Far East Cafe closure postponed

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Aaron Peskin spoke about his rescue plan during a press conference in front of the Far East Cafe.

Well, Dec. 31st has come and gone and the Far East Cafe in San Francisco's Chinatown is still operating ... but time and money is running out unless the city comes through with financial assistance.

The Far East's owner Bill Lee and investors decided postpone it's planned Dec. 31 shutdown in order to fulfill orders through Jan. 7 and at the same time, pray that the $1.9 million that is supposed to be coming from the City Of San Francisco is able to cut through the red tape.

The $1.9 million that would go to Chinatown businesses is a measure introduced by Supervisor Aaron Peskin. last week is intended to help those businesses hurt by the safe practices meant to reduce the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ordinarily that rescue funds would take a month or committee meetings, hearings and planning before it is officially approved but Peskin is trying to speed up the process in order to help the 100-year old Far East Cafe which announced its intentnion to shutter two weeks ago.

If approved, the Far East and other Chinatown restaurants will take part in a program that would have them prepare meals for the elderly, poor and homeless.

The Far East Cafe is a landmark institution on Chinatown's main street, the fabled Grant Avenue and one of only two restaurants that still have room for large banquets. With the current indoor dining ban and the loss of tourists, the institution had been trying to subsist on takeout orders only.

Supervisor introduces measure to help Chinatown restaurants

The fabled Far East Cafe is set to close at the end of the year.

This holiday season, there's a glimmer of hope that help will be coming to San Francisco's Chinatown's struggling businesses.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown, introduced a measure Tuesday that would give $1.9 million to restaurants to feed people in need in the neighborhood.

Peskin is hoping to secure $1.9 million to pay restaurants to feed people in need in the neighborhood.

Peskin's action came after it was learned last week that the iconic 100-year old Far East Cafe was planning to close its doors at the end of the year.

Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle that he will try to speed up the process for the funding assistance that would normally take 30 days to approve.

Far East Cafe's manager Bill Lee told NBC News that he doesn't know if the assistance will change his plans closing. He said he will talk to investors about the city's rescue plan.

The decision to close the Grant Street restaurant was because the health measures meant to combat the coronavirus pandemic such as social distancing, stay-at-home suggestions and a ban on indoor dining has hurt his business. Not only did the restaurant lose regular customers, but the money from tourists have completely disappeared.

100-year old Chinatown restaurant closure imminent; rescue plan on the way

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Only one row of private booths remain at the Far East Cafe, that used to have all booths for diners.

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Updated Dec. 24, 10:30 a.m. to include Aaron Peskin's proposal.

One of San Francisco Chinatown's oldest restaurants, the fabled Far East Cafe, will be closing Dec. 31 -- victimized by the necessary safety restrictions imposed in order to fight the coronavirus.

But on Wednesday, San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin pleaded with the restaurant owner Bill Lee, not to shutter his restaurant. The supervisor says he's introducing a $1.9 million relief proposal aimed at helping Chinatown's struggling restaurants. 

I loved taking out-of-town visitors to the Far East. It wasn't the food so much, as the atmosphere the 100-year old restaurant evoked. It was like stepping into a movie with dark wood paneling and ornate Chinese lanterns. 

In an impromptu news conference in front of the restaurant on Grant Avenue, Peskn blamed anti-Chinese racism fueld by Trump blaming China for the pandemic. He pleaded for Lee and his investors to hold off on plans to closed down Dec. 31.

I always asked for a table in one of the booths. Along the way, as we passed the other wood-paneled booths I'd take a peek behind the curtain, hoping to uncover a  politicians making a deal, business people closing a transaction or perhaps a spy in a clandestine meeting.

Hearing Peskin's plea, Lee just shrugged. "We keep losing money each day. All our shareholders have a few meetings. We decide to close down the end of this month," Lee told a KTVU reporter.

Without the tourists, the Far East was having problems when outdoor dining was allowed, but under the stricter guidelines allowing only takeout, owner Lee told the Wnd Newspaper that takeout isn't enough to pay the rent and pay the staff. 

The Far East opened in 1920 in the midst of the Chinese Exclusion Act in a segregated San Francisco. It has survived the changing palates of the Bay Area's foodies to continue serving  familiar Cantonese and American Chinese fare.

Far East is one of the last Chinatown restaurants that had the banquet space to host  the large weddings, birthdays, family reunions and celebrations like Chinese New Year's (which has been cancelled in 2021). It is noisy and when it's busy, the waiters can be brusque, but it was an experience that is disappearing under the coronavirus pandemic.

The fate of the Far East is just the latest  sign of the economic distress being felt by all the businesses in tourist-oriented Chinatown.

The family-owned restaurants and souvenir shops in Chinatown are getting hit hard by the coronavirus and might not be able to survive the pandemic restrictions. 

Businesses say they have been appealing to the city for financial assistance, and claiming they were denied federal loans, most of which are going to big corporations instead the multitude of small businesses. Sam Chen of Magical Ice Cream tells ABC News that he attempted to get a small business loan but was denied, and the same goes for New Age Camera.

Eva Lee of the Chinatown Merchants Association says that San Francisco is at risk of seeing the ethnic enclave in a wholesale death spiral if Peskin's relief plan doesn't materialize.

RELATED: America's Chinatowns fighting gentrification

In addition to the coronavirus, Chinatowns are feeling pressure from rising rents. Because most Chinatowns are located in high-valued downtown areas, rents have been increasing and the threat of gentrification is driving many of the low-income residents and small businesses out of the area.

The U.S. Census reported that there are over 2 million Asian American-owned businesses across the nation. With 42% of them in "Accommodation and Food Services" and "Retail" industries, versus just 21% of all businesses, Asian American businesses have been hard hit.

As a result, unemployment among Asian Americans, once low, has spiked to unprecedented levels since so many Asian Americans work in those hard-hit service industries.

During the pandemic, however, Asians experienced unemployment rates higher than Whites, peaking at 15% in May 2020. Even as the economy started to improve and the unemployment rate began to drop in recent months, the recovery for Asians was slow, and unemployment remained uncharacteristically high.

Chinatowns across the country were already seeing a decline in business due to the  Trump administration's trade war with China, and racial profiling of Chinese visitors, students and researchers and amplified with Trump's xenophobic rhetoric and with the coming of the coronavirus at the beginning of the year, fear replaced anxiety. With the advent of social distancing, self-quarantines and the mandated dining restrictions, business only got worse.

If the Far East Cafe closes its doors at the end of the year, not only will San Francisco's Chinatown  be left with only one restaurant able to handle the large banquets popular in the Asian American community, the city will lose a part of its heritage.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is news laced with opinion. We encourage you to review several news sources to form your own opinion.