Crushed
High-technology motorcycle helmet maker Skully’s, a startup located on Third Street, has crashed. The business ceased operations in July, quickly followed by a lawsuit alleging that the company’s cofounders, brothers Marcus and Mitchell Weller, spent thousands of the company’s dollars on a strip club, sports car, groceries, paintings, and rent for their Marina apartment…Restaurateur and chef Ryan Scott closed his popular sandwich shop, Market & Rye, last month. “We had a lot of fun, but I’m so focused on Finn Town, together with my cookbook launch, expanded radio show and media appearances, that it makes sense to step away,” said Scott, referring to Finn Town Tavern, which opens this fall in the Castro. The landlord at 300 De Haro Street is accepting applicants for potential new restaurants…The enigmatic Hilltop Grocery, on 20th Street between Mississippi and Texas, has officially closed. The store, built in 1916, has been owned by Sam and Linda Wong since 1958. Sam had a stroke more than 15 years ago. Linda, 90, ran things in his stead, but has now shuttered Hilltop’s doors, with no plans to sell the building…Boba Guys, purveyor of Boba milk tea, has emerged as the first business to sign a lease at Potrero 1010, located at 16th and Seventh streets. Potrero 1010 consists of two newly constructed buildings that feature 12,184 square feet of retail space and 6,009 square feet set aside for production, distribution and repair uses. Boba Guys is tricking out its interior space; company co-founder Bin Chen doesn’t expect to open until the end of the year. Main Street Properties, realtor for the commercial space, predicts that other spots will be leased this fall.
Corrupted
According to a July issue of The Outsider, the Asian Pacific American Community Center (APACC) accepted money from a politically active contractor, Walter Wong, in 2014 to help re-elect District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen, in apparent violation of laws governing tax-exempt nonprofits and organizations with City contracts. The basis for The Outsider’s article were emails obtained through a public records request of correspondence between San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency manager Sululagi Palega and disgraced political consultant Keith Jackson, who both served on the APACC board in 2013 and 2014. In a 2013 email, board member Christina Chen wrote that Wong had offered financial help to APACC “for the specific purpose of re-electing Malia Cohen.” According to Chen, both APACC and Wong would benefit if the organization could gain control of the troubled community center at 66 Raymond Avenue before the City became the building’s owner. “Walter needs a foothold and a prominent presence in Visitation [sic] Valley,” wrote Chen. “For this, Walter appears willing to provide whatever APACC needs to situate the organization at 66 Raymond.” There’s no indication in the emails that Cohen was aware of the scheme…Former California governor Pete Wilson has been hired to help fight the Golden State Warriors’ planned $1 billion arena in Mission Bay. Wilson was in San Francisco last month for a lengthy strategy and tactical session with his new employer — the law firm Browne George Ross LLP — aimed at stopping the Warriors’ project. Wilson’s exact role, however, is unclear.
Howl
Dogpatch, which a century ago was a rough-and-tumble center of shipyard employment and associated bars and boarding housing, emerged as an employment center for Potrero Hill residents, and later a derelict area suitable only for urban pioneers, is now growing so fast that its denizens have taken to calling the Hill “Alta Dogpatch.”
