San Francisco Magazine (part of the Modern Luxury publishing family) just put up a lengthy piece on the plight of the Mission-based “Local” business empire, which keeps getting picketed and vandalized and everything. The piece is called “Local, Cornered.” Here’s a good bit:
Looking back, Milgrom wonders if his troubles might have started as soon as he gave his businesses their names. “Maybe we should have made it clearer that our use of ‘local’ isn’t about being local,” he says of Local’s Corner, which he opened in 2012. “It’s about our sourcing. People really, really get riled up, particularly about the possessive s.”
I definitely pat myself on the back every day for not having named this blog “Mission’s Mission.” Read on for lots more quotes from Milgrom and the Flour and Water guy and some other restaurant guys.
 just put up a lengthy piece on the plight of the Mission-based “Local” business empire, which keeps getting picketed and vandalized and everything. The piece is called “Local, Cornered.” Here’s a good bit: Looking back, Milgrom wonders if his troubles might have started as soon as […]</p>
%5Bvia+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missionmission.org%2F2014%2F08%2F26%2Flocals-corner-guy-admits-maybe-calling-it-locals-corner-was-a-mistake%2F%22%3EMission+Mission%3C%2Fa%3E%5D&clickthru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missionmission.org%2F2014%2F08%2F26%2Flocals-corner-guy-admits-maybe-calling-it-locals-corner-was-a-mistake%2F){kind=link}
ACCE is a fucking joke. Fuck them.
Yup. You can file this one under the “No Shit, Sherlock” category.
Since when does not having a table available for you immediately qualify as racism? I’m going start hurling bricks at Boogaloo every time I have to put my name on the list for now on. Really, this seems like someone looking for any reason to create a problem.
Good article. The ACCE really comes off like the dickwads they are.
Local Corner is a racist restaurant. A local latino family went there to eat and they were not served. They were finally told by the owner, you are not the kind of customers we want. They also refused to serve black people. I live near to that restaurant and there is no one in the Mission who does not hate them. They only allow white silicon valley types in there.
No, it is not.
I am latino, husband is black. Our kid was 4 something when we went to have brunch. We had a great time. We were treated with respect.
I live in the mission, my family represent the diversity of the mission. We don’t work in the Silicon Valley. We don’t hate them.
I have NO association to this business at all. We have not gone back because my son was not fond with the food, so we make a case of returning places where we all can have our desired meal since we don’t go out often.
Liar
Milgrom came off as being very rude (his wife as well) He invited me into his establisment to introduce me to his kitchen crew and once I walked in. He immediately said “Oh we’re closed for the day, go outside”. I said to him “you just invited me in.” He said “oh no, we’re closed… so I stepped outside.
My Sister Sandy and the rest of our Family that were asked to “find another place to eat” had straightned it out. She invited him over to talk about what had taken place. and that was it. As far as we look at things. He’s making his own Problems
This is an example of arrogant attitude of many recent Mission business owners who marginalize the local residents. They ignore the history of this neighborhood and will be haunted by the ghosts of those who made the Mission a unique cultural mecca.
Fuck these racist scumbags.
Describing the area he opened his places at as the Wild West filled with derelict buildings and prostitutes might have been his second mistake
His first mistake was probably bringing the attitude that it was the “Wild West” in the first place…
Thanks for linking to this. Re the parenthetical remark in the first sentence of this post: Am I being paranoid, or is the implication that we should sniff a bit at the article because the magazine is owned by a company with a stupid name? Seems ironic, given the point of the article vis-a-vis getting distracted by lame names.
Not sure I’m using vis-a-vis right.
I think you used vis-a-vis right.
He’s a racist jew, burn him!!!
Empty a usual. @sfnola: What qualifies as racist goes beyond what you have read in the article. Doesn’t sound like you care to scratch the surface so why bother. There are enough credible people from the community that are aware the practices to justify a boycott and smearing campaign. Businesses like this have a right to exist and we have a right to take action when there is an injustice in our Barrio!
The sad irony is that if you succeed in driving him out, a new business will gladly take his place, charge even more, and probably have fewer ties to the community.
At least Milgrom lives here and raises his children here. His wife is a doctor at General. He says this is a misunderstanding, and I believe him.
See you guys at the next acce rally. Save your keyboard courage and show up speak your minds snakes.
From what I’ve heard from many people, including fellow merchants, is that Milgrom behaves arrogantly and goes back on promises. Perhaps other businesses have not been targeted as he has in part because they are not run by such overtly arrogant people. He has contributed to making himself a lightening rod. As for whether events at Local’s Corner were racist or not, I think that the delivery of the “we can’t serve you” messages were done quite poorly, and I would attribute that to at least a form of classism, which of course can involve subtle and not so subtle threads of racism., A Latina mom and her child went into Humphrey Slocombe’s, and the gal at the register, thinking she was being helpful, said to the mother,”I don’t think you’ll find the flavor you want here and it’s expensive.” This is the kind of “subtle” classist stuff going on in the Mission now. Milgrom has kindled bad feeling though he does not deserve vandalism.
These views are soo extreme. I’ve tested it out and the restaurant was cautious and had good service. It’s easy to judge and complain about others and believe there is a lot of jealousy and projections onto others for things people didn’t obtain for themselves. Didn’t your mother teach you that life isn’t fair but keep trying? If you aren’t already a “tech tycoon” and that’s what you want – it’s your job to go find it. Mexican, black, old, young, or otherwise – go do it yourself instead of complaining that some restaurant represents racism. I’m not in high tech myself -but smart enough to read through the lines. Go do your life and become what you envy!
When he contacted the group, which focuses on issues affecting immigrants and low-income families, a representative told him, “‘This is like the soda fountains in the South,’” Milgrom recalls. “I said, you’re losing me right away if you think this is systemic planned racism against an entire people.”
While I think his restaurants and store are ludicrous–$28 for a chicken dish?–I have to agree here. As the granddaughter of people who actually grew up in the South with segregated soda fountains (and everything else), I find that kind of offensive.