Latest news with #Alioto's
Business Journals
3 hours ago
- Business
- Business Journals
Daily Digest: End of an era at Fisherman's Wharf, Scale AI eyes record funding from Meta
Happy Monday, Bay Area. Tensions remain high in Los Angeles as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement took over the city this weekend, with demonstrators clashing with law enforcement as President Trump deployed 2,000 members of the National Guard to "address the lawlessness." The state of California will file a lawsuit on Monday challenging President Trump's use of the National Guard, Gov. Gavin Newsom stated on social media. Trump suggested Newsom should be arrested over his response. Protests also broke out in downtown San Francisco on Sunday with 60 arrests made, the Chronicle reports. Meanwhile in transportation, Alphabet-owned Waymo has suspended service of its ride-hailing service in downtown Los Angeles after some of its vehicles were set on fire during protests. Closer to home here in the city, S.F.'s first all-women's sports bar — Rikki's — is opening on Wednesday at 2223 Market St., an upper Market location that has seen a number of short-lived concepts over the past few years. And finally, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has announced the closure of all its farmers market-style pantries by June 30, as well as reductions to its home delivery service and staff. ABC7 also reports that 13 pantries closed for good Friday after the money ran out. Here's the rest of the local business news to start your week. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Alioto's to be torn down at Fisherman's Wharf Alioto's Restaurant, the longtime waterfront seafood spot at Fisherman's Wharf that closed down in 2020, will be demolished and replaced by a new public plaza as part of a $10 million plan by the Port of San Francisco to reimagine the historic heart of Fisherman's Wharf, the Chronicle reports. Knocking down Alioto's and building a plaza are at the heart of a package of wharf upgrades, of which the port expects to complete the first phase by next year. expand The three-story, 11,000-square-foot Alioto's structure at Fisherman's Wharf will be torn down. Todd Johnson | San Francisco Business Times Business owners expect disruptions as wine and spirits distributor pulls out of California One of the nation's largest wine and spirits distributors recently announced it's pulling out of California, a move expected disrupt restaurant and bar operators and retailers statewide. Republic National Distributing Company, which operates in 39 states across the U.S., announced last week that it will exit the California market, effective Sept. 2, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. RNDC's remaining portfolio of wine and spirit brands will now be on the hunt for new distributors in California in order for their products to remain on shelves and in bars, according to local business leaders. Wild pigs are going hog wild in Santa Clara. Now authorities are going "Full Boar" Wild pigs are on the rise in Santa Clara County and have led to an uptick in property damage. As a result, the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, an agency in San Jose that has preserved 30,000 acres of land as outdoor public space, last month approved spending $243,000 to hire a contractor, Full Boar Trapping and Wildlife Control, based in Contra Costa County, to trap and shoot wild pigs over the next three years on its properties, the Mercury News reports. The report states that Russian boars were first introduced to the region in 1924 when eccentric Canadian millionaire George Gordon Moore purchased Rancho San Carlos, a 22,000-acre ranch in Carmel Valley. Some escaped and bred with the local pigs first brought by the Spanish in 1769. The pigs grow sharp tusks, weigh 250 pounds or more and have been known to attack hikers. Sign up for the Business Times' free morning and afternoon daily newsletters to receive the latest business news driving change in San Francisco. Download the free San Francisco Business Times app for breaking news alerts on your phone. People on the Move The National Venture Capital Association has named Vineeta Agarwala, general partner at A16z, as chair of the NVCA board of directors. In addition, Alex Doll of Ten Eleven Ventures has joined the NVCA board of directors. Mobilicom Limited (Nasdaq: MOB), a Palo Alto-based provider of cybersecurity and solutions for drones and robotics, named Guy Givoni to its board of directors. Givoni previously served on Mobilicom's advisory board from 2017 through 2023. Funding Watch San Francisco-based Scale AI is in talks to raise more than $10 billion from Meta, Bloomberg reports. The financing could exceed $10 billion in value, anonymous sources said, making it one of the largest private funding events of all time. The terms of the deal are not finalized and could still change and representatives for Scale AI and Meta declined to comment. The startup was last valued at about $14 billion in 2024, in a funding round that included backing from Meta and Microsoft. expand Alexandr Wang, co-founder and CEO of Scale AI David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images IPO Watch In case you missed it, check out these seven questions Senior Reporter Ron Leuty last week got to ask Sean Duffy, the CEO of newly public Omada Health. Final thought … Sometimes it's the small things that people in industry do that have the biggest impact. For example, making the home computer user-friendly. That was the genius of Bill Atkinson, the Apple designer who created the software pioneered by the company's Lisa and Macintosh computers that made the machines accessible to millions of users without specialized skills, the New York Times reports. RIP to Atkinson, who died on Thursday at his home in Portola Valley at the age of 74. DOWNLOAD the free SFBT app for breaking news alerts on your phone.
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. landmark will be torn down as part of major Fisherman's Wharf redesign
Alioto's Restaurant, the classic seafood spot that was a gathering place for Bay Area families for nearly 80 years before shuttering in 2020, will be demolished and replaced by a new public plaza as part of a $10 million plan by the Port of San Francisco to reimagine the historic heart of Fisherman's Wharf. Port Director Elaine Forbes said the agency spent several years looking for a new operator for the 11,000-square-foot Alioto's, but the sheer size and dilapidated condition of the three-story structure — and the multimillion-dollar investment needed to make it structurally sound — made it a tough sell. 'It's just a relic, essentially, a relic of an important history, but it is not the future,' Forbes said. Knocking down Alioto's and building a plaza are the centerpiece of a package of wharf improvements that will include the lighting of the lagoon and the demolition of a crumbling former smokehouse that has been used for storage in recent years. The port expects to complete the first phase next year while starting work on a longer-range project that will include seismic and sea-level rise protections. Forbes said removing Alioto's would give the public access to the lagoon where San Francisco's fishing boats are docked and where locals can line up to buy fresh fish and crab off the vessels. The view of the lagoon that lured so many families to Alioto's for graduation and birthday celebrations — the brightly-painted Monterey Hull fishing boats with the Golden Gate Bridge beyond — would be available to anyone visiting the new public piazza. Alioto's was one of six major Fisherman's Wharf restaurants that closed, and didn't reopen, when the pandemic lockdown started more than five years ago. The port has found new operators for three of the spaces: Chasca Rio will open at 340 Jefferson St., which used to house Pompei's Grotto; Everett & Jones Barbeque will take over the former Lou's Fish Shack; and Castanola's will reopen with a new operator and concept, which has yet to be announced. But three legacy spots overlooking the lagoon at the foot of Taylor Street — Alioto's, Fisherman's Grotto #9 and Tarantino's — proved to be too spacious and run-down to be attractive at a time when there is little demand for cavernous seafood eateries designed to cater to groups of 10 or 12. Having a trio of shuttered waterfront structures discourages visitors from continuing past Taylor Street as they meander north on the waterfront from Pier 39, according to Mike Rescino, who docks his charter fishing boat Lovely Martha in the lagoon near Alioto's. It has put a damper on his business. 'When they see a row of closed restaurants all they do is say, 'Nothing is here,' and turn around and walk back to Pier 39,' Rescino said. For decades the port, which owns 7.5 miles of San Francisco waterfront, managed Fisherman's Wharf with benign neglect. Its restaurants were humming, its crab stands packed, its bread bowls full of chowder, and its stalls along Jefferson Street bright with Alcatraz-themed fleece. With many of the city's piers crumbling, the wharf was the least of the port's problems. 'It was working magically,' Forbes said. But while cioppino and crab continued to draw millions of visitors to the wharf, even before the pandemic it was clear that the jumbo, family-friendly seafood joints that were so popular in the '60s and '70s and '80s were becoming obsolete. Revenue was down and it was unclear that the three businesses would survive until the end of their 66-year leases, which expire in 2036. What had been 'a private economic engine that the port was there to support,' was now 'in need of more defined intervention,' said Deputy Port Director Michael Martin. Taryn Hoppe, who owns several businesses in the neighborhood and is the president of the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District, said she feels 'a little wistful' about the history that will vanish with the removal of Alioto's, but said 'overwhelmingly, this is a big deal in a good way.' 'This is what we have been asking for,' she said. 'There is really no other option. You can't lease that space. It's falling apart, and we have always wanted to open up more access to the fishing fleet and that lagoon area.' She credited the port, an enterprise agency that mostly funds its activity through rent from its properties, with proposing a $10 million project that will not directly generate revenue. 'We needed the port to kick-start something major, a turn of the tide of that Taylor Street area where these buildings are impossible to lease and falling apart,' she said. What will become of the two multilevel vacant restaurant spaces next to Alioto's — Fisherman's Grotto #9 and Tarantino's — remains to be seen. The two buildings will be activated with temporary ground-floor uses while the plaza is built, according to the port. It's possible that one or both could benefit from overlooking the new plaza — a food hall or interactive museum, perhaps — but the structures could also eventually be demolished to expand the open space and access to the lagoon. Alioto's got its start in 1925 when Sicilian immigrant Nunzio Alioto Sr. began selling crab and shrimp cocktail at Stall #8. By 1938, the family had built the first restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf. It became known for its cioppino, a fish stew, as well as the turquoise and black sign that sits on top of the building. Woody LaBounty, executive director of the preservation group San Francisco Heritage, called Alioto's 'a long-standing stalwart for people who grew up in San Francisco.' Its sign was part of a cityscape that was seen in movies and television shows like 'The Streets of San Francisco.' He compared the sign to the Golden Gate Bridge and the cable cars. 'It's really sad. Alioto was one of our top 10 legacy bars and restaurants, we hate to lose those sort of things,' he said. But, he said a preservation campaign to save the building is unlikely. 'If you ask anyone who grew up in the city, 99% of people are going to say, 'Do not let that go,'' he said. 'But it's hard if there is not a business model that can be successful right now.' Port spokesman Eric Young said the termination agreement for the Alioto lease gave the family the rights to the restaurant name and the 'number 8,' but the sign and other property left behind belong to the port. 'The port welcomes an engagement with the Alioto family to develop interpretive signage at the plaza that would honor the family's contribution to the wharf,' Young said. He said the port would 'safeguard the signs from the restaurant.' The new chapter comes as the wharf remains one of the most visited places in San Francisco in 2024, with 10 million visitors, a number which is down from 15 million in 2019. Forbes emphasized that the investment is part of a larger effort to make sure the wharf is relevant, both to locals and tourists. Other efforts include attracting the Skystar Observation Wheel, the ferris wheel that was moved in 2023 from Golden Gate Park; installing new furniture, greenery and pop-up containers on the promenade along Little Embarcadero; and building a new $6 million floating dock along Al Scoma Way to enhance off-the-boat fish sales and waterside excursions. 'We are the custodian of Fisherman's Wharf,' Forbes said. 'It's been this endurable, magical place for San Francisco that has really driven economic well-being, but also the identity of who we are as a city.' David Beaupre, who operates planning for the port, said it's important that the work on the Alioto's property start as soon as possible. Removing the heavy 11,000-square-foot building will relieve pressure on the pier substructure that 'has not seen major investment since the 1960s.' 'We are hoping to do it quickly, because time is not on our side,' he said.
