Chow Fun events highlight lesser-known AAPI-owned businesses in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — For some businesses in San Francisco's Excelsior neighborhood, their corner of town feels a bit forgotten.
Small business owner Michael Hung referred to his neighborhood as "the stepchild," acknowledging that downtown and other areas tend to get more attention from the city's top brass.
Nevertheless, he loves the neighborhood feel of his Excelsior bar, Rock's Den.
"We're unicorns," Hung said. "It is the forgotten corner. Before, it wasn't even on the map. It stopped at the Mission."
He noted that on any given night, he can walk into his bar and hear half a dozen patrons call him by name, ask him how he is doing, and reminisce with them about the old days growing up in the city.
"Back in the days when we took the bus everywhere and there were no Ubers and no cell phones. We had to reach each other, uh, call each other's homes—'hey, where you going?' "
But like many small business owners, Hung noted there have been challenges keeping things going over the past few years, especially given the bar's location miles away from the city center and from some of the better-known parts of town among visitors.
"Just getting people back out here since the pandemic, and getting them to check out neighborhoods that they usually wouldn't frequent."
But during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month three years ago, a longtime neighborhood resident came up with an idea to help his community. Al Perez has lived in the Excelsior for 45 years.
"A lot of people here are also very blue collar, middle class. So we don't have a lot of clout as much as the other—I guess—richer neighborhoods," Perez said. "This is where the real San Franciscans live. A lot of the workers--the blue collar workers—we all live here."
Perez helped organize that include bar crawls, wine walks, culinary and community events that direct visitors to some of the lesser-known AAPI-owned businesses in San Francisco.
"(The goal was) to create an event in all corners of San Francisco that really activates the many, many different Asian communities around town, not just in the usual Chinatown, Japantown," Perez said.
It's an idea that Hung and other business owners have thrown their support behind.
"I would love to thrive here," Hung said. "I would love to sustain for the next 15 to 20 years."
Chow Fun is celebrating its closing Culinary Event on Sunday, May 18.
