward to the possibility that indoor dining could resume within weeks, something their regular customers have been eager for, Shimeles said. Small business loans and loyal patronage have helped them survive through the winter, but it’s been nerve-racking at times.
“Hopefully, we’ll be opening very soon. Otherwise, we’re dead,” the 60-year-old refugee solemnly chuckled. “To-go doesn’t have any profit. Right now, it’s 24 hours lights on, Internet on, trash and everything and rent. It’s too expensive.” The couple set up a humble outdoor dining area in the parking lot behind the restaurant with chairs, tables and a shade structure. Corey Lolley had stopped by to get her boyfriend, Ruben Hernandez, to try traditional Ethiopian cuisine for the first time.
Lolley said she knows people who’ve died from COVID and takes the pandemic seriously.
“A few of our friends even lost their parents,” said the 47-year-old, who owns a jewelry business that’s been able to make ends meet during the lockdown. “We wouldn’t go out to a busy place to eat.”
Hernandez echoed that sentiment.
“We assess the situation before we even go out. Are there a lot of people? Are they being safe?” said the 35year-old bartender from North Park, who recently qualified to get the vaccine.
A few doors down, The Tower Bar was still shut tight. Without food service, the punk-music venue hasn’t been allowed to open since summer.
“People have asked if we could do something outdoors with bands, but I still think I’m going to wait a little while,” said owner Mick Rosller. “There is a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. I see a lot of places are open. We drove through Little Italy. Man, it was packed.”
Back on the patio of Brooklyn Bar, Catherine Picquet was out for drinks with her boyfriend, Isaac Arizona, for the first time in months. As a speech language pathologist with the San Diego Unified School District, she recently received her second shot.
“I feel personally more comfortable, but I’m not taking more risks,” said the 37-year-old. “Before the second wave, I knew people who knew people who got the disease. Now, it’s like close friends and a co-worker. The threat was always there but when you know people, it gets real.”
Arizona, 40, hasn’t had a shot. He said he contracted COVID more than a year ago.
“I’m still masking up and trying to be socially responsible,” he said. “It’s a very serious threat.”
However, socializing is important for mental health, he added. “I think you need a little water over your gills, right?”