— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Early Saturday morning, a two alarm fire consumed We Be Sushi, Thai House 530, and other neighboring apartments on 16th and Valencia. A building neighbor, Jeff, filled us in on what happened:
There was a HUGE fire right behind my place this morning. Three stories, two buildings went up and are totaled on Valencia. My whole place smells like burnt wood, but is fine.
We Be Sushi is torched, looks like Thai House 530 is okay. Also, looks like Blondie's is (unfortunately) okay as well.
Jeff emailed us again a few hours later with a further update:
Thai House: not okay. My buddy there just took me though and I saw all the damage. They're going to be closed for months, if not forever because of water damage. Looks like firefighters contained it to those two buildings though.
No more details appear to be available at this time. We'll update if we hear more.
Comments (31)
This sucks.
I lived in the top floor apartment at 538 Valencia when I first moved to the city, really curious to see what they come up with as a cause for this fire. The building owner didn’t seem especially greedy, but with the way rents are spiking it’s hard not to think there could be a profit motive to something like this.
Someone living in that apartment building lit a bbq out back, under the wooden staircase, the 100 year old, dry, wooden staircase.
blondie’s joke is inappropriate, regardless of how you feel about the place. getting your business burned down is a fate i wouldn’t wish on the worst bars
The Blondies comment was uncalled for.
Just reporting what I was told.
Besides, I don’t live near the bar. Maybe they’re, like, really awful or something.
I remember a band called Heavy into Jeff, the name was taken from a gay porn flick. A really great punk band, this Jeff however seems to be a punk of another variety.
the blondie’s comment was a joke. ease up. besides, blondie’s does suck.
Jesus, lighten up people. Just about anything is ‘uncalled for’ if you talk to the right, overreactive Hypersensitive idiot. If you’re offended by that, then you’re dumb enough to think that either a) It wasn’t a joke, or b) Jeff has the insane magical power to burn buildings with his mind. Try and focus on the actual victims here; people that enjoy good Thai food and reasonably priced sushi.
This is San Francisco. Please do not infringe on others’ rights to be offended at everything.
+1
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=3
We Be Sushi must have been overcooking their sushi.
I especially appreciated the Blondie’s comment. That place is the worst.
+1
totally called for.
If 530 Valencia could survive the Deaf Club it will easily survive this little fire.
quick followup, this from Wikipedia, talking about that address over 30 years ago:
“The club had a history of being closed for various reasons, such as by the fire marshal for the lack of sprinklers.”
The city of SF is idiotic about controlling fire hazards considering the whole fucking city burned down. My neighbors light campfires in their back yard, which is 10 x 20. SFFD? They just drive around with their sirens blaring so the chicks look at them.
I sometimes enjoy taking polemic positions in on line comments, but it strikes me as false and in bad taste make that insult.
I’ve never seen a fire party get shut down by the fire department in this city, that tends to be the job of the police.
But you’ve gotta hand it to them. The density of the residential structures is much higher than, say, suburban Fire Depts. It’s reasonable to believe the SFFD is operating among the top of their profession, when it comes to containing fires, saving buildings etc. So what if they cruise about a bit? The City’s realatively small geographic footprint makes sightings of massive red firetrucks much more likely than other american towns.
You may not like Blondie’s but its the oldest bar on Valencia that is still owned by the original owner.
And last I knew was one of the few places on that stretch of Valencia that hosts live music on occasion.
Elbo Room is what, a block away?
Amnesia and Viracocha.
The corner of Valencia and 16th in front of Arinell’s.
Uh, The Chapel?!
Also, La Cumbre, El Toro, Puerto Allegra, El Buen Sabor? Or are we not counting mariachis as live music?
Aw HELL naw.
Hear, Hear!