Besides having an inviting, old-school name, the family-owned Alioto-Lazio Fish Company has been known for selling it's fish and crab products in Fisherman's Wharf for the past 70 years. Now as the Examiner reports, a clean up of a "decades-old oil leak" has forced the all-female management team to close the up seafood shop until the ocean-hating folks at Exxon-Mobile finish mopping up the mess of sediment they left in the waters next to the store's Jefferson Street headquarters.
According to one of Alioto-Lazio's owners, the cleanup work involves a lot of "excavating and jackhammering" and the seafoodies have been left to deal with "a constant barrage of loud noises, floor vibrations, nasty odors and noxious fumes" - not to mention at least one asthma attack that required medical attention. Apparently the California Shellfish Co. and the tourist-friendly Cioppino's next door don't have quite the same standards.
The Exxon-Mobile oil leak, which was first noticed in the 1930's, apparently started seeping again in 2008, prompting the Port of San Francisco to sue for a cleanup. The work is expected to continue until February 20th, when Alioto-Lazio hopes to resume business. No word on whether they'll continue selling dungeness through their craboline.com e-store in the meantime.
