- With many businesses effectively shuttered until next year, once-bustling neighborhoods (like Chinatown and SoMa) now sit uncomfortably quiet. Merchants in San Francisco’s Chinatown are estimating they've seen some 80% of business fall since the pandemic, with the current stay-at-home order further slowing sales and turning the area into a "ghost town"; the Financial District and SoMa have seen about 85% of eateries close and those left are reeling from the recent shutdown. [The Guardian/ SFGate]
- One-year-old Castro barbershop Healing Cuts is moving to a new location. After an impasse with the present landlord over missed rent payments caused by shelter-in-place restrictions, the business plans to move to 2350 Market Street: the former address of Streetlight Records. [Hoodline]
- Rents across San Francisco continue to plunge with a recent report by realtor.com showing the median rent for a studio apartment in the city has dropped 35%. [KTVU]
- One SF firefighter has raised $10K for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. [ABC7]
- Not even a global health crisis could stop the giant cypress tree at Golden Gate Park from lighting up for the holiday season. [Hoodline]
- Now firmly in the cold winter months, homeless individuals in Oakland are struggling to find a warm place amid crowded emergency shelters and with some hotel programs — that previously housed them — coming to an end. [Oaklandside]
- For food trucks and pop-up restaurants, rarely are app-based delivery services an option; the current stay-at-home order has exacerbated that issue for those types of gastronomic ventures in the Bay Area. [Eater SF]
- A group of Oakland parents is pushing for the City to safely plan on reopening — and "follow the science." [The Bold Italic]
Image: Courtesy of Getty Images via Chris LaBasco
