Closing the distance I'm reaching out It starts with a whisper Can you hear me now?

 How do you describe something that sounds like a fever dream?

Photo from the Richmond District Blog post announcing its closure.

I can't believe this place was ever real. I also cannot believe that this place is now gone.

It was so special, and the time at which it has now been gone is so distant now, it seems as though it never could have been real. 

It was also one of the few 3rd places that was open late that had no alcohol.

5700 Geary is a dim sum place now, but for over 25 years, it was this magical place that now exists only in memory. (And this is absolutely no shade to the dim sum place, BTW, their menu looks fire.)

Recently, I saw a TikTok from someone who was trying to go to all the 24-hour eateries in San Francisco. There were only a small handful, but the comments' section was flooded with those of us who remembered how many there used to be. More importantly, what San Francisco used to be.

Big Heart, affectionately known as "the Video Cafe,"  always had a movie playing. You could also rent movies. The walls were lined with movie posters, and with those those cardboard promotional cut outs often found in video rental stores and at movie theaters. The tables and booths were exactly what you'd think of when you thought of a diner. There was, of course, your regular diner fare, and sometimes there was Thai food. It was like something in a movie in an of itself. You could have written a play based on what you saw there and the premise of the restaurant. There were so many movies I saw there for the first time, up there on those big tube TVs. (You know, real TVs.) 

It was a perfect place to people watch.

Big Heart was safe,  cheap, and homey. If you asked nicely, they'd let you pick the movie. 

I don't find myself in the City on late nights as much these days.  We don't have many places like this left in SF--either the rents took them out, or the pandemic did. Whilst so many restaurants dug in their heels and remained iconic mainstays, so many more are just abandoned storefronts now. Louis' closed down in 2020 after almost 100 years in business, and has been vacant ever since. Denny's in Pacifica was replaced by a completely new building which now houses a very popular Panda Express and a less popular Starbucks(which is probably because... for some reason... it looks like a prison inside?)--giving teenagers with blue hair who hate their parents and the world nowhere to bemoan their problems at 3am. The Denny's that was at Serra Monte is now also gone--where are people going to have fist fights over parking spaces at 1am now? 

Thankfully, we still have Heidi's, which is no longer 24 hours. Kowloon Tong Dessert Cafe in SF is only open to midnight now. A Denny's in South City still exists. Eddie's Cafe is only open until 3pm on most days now.

 I've been thinking about loss a lot lately, given the news that Bottom of the Hill is closing. All San Francisco seems to do these days is lose pieces of ourselves with every staple institution closing. One of the things I noticed about Burbank on my last visit was that were were so many stores and cafes and restaurants that were allowed to thrive there that would die if they were here in SF. So many novelty stores, so many thrift stores. We just lose so much, and it never feels the same.

Again, it's not that I am opposed to all change, I just must always question the efficacy of change, especially when such changes usually really hurt.💔 

There is still a slot in my big heart where Big Heart once sat. It's just another one of those things that left, and I was never the same since.