The Lucky Penny — the 24-hour diner that's among SFist's favorites and that you might remember as among the best ideas you've ever had after 2 a.m. — looks like it won't be an option forever.

That's because the business, which has been with us in one incarnation or another for decades, is set to be replaced by a seven-story mixed-use building Hoodline reports, pointing to a Preliminary Planning Assessment filed last year.

The proposal, which calls for 21 two- to four-bedroom apartments on three floors, with three more to be used for office space, is currently undergoing environmental review. There would also be 11,000 square feet of retail in what has been, primarily, a retail district.

The diner was formerly The Copper Penny Family Coffee Shop dating back to the 1960s (originally part of the same restaurant group as IHOP and House of Pies), and you can see some quick shots of it in the tourist home movie from 1977 below. And it may have been a diner/coffeeshop even earlier than that.

It remains to be seen how much longer the Lucky Penny will survive, and its loss will be all the bigger given how few 24-hour places there are in SF. But get there, at some odd hour of the night, while you still can.

Previously: Best Diners In San Francisco

via YouTube