Last call is looming for the Grubstake Diner, a longtime LGBT hangout in San Francisco — at least in its present form.
Owner Jimmy Cosnos wants to demolish the Pine Street diner, replace it with a replica featuring original murals and stained-glass windows and construct an eight-story apartment building above it, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The city’s Board of Supervisors will hear an appeal filed by neighbors next week on the project, which was approved by the Planning Commission in July by a 4-2 vote.
Opponents say the proposed building would be too tall and would eliminate light and air for residents on the lower floors of the 12-story condominium building next door. One resident, software engineer Theresa Calderon, said she determined that light to some units could drop by between 70 and 99 percent.
“As a first time home buyer, I didn’t know that plans could change,” Calderon told the Chronicle. “When I found out how tall it would be, it really freaked me out.”
Consos said Grubstake, a converted railway car, can survive only with a new building, since plumbing and electrical systems must be replaced and the diner is in violation of handicapped accessibility laws. Business has slowed dramatically since the pandemic muzzled nightlife.
Grubstake, which has been at its present location since 1967, has been a gathering place for generations of LGBTQ San Franciscans, including Harvey Milk. Until the 1990s, it was an unofficial clubhouse for drag queens, transgender people and other night owls.
“I’ve always felt welcomed and accepted at Grubstake as an openly gay man, as a long-time AIDS survivor, and no matter what I was wearing — or not wearing,” LGBTQ activist Gary Virginia said. “It has been a safe haven for minorities and alternative communities since it opened.”
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