December 3, 2007
Cafe Flore Closing?
The legendary Cafe Flore might find its way to the obit page of the B.A.R. soon. Why? Because if it doesn't "get permission to have the option to serve food 24 hrs a day, to have the option to have amplified entertainment to allow a background DJ," or to get the chance to serve booze until 2 am, the place might zip up and never call again according to SaveCafeFlore.
Noes!
Look, Cafe Flore is fantastic. Once the place to go to "buy your drugs and then head over to Twin Peaks all night and get fucked up" during the 1970s--according to one elderly, anonymous gay--it's since mellowed out considerably. Now, you will find bookish boys covertly husband-hunting while pretending to work on their dissertations or screenplays. And sometimes a sprinkling of lesbians to taste.
Many accuse NIMBYs in the neighborhood (i.e., cranky old homos) for the Castro losing its seedy bars and overall "cache as an LGBT neighborhood." But that's only part of the reason, really. Castro bars and social outlets have died because it's far too easy to cruise for sex from the comfort of your own bedroom, basking in the warm glow of the computer screen. (Will l'Internet stop at nothing?!) Homosexual men in the Castro went out to nightclubs and bars to get laid; community-building, hanging out with buddies, doing bumps in the bathroom, and hurling cruel but clever bon mots always came in at a distant second. If Cafe Flore wants to remain open, flourishing in the fertile SF nightlife scene, they should work around that... somehow. The powerful convenience of online sex is the reality nowadays.
Still, Cafe Flore is gorgeous and drenched with sunlight. Plus, the bathroom is a private one. Its aesthetics alone are reason enough for it to remain open. Do you want it to stay open? Find out how after the jump!
SaveCafeFlore has all the info. But an important way you can help have the cafe stay open (besides, you know, patronizing it regularly) is by attending a meeting this a Planning Commission meeting this Thursday (You know, the pricks who are killing fun, trying to ban pizza, outlawing dancing in small towns, etcetera?) Check it:
Commission Chambers - Room 400 The meeting starts at 1:30 PMWe really need YOU to come and be with us at the hearing.
As number one on the agenda we should be heard by 2 pm and finished by 3:30. Please come and stand by us to present our case to the Planning Commission.We NEED to fill that room, we NEED to show we are not alone. PLEASE come if you can. If you are interested and working please email and we will let you know what?s up.
See you there.
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I can't say I'd miss it -- expensive and always too crowded. Not to mention, a suburb-style one-story building isn't a terribly smart or dense use of space.
I think the issues is not the "de-clubing" of SF but the fact that the owner wants not only to extend the bar hours frm mignight to 2 [which to me is OK] BUT
to go 24x7 and to have amplified music.
You don't have to be a cranky old homo not to want that near you, so I can understand why the people who live on Noe etc getting freaked.
Where does the owner live BTW, on a nice quiet street in Marin?
Ah, Cafe Whore, Cafe Hairdo. What would the Castro be without it.
Oh honey please.
Do you think that the always packed, city landmark, Cafe Flore is really going to **close** just because they can't get an all night food and amplified music license?
I just don't buy it. People raise a grass roots ruckus over *everything* in SF - how much is real? A lot less than the consultants get paid for, that's for sure.
Now it might be nice to have all night food = god knows SF is the city that always sleeps - but this campaign makes me a lot less sympathetic.
Oh please. Cafe Flore isn't in any danger, except from its own colossal ego. That place is packed constantly. What this means is that they can't turn into an all-night disco. On their fliers around the hood (because I'm one of the "cranky homos," though at 33 hardly old, who doesn't need another bar belching drunk, screaming people who crash into cars into the neighborhood at all hours) they say they want the same treatment as Orphan Andy's, which, hello, that place is tiny. Cafe Flore is big and pretentious. I say, if they want to take all their toys and go home if they don't get their way, fine with me. I can live without it. I'm sure some other less obnoxious venue will just come in to take its place.
Who can say whether Cafe Flore is in any financial straits except for the owner(s) and there is a front page article in the BAR this week with quotes from the owner about their financial difficulties.
What concerns me is the NIMBY's moving into the Castro, straight or not, objecting to the way the Castro has always been. WHY DID YOU MOVE THERE!!! The Cafe is getting crap about noise levels that haven't changed in years (yes I know about the hip hop night issues, which I think is nixed), Baghdad Cafe's hours have been reduced because of neighbors, local stores get complaints about certain items in store windows.
Honestly, don't move next to the airport if you don't like the sound of airplanes!
The issues being most fought over are serving alcohol for 2 more hours and also allowing a dj to shepherd the music until 2am. 24/7 is actually less contentious and only applies to serving food anyway. Cafe Flore does not have permission to be a club (louder+dancing)or a bar (drunker+louder). Cafe Flore business permit requires food to be served and, of course, to obey the noise ordinance.
Cafe Flore was sold in the past 5 years. That means a much bigger mortgage than it used to have, higher taxes, workman's comp fees as if it was a brand new business, and on top of that an increasingly tight economy. The restaurant business is always a fight to stay alive. Cafe Flore being sold if it can't pay its own way is not unrealistic. The owner has already looked at selling Flore, but everyone has wanted to change it into a soulless clone. So he is looking for other ways of keeping Cafe Flore a neighborhood institution. Going back to City Planning to ask for the conditions to be dropped now that the trial period is over is no easy task (hard liquor was added to Flore's alcohol license 3 years ago and a trial period with conditions was imposed).
And lastly, sure it looks busy during weekend brunch. The rest of the week it is an extended livingroom for the neighborhood. One latte per hour per table while someone surfs the web does not keep the staff paid but it sure is nice to have Cafe Flore around. Serving drinks later and serving food to the bar close crowd will enable the wonderful lazy afternoons.