Latest news with #BillUpson
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Popular California Diner Announces Sad Closure After 40 Years
A San Francisco dining staple closed last weekend after four decades in business. The Fog City Diner, which rebranded to simply Fog City in 2013, shut down on Friday after 40 years of service. Opened in 1985, the eclectic eatery was a beloved part of the San Francisco dining scene right up to its final day. 'With a heavy heart, I share some difficult news. Fog City has closed permanently with the last day of service being May 30, 2025,' the restaurant said on social media. "Thank You for the 40 years of patronage!" Longtime customers gathered in the comments section to mourn the abrupt shuttering of the Embarcadero institution. "THIS is how you announce it?? Fog City deserved better," one woman wrote. "Wow!! 8yrs spent out there tending bar!! Will miss everyone I worked with or served. Cheers!!" said a former employee. "This breaks my heart. Loved this spot and for so many years!! ❤️" added a third person. "What an amazing run, job well done friends! You have so much to be proud of," chimed in a fourth commenter. Co-founded by Bill Higgins and Bill Upson, Fog City was an immediate hit after opening four decades ago. In 1993, the establishment became somewhat famous when it was featured in the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer, starring Mike Myers, Nancy Travis and Phil Hartman. "The location of our FOG CITY restaurant is steeped in history — one that goes back way beyond the 1985 opening of the original Fog City Diner," says the diner's official website. "From feeding hungry sailors before they shipped out to serve in WWII to housing a railroad building servicing trains in San Francisco's first railways, and acting as a docking point for ships during the Gold Rush, this site has always been an integral part of the rich tapestry of San Francisco history." Popular California Diner Announces Sad Closure After 40 Years first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 3, 2025
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. landmark Fog City diner closes permanently after 40 years on the Embarcadero
Fog City, the landmark restaurant that helped launch San Francisco's small plates movement and once defined the modern American diner, closed its doors Friday after four decades in operation. 'With a heavy heart I share some difficult news,' read a message posted by the restaurant on social media. 'Fog City has closed permanently with the last day of service being May 30, 2025. Thank you for the 40 years of patronage!' The closure was unannounced, and no reason was provided. Opened in 1985 as Fog City Diner by restaurateurs Bill Higgins and Bill Upson, the eatery became an immediate part of the city's dining landscape with its whimsical Pat Kuleto design and the inventive cuisine of chef Cindy Pawlcyn. Over the years, its neon signs and bold, globally inspired menu helped cement its place in San Francisco's culinary lore. Though Pawlcyn departed more than a decade ago, a 2013 overhaul saw the diner reimagined as simply Fog City, with a sleeker look by architect Michael Guthrie and a revamped kitchen led by chef Bruce Hill. Hill introduced dishes such as wood-oven roasted chicken with kimchi butter, utilizing his patented chef's press, a stainless steel tool that weighs down food to even out cooking times. Located at 1300 Battery St., the site itself has a layered history — once a roundhouse for trains, then a World War II-era cafeteria, and later a gathering spot for longshoremen. When it was still known as Fog City Diner, the restaurant appeared in Visa commercials, Farley comic strips, and the 1993 Mike Myers film 'So I Married an Axe Murderer.'
