Lane Murchison, founder of Bird School of Music<\/a>, has lived and worked on Polk Street for 19 years. In that time, he has shepherded neighborhood kids from rambunctious novices into full-fledged performing artists, experimenting with new sounds and personas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Over those two decades, Polk has gone through similar shifts: Its community and identity have grown up and leaned into something new. Once best known for its rollicking nightlife, the street has clearly gotten tamer<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t see as many staggering drunks anymore,\u201d Murchison noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While that reputation has faded, the neighborhood\u2019s other qualities \u2014 like its eclectic mix of retail, restaurants, bars and vibes \u2014 have taken precedence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely quieter at night around here,\u201d Murchison said. \u201cThe daytime, though, it\u2019s just the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Business owners along the corridor report that the winding down of nightlife energy began prior to the pandemic, but Covid and its closures amounted to a slowdown accelerator. However, if there\u2019s a silver lining to Polk shedding its boisterousness, it\u2019s that more people might recognize it as a cute, around-the-clock hub worth visiting for more than a vodka and Redbull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a rallying cry to support the vibrancy of all kinds of businesses, said Suzette Gresham, owner of Italian restaurants Acquerello<\/a> and Sorella<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCome check out Polk: Walk down the street, pop in our shops, visit our restaurants and bars,\u201d she said. \u201cI guarantee you\u2019ll find something you like.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The lack of a unifying ambiance for Polk Street has led to some hand-wringing about an identity crisis, but the street\u2019s more diffuse spirit has its charms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Perretta, co-owner of sexy bakery Hot Cookie<\/a>, loves that the Castro-founded shop\u2019s second location on Polk is tied to the neighborhood\u2019s status as a gay mecca <\/a>between the 1950s and 1980s.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have the most diverse customers you can imagine,\u201d Perretta said. He doesn\u2019t see an overarching Polk Street vibe these days or, really, the need for one: \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any one identity here, and I think that\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hot Cookie\u2019s customers range from bespectacled hipsters to harried parents to curious tourists to late-night drunchie warriors, from across all socio-economic strata. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul Perretta, co-owner of Hot Cookie, stands behind the counter inside the Polk Street location of the sexy bakery. | Source:Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marcel Mijares, left, owner of High Trails Cyclery Bike Shop, and Brooke Wagner, the store\u2019s manager, have tracked the changes on Polk Street since frequenting the corridor in their early adulthood. | Source:Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n\n\n\n Micah Ruiz, owner of Orion Custom Framing, one of the new entrants to the neighborhood said he’s been embraced by the community. | Source:Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan Blackwelder, owner of One Half, said he’s always appreciated the old-school San Francisco feel of the neighborhood. | Source:Morgan Ellis\/The Standard<\/p>\n\n\n\n These days, the range of neighborhood options includes an upscale speakeasy (BlindPig), quirky dive bar (Kozy Kar), cult favorite (Bob\u2019s Donuts), trendy vintage shop (ReLove), specialty grocer (Cheese Plus), Michelin-starred cuisine (SSAL) and just about every other category you could desire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The owner of French wine bar Amelie<\/a>, Germain Michel, praises that tapestry of tastes and atmospheres. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPolk Street has always been a little village of its own,\u201d he said, ticking off its expansive list of offerings, from fine Italian dining to massage parlors to upholsterers. \u201cI think Polk Street looks like the image of San Francisco overall: It\u2019s not only one type of restaurant or bar; it\u2019s everything, like a big melting pot.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n After starting out in San Francisco in 2006, Michel has opened Amelie locations in Fairfax, New York City and Washington, D.C. \u2014 but Polk Street remains his favorite. In June, the restaurant had one of its best-ever months, he added, perhaps because the weather has been lovely and many people stayed local versus traveling. \u201cIt seems like this summer will be busier than last year,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Generally, Polk\u2019s mix of styles and offerings can fit a range of budgets, whether people are looking to splurge or explore cheaply. \u201cWe have Michelin stars and dive bars,\u201d Bird\u2019s Murchison said. While he thinks that people still come to Polk as a destination, it\u2019s now as much about the day scene as the nightlife. \u201cEverything you want or need,\u201d he added. \u201cI could live my entire life within these blocks and never leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben Bleiman, head of the Discover Polk<\/a> community benefit district, agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s everything I love about San Francisco, encapsulated in a neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not too fancy, and it\u2019s not too gritty. It\u2019s like Goldilocks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While some businesses have thrived since the pandemic \u2014 the neighborhood has several census blocks<\/a> where revenue from taxable sales has increased since 2019 \u2014 the bar scene foundational to its pre-pandemic reputation is more subdued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThings are definitely slower,\u201d said Benny Davis, long-time manager at Kozy Kar<\/a>. While he describes Sunday evenings as essentially a \u201cghost town,\u201d he can\u2019t resist some optimism: \u201cNothing has bounced back completely, but we\u2019re still doing pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many bar regulars have simply grown up. Brooke Wagner, store manager at Polk Street\u2019s High Trails Cyclery<\/a>, who has been going out on the corridor since she was 21, feels like she fits in with the street\u2019s drinking crowd just as much a decade later as she did then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe we all just aged into Polk Street,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cPeople have a little more money to spend, but they\u2019re not necessarily hopping from place to place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Case in point is 82-year-old Dan Blackwelder, owner of One Half<\/a>, who said running his Polk Street gift shop for 27 years has kept him feeling young and connected with the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty old-school San Francisco,\u201d Blackwelder said of the neighborhood. \u201cAn awful lot of people have lived within a few blocks of this store for years and years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While he\u2019s decided that it\u2019s time for him to retire (he\u2019ll close One Half before the end of the year), he hopes a similar shop opens in its place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For McTeague\u2019s Saloon<\/a> manager Fiachra O\u2019Shaughnessy, the dearth of 21-year-olds has felt stark. While the bar\u2019s regulars still come in \u2014 \u201cThey care about the business, and they care about us,\u201d he said \u2014 they\u2019re generally not staying out as late. The bar has rolled out promotions, like a $5 happy hour after midnight, to try to pull folks out later. O\u2019Shaughnessy also pitched the slower scene as a potential draw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe biggest attraction for people on Polk Street right now is you don\u2019t have to deal with such a huge mass of people,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can have a nice, semi-busy Friday or Saturday night with a good vibe, without having to push your way through throngs of people or wait half an hour to come to the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, one of Polk\u2019s biggest challenges is that it\u2019s pockmarked with empty storefronts. (The most egregious vacancy is the massive Lombardi Sports building, which has remained empty for a decade).<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe stuff that\u2019s here is cool, but there needs to be more of it,\u201d Gallery-O-Rama<\/a>\u2019s Kaytea Petro said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since she opened her gallery and studio space last summer, there has been a spattering of other debuts. An offshoot of the shuttered Mission staple Stuff recently opened<\/a>, as did a second location of Mission-Bernal\u2019s custom framing shop Orion<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s just a lot of energy over here,\u201d Orion owner Micah Ruiz said of his 4-month-old store. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, he\u2019s been impressed with the amount of foot traffic passing by his expansive front windows (and stopping in) and has felt welcomed by locals, several of whom explicitly thanked him for \u201cinvesting in the neighborhood,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On his opening day, they embraced him both figuratively and literally (meaning: lots of hugs). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s always people out and about,\u201d he noted of the neighborhood. \u201cAnd it feels like the momentum is building.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jillian D\u2019Onfro can be reached at jdonfro@sfstandard.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the \u2018ghost town\u2019 neighborhood of Polk Gulch has seen a waning nightlife scene, many small business and restaurant owners say the stretch is bustling and vibrant during the day. | Source:Jesse Rogala\/The StandardShare By\u00a0Jillian D\u2019Onfro Published\u00a0Aug. 04, 2024 \u2022 6:00am (SFStandard.com) Lane Murchison, founder of Bird School of Music, has lived… Continue reading ![\"A](\"https:\/\/content.sfstandard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/202407-polkstreet-me-17.jpg?w=3840&q=75\")
A melting pot of options <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Aging into Polk Street <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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