In today’s newspaper, J.K. Dineen reported that the city is finalizing legislation that could protect legacy businesses — including restaurants and bars — from being swept away in the sands of time (or rather, the sands of development and money.)

One of the disappearing businesses he mentions is Empress of China, which is closing at the end of the year.

The singular “rooftop” restaurant and bar has towered over Chinatown and Portsmouth Square since the 60s, and for better or worse, has barely changed over the decades. It has hosted countless weddings, and served its sugary cocktails to even more locals and tourists. It is, somehow, simultaneously average and exceptional. It is a silent, dusty perch above the chaos of the city streets, where one can slow down and appreciate the splendor of the place we live. But the building is slated to be converted to offices, and the Empress will close in three months.

There has been a chorus of people bemoaning the death of San Francisco dive bars in recent months and years. As much as I’d surely bemoan the loss of my favorite watering hole (especially for a chain clothing store or another generic, by-the-numbers bar), there will always be dive bars, especially if you look hard enough.

Places like Empress of China are harder to come by. And that’s what we, as a city, should be particularly worried about. Yes, times change, money matters, and the city evolves. Businesses come and go, especially in the food and drink world. But it’s the funky ones that make the city, the outliers, the random rooms that make little to no sense. Those places act as a dam holding back a flood of homogeneity. There is no other place like Empress of China. It’s not a matter of old or new; it’s a matter of singularity.

And with every eclectic, weird place that closes — Sam Wo, Marlena’s, Joe’s of Westlake, and just recently, All Star Donuts and Woodward’s Garden — we lose just a little bit of the city’s texture.

If you read this blog regularly, chances are that you are probably interested in hot new openings, trendy bars, and the next shiny thing to comes to pass. (I usually am, too.) But as you stop by Empress one last time, don’t forget to appreciate — and support — the other businesses you might miss if they disappeared.

Empress of China: 838 Grant Avenue, between Washington and Clay, San Francisco. (415) 434-1345 or empressofchinasf.com