A wave of vandalism and theft is smashing and grabbing what little revenue or peace of mind our favorite restaurants can cobble together while the streets are emptied for shelter-in-place.

The haunting sights of a completely empty San Francisco are now often peppered with shops boarded up by plywood, which is eerie yet somehow a poignant symbol of solidarity. That solidarity goes straight to hell when we see stories like today’s Eater SF report that someone attempted to steal the Lucky 13 sign, one of many infuriating tales with which we are about to make your blood boil. Per a post from Sunday on the Lucky 13 Facebook page seen below, “Some fuck wad just tried to steal our sign.” The empty-street attempt was foiled by a passerby, but a rash of vandalism incidents all over town are regrettably being carried through to their despicable fruition. Mind you, this is at a time when restaurants are terrified for they and their staff’s safety in pandemic conditions, as the Chron’s Soleil Ho explained today, and now throw hooliganism in the mix too.

Some fuck wad just tried to steal our sign... This is the pic we have of the thief. Please let us know if he looks familiar to anyone. Sorry only picture we got... Posted by Lucky 13 on Friday, April 3, 2020

Not far away at Harvey’s in the Castro, today we receive word that “Someone threw a rock through our window last night.” The incident, seen below, apparently occurred Wednesday evening.

Someone threw a rock through our window last night. If you saw anything please let us know. #sfcrime #castrodistrict pic.twitter.com/eQ5jjYdiRZ — Harvey's SF (@SFHarveys) April 9, 2020

Hoodline reports on a series of three vandalisms and thefts, including Russian Hill's Ristorante Milano (attempted break-in, vandalism), Pause Wine Bar (break-in, robbery, and the theft of a prized Giants bobble-head collection), and Lucky 13 (“fuck wad” named above, still at large).

Restaurant and bar break-ins are on the rise in San Francisco — here's how owners are responding https://t.co/PHxJwYNkgg by @editcatsf pic.twitter.com/NU5ogFCIdv — Hoodline (@Hoodline) April 8, 2020

Vigilant foodie muse Tablehopper has reluctantly been placed into duty as an overtime-working advocate for restaurants having a nonstop barrage of vandalism incidents. Below she describes the glass-smashing of Mission District Japanese joint Maruya, whose GoFundMe for the damages notes, “ It seems Maruya was singled out.” Draw your own conclusions, people.

And to add to the list of evil vandalism happening in SF: @MaruyaSF on 16th St. had all four of their front windows broken a week ago (a neighboring bar was also vandalized). But am happy to see their @gofundme is almost funded: https://t.co/OhuqhrHOje @SFPD — Marcia Gagliardi (@tablehopper) April 6, 2020

Today’s Chronicle piece entitled Break-ins, vandalism strike Bay Area restaurants during coronavirus shelter in place is not to be confused with last week’s SFGate post Multiple San Francisco restaurants vandalized during stay-at-home order. The victim list includes Mitchell’s Ice Cream, Senor Sisig, Hamano Sushi, Bechelli’s Flower Market Cafe, and Little Skillet, in addition to several other eateries in the Bay Area.

Ugh, no one should even TOUCH that cute market. The vandalism needs to stop--it's awful enough for businesses to try to operate and survive right now. @SFPD https://t.co/iwQp6YDMEF — Marcia Gagliardi (@tablehopper) April 6, 2020

SFist usually ends these crime posts with the standard “anyone with information is asked to call the 24-hour SFPD non-emergency crime line at (415) 553-0123, or the tip line at 415-517-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.” And all of that still applies.

But we know many of you will post angry head Facebook emojis and make derisive remarks in the comments about these foul perpetrators. And we can’t wait to read these remarks! But in this case, we’re going to close the post with links to the crowdfunding campaigns of our beloved businesses who have been victimized here, because that’s the most supportive response you can give them.

Support the Bar Staff at Lucky 13

Maruya Vandalized During COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place

Mitchell’s Ice Cream Gift Cards

Sisig 4 the People

Related: SF Police Start Issuing Citations to People and Businesses Breaking Shelter-In-Place Order [SFist]



Image: Lucky 13 via Facebook