Mission Valencia, Caffinated Comics, Zoning

Thanks to Mission Mission, I stopped by Caffinated Comics (CaffCom.com!).  They do indeed sell both coffee (Four Barrel) and comics. Obligatory panorama below, click to zoom.

About time retail opened up on street level in the Mission-Valencia building. Unfortunately the city won’t let them use the cool little triangular patio.  I suspect the city is still trying to punish the builders for sneaking in more commercial space than initially zoned back in 2006:

The Mark Company, the original selling agent, represented that the two commercial spaces would be a children’s book store and a professional office. Then one day an application for a liquor license appeared on one of the doors to a commercial space. Someone discovered that there were actually three built out commercial spaces instead of two, complained to the city and state, and the public report was rescinded. It took them 15 months to get new approvals to start selling again. (via SocketSite (1st comment))

Anyway, stop by even if you are not a comicista. David the owner is cool, and it’s a nice open space. Hopefully the patio will get permitted one day.

Here’s a picture of that corner from 1944, and today (via SFLib and MapJack) — click to zoom.

Once a gas station.  Note the Sears building in the background in both shots, as well as the Redlick-Newman furniture sign at the Army/Mission intersection.

Sadly I don’t have a picture of the Taco Bell that was there prior to the Mission Valencia building.  There’s some marketing prowess for you.  “Hey, I know!  Let’s put a Taco Bell IN THE MISSION!  Right next to 37 taquerias!  Yo quero FAIL.”