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Cafe Du Soleil Closes Forever

Updated: Apr 20, 2020 11:29
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Photo from the Cafe Du Soleil Facebook page

Earlier this week I heard rumblings that the lovely Lower Haight spot, Cafe Du Soleil, was in danger of closing. My buddy Josh Gelfand told me there was a post on Nextdoor saying the landlord was refusing to sign a new lease, and then Sarah Lund sent me this screenshot via Instagram:

While I was waiting to get further confirmation about the possible closure, I got a message this morning from the next-door neighbor of the cafe, John Murray. It seems the rumors were true. Cafe Du Soleil closed on March 31st after 15 years in the Lower Haight. John’s message said that “They were moving out their stuff yesterday. Remains were left on sidewalk and storefront was empty when I left for work earlier this morning.”

The cafe is definitely closed now. Photo by Josh Gelfand

I reached out to the owner to get his take on it and I’m waiting to hear back.

In the meantime I just want to say how much of a bummer this is for the Lower Haight and San Francisco. It’s yet another longtime business and neighborhood staple leaving a community sized hole in our city. Cafe Du Soleil was a perfect place to have coffee and croissant while reading a book or catching up with a friend. Spending a sunny day at their outdoor tables, watching people go by, was glorious.

People are obviously bummed out about this, and they’ve been expressing it by commenting on the Cafe Du Soleil Facebook page.

It’s been a hard few years to be a San Franciscan. So many of the places we love have been closed due to greed. And with the destruction being wrought on businesses by the coronavirus pandemic, I fear we are going to see a lot more of this in the near future. Buckle up friends, it’s gonna be a very bumpy ride.

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Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.