The Castro Coffee Company and Castro Nail Salon on both sides of the Castro Theatre are still open, despite eviction orders that they be out by July 1, and both small businesses seem determined to dig in their heels and stick around.
The latest controversy in Another Planet Entertainment’s renovation of the Castro Theatre into primarily a live music venue hit the fan in May, when we learned that two longtime adjacent businesses were being evicted, and the Chronicle reported that "Another Planet [Entertainment] confirmed that the company needs those spaces to expand its box office" once the theater eventually reopens. The Nasser family that owns the theater, and is handing over operations to concert promoter Another Planet Entertainment (APE), did not renew the leases for the Castro Coffee Company and Castro Nail Salon. So despite some significant public outcry in support of both businesses, both were supposed to be out by June 30.
The two businesses flanking the Castro Theatre were welcoming in patrons July 1, despite their leases with the property owners having ended June 30. https://t.co/nwxZdZgTAR
— Bay Area Reporter (@eBARnews) July 1, 2025
Well, June 30 came and went, and the Bay Area Reporter informs us that both businesses were still operating as of July 1. Now that it’s July 2, SFist called the Castro Nail Salon and confirmed that they were indeed open today. The Castro Coffee Company did not pick up the phone when we called Wednesday, though the business did post on its Facebook page early Wednesday morning about still being open.
“I’m not sure we’ll be closing shop any time soon,” Castro Coffee Company owner Ken Khoury told the Bay Area Reporter on Tuesday. “Hopefully – if we must leave, if there’s no resolution – we should have enough time to transition to move on.”
Khoury’s brother Riyad Khoury who owns Castro Nail Salon also spoke to KGO for a late Tuesday night report, and KGO says that “both their shops remained open for business.”
Now according to the district’s supervisor Rafael Mandelman, Mayor Daniel Lurie has been pulled into the negotiations. Though it remains to be seen how Lurie uses his strings of power on this one, considering that Another Planet Entertainment gave Lurie a recent big win with those Dead and Company concerts in Golden Gate Park coming up in early August.
“My understanding is that the Khourys will be able to stay in their spaces for a little while longer at least while we try to work out a solution that works for the parties and the neighborhood,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter on Tuesday. “I’m grateful for the mayor’s engagement.”
For their part, Another Planet’s spokesperson told the Reporter, “As we have always said, we are hopeful that the tenants in question and their landlord, the Nassers, can come to an equitable and amicable resolution of this situation. We remain focused on our $41 million renovation and restoration of the Castro Theatre to get it returned to serve the film, cultural and LGBT community as soon as humanly possible.”
So this stalemate may carry on for the foreseeable future, and maybe both sides will be cautious before making any disruptive moves. Though an interesting tidbit from the Bay Area Reporter's coverage of a Friday, June 20 rally to save the two small businesses was that that APE might need to be granted a conditional use authorization by the SF Planning Commission if they wanted to put anything new in place of the nail salon, because the Castro Nail Salon is a registered SF Legacy Business.
In other words, SF City Hall cannot stop the Castro Nail Salon from being evicted, but it could theoretically prevent APE from replacing it with something else.
Image: Jennifer W via Yelp
