San Francisco legacy business and popular Ingleside bar The Ave has been closed since July 23 as the result of a burglary.
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The front door was broken and the ATM machine, register and iPad were stolen. The incident happened between 3 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. and no one was injured, co-owner Lucia Fuentes Zarate said.
“They started breaking into the door for like 10 minutes,” Fuentes Zarate said. “They finally did it. They stole whatever they could. They were using masks.”
Police and the bar’s alarm system alerted Fuentes Zarate about the incident. Co-owner and husband to Fuentes Zarate, Bomani Caungula met with police at the scene.
Taraval Police Station did not provide a statement by press time.
Due to the damage, an ongoing lease situation with their landlord and loss of insurance, Fuentes Zarate said The Ave does not plan to reopen anytime soon but hopes to in the future.
“I feel like we're grieving a little bit, at least I am,” Gabby Gonzalez, bartender at The Ave for 10 years, said. “It was so sudden. I have no closure. Not even maybe like a goodbye party. I feel bad for the community, people who go there on the daily.”
Gonzalez also said that she hopes the community can rally behind The Ave if and when they reopen.
“We love [the community,]” Fuentes Zarate said. “All the support we've been having for so many years. It's hard.”
The Ocean Avenue Association provided the bar's owners with an application to the city's vandalism relief grant program and offered them assistance filing it.
Anne Marie Kristoff (she/her) is a recent graduate from San Francisco State University's journalism program. She enjoys writing about the arts, entertainment and nature.
