"Please, we don't need any more coffee. We need food." Dan Serot, owner of the 50-year-old Finnegans Wake, told The San Francisco Standard that this was the message the Cole Valley Merchants Association and the Cole Valley Improvement Association sent to the owner of 919 Cole Street. Peet's Coffee had closed there in January after 12 years, and the landlord's first plan was another coffee shop.
The space is now going to Pasta Supply Co. Cole Street has two organized groups, one of merchants and one of residents, and they have already worked on parking, streetlights and night markets. Now they are weighing in on what fills the storefronts. If you walk the block for groceries, hardware or a beer, the changes you're seeing this fall are partly the result of those requests.
The Space That Was Supposed to Be Coffee
By the Standard's count, the Cole Valley commercial corridor is one and a half blocks of Cole Street between Parnassus and Carl. It holds nearly a dozen places to eat, two coffee shops, a dry cleaner, a shipping store, a hardware store, an upscale grocer, a pet shop, a gym and an urgent care center. Wooden Coffee House sits at the center of that stretch, near Cole Valley Tavern. Double Black opened this summer one storefront away from 919 Cole. With those two already open, a third coffee counter in the old Peet's space would have meant more of what the block already had.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Cole Valley Pasta Supply Co. will have about 24 seats and serve lunch and dinner daily. It will also sell fresh pasta to take home, a few steps from the N-Judah stop. The Chronicle reported plans for about 30 fresh pasta varieties plus sauces and pantry staples. Fusilli in spicy vodka sauce was one of the dishes it named. The company already runs locations at 236 Clement Street in the Inner Richmond and on 22nd Street in the Mission.
Chef Anthony Strong is a longtime Cole Valley resident, the Standard reported. He told the Standard in August that he hoped to open in October. In late October, the restaurant's location page still listed 919 Cole St. as "Coming Soon," with hours to be announced.
The build-out was partly funded by neighbors and fans. Pasta Supply ran a "Pasta for Life" crowdfunder with a $400,000 goal. Eater SF reported that it had passed the halfway mark one week in. The $4,000 "Pasta for Life" tier now shows as out of stock on the campaign page.
Four Doors, Four Stages
The old Peet's space sits in a row of storefronts that are each at a different point in the turnover. Here's the latest reported status for each.
| Address | Business | What it is | Latest reported status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 919 Cole St. | Pasta Supply Co. | Restaurant and fresh pasta shop, about 24 seats | Announced for October; site listed "Coming Soon" in late October |
| 925 Cole St. | Double Black inside Yardsale | Coffee shop inside an outdoor gear and apparel store | Open daily, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| 943 Cole St. | New concept from Jiro Lin of Hamano Sushi | Replaces Kamekyo, a 28-year-old sushi restaurant | Expected "in the coming months," per the Standard in September |
| Parnassus Ave., near Luke's Local | Schatzgarten | Antique store from Katie Humphries | Planned to open in September, per the Standard |
Double Black is already open. Cristina Ashbaugh and Kelly McGee, the friends behind it, started Yardsale in their Cole Valley garage in 2023 and opened the store and coffee shop this summer, the Standard reported. The space had been a pharmacy and sat empty for a long time before they moved in. The shop sells iced hojicha lattes with black-sesame cold foam. It also offers free refills on drip coffee, which the owners told the Standard was meant to make the shop feel open to longtime locals, not just to people who find it on TikTok.
On the other side of 919 is Simple SF, Abbe Hoenscheid's zero-waste refill store. She opened it on Carl Street in 2022 and moved onto Cole last year. She told the Standard that sales are growing 40% to 50% year over year, and that many customers come from other parts of the city because it is the only zero-waste refill store in San Francisco right now.
The same report shows a pattern across the row. Strong is a longtime resident. The Yardsale founders started in a Cole Valley garage. Hoenscheid raised her kids in the neighborhood. Jim Angelus, a resident since 2009, became an owner of Cole Valley Tavern in 2018. Many of the new businesses on the block come from people who already live in Cole Valley.
The Groups Behind the Letter Had Already Worked on Parking
The letter about 919 Cole came from two groups that had been working on the street for a while. The Cole Valley Merchants Association launched in 2023. Over the past few years it worked with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to move loading zones off Cole Street and shorten commercial loading hours, which frees up parking for customers. "We've raised money for the streetlights and night markets, and we fixed the parking," Serot told the Standard.
The Cole Valley Improvement Association is the residents' group, and it co-signed the letter. Newcomers notice the organizing too. Katie Humphries of Schatzgarten doesn't live in Cole Valley, but she told the Standard the merchant group had made her feel supported after she attended her first meeting: "Everyone's so supportive, they're so organized."
Luke Spray, executive director of the market organizer Civic Joy Fund, sees a parallel across town. "I feel like the recent upswing in West Portal kind of mirrored the dynamic in Cole Valley," he told the Standard. "It was a bit sleepy, and then you have local merchants who came in and said, 'Let's do this here.'"
Why the Old Anchors Matter Here
The block has room to be choosy because its oldest businesses have stayed. Cole Hardware opened in 1920. Val de Cole, a city Legacy Business, has been selling wine and spirits since the 1930s. Say Cheese, the deli and specialty food shop, has been open for 50 years, and Finnegans Wake marked its 50th anniversary in September.
The newer arrivals build on that base. Blue Barn moved in late in 2023, and Woods Beer and Wine Co. followed in early 2024. On Friday nights there's a line for Woods' back patio. Rising Star Laundry, a clothing boutique, came after that. Long-running businesses that are still open make it easier to spot a gap, and the old Peet's space showed one. The block had coffee and drinks. It needed more places for a meal.
Hoenscheid summed up the block for the Standard: "It's so mom-and-pop. You don't really have that feeling in a lot of neighborhoods. You feel like you're in a small town."
Up the Hill, UCSF Is Building Too
A few blocks south, UCSF's Parnassus campus is adding public space on a much bigger scale, and its schedule overlaps with the holiday season on Cole Street. UCSF is also one of the sponsors listed on the Cole Valley Nights page.
UCSF's October construction update says steel for the new Helen Diller Hospital has reached level 6. On weekdays, steel deliveries shift lanes on Parnassus Avenue between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., and steel and concrete deliveries are expected to continue through most of 2027. The tower crane at the Bakar Research and Academic Building came down in early October. From Oct. 26 through December, pedestrian access on Koret Way stays limited, and walkers are directed to follow signs and flaggers.
Parnassus Commons will be a central plaza and promenade with more than 100 new trees. A crane stays on that site through December to install an elevated walkway, landscaping and walkway work was set to begin in late October, and completion is targeted for spring 2027. UCSF also plans underground utility work on Parnassus between Third and Fourth avenues from late 2026 into early 2027. One lane will close during working hours and two will stay open.
What's on the Calendar Through Year's End
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sutro Stewards hosts a trail stewardship volunteer session on Mount Sutro. Volunteers meet at Woods Lot, 100 Medical Center Way, for brushing, trail maintenance or invasive-plant removal.
- Saturday, Nov. 21, 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A second Mount Sutro trail and habitat volunteer day is listed by SF Children & Nature. RSVP through the organizer.
- Thursday, Dec. 10, 4 to 9 p.m. Cole Valley Nights: Holiday Nights takes over Cole Street between Carl and Parnassus. The Merchants Association presents it with Sunset Mercantile and Civic Joy Fund, with food, shopping and live music. The Cole Valley Entertainment Zone lets you carry to-go drinks from local bars and restaurants. Vendor applications are juried after a Nov. 2 cutoff, and no food trucks are accepted.
Dec. 10 is the year's fourth Cole Valley Nights, after markets on April 16, May 21 and Aug. 20. The old Peet's space is in the middle of the market's route.
If you own a home near Cole and Carl, especially an older one, and want to talk about how a well-run commercial block fits into what your house is worth, Bonnie Spindler is glad to walk the block with you. Book an Appointment.
