Bakery’s Table Tiff Shows Divide over Nature of Noriega Street
The entryway on for Devil's Teeth on Noriega Street
Two ideas about the nature of San Francisco’s outer Sunset District, and what it should be, are clashing as the popular new Devil’s Teeth Baking Company seeks a permit for sidewalk seating on Noriega Street.
Although the bakery wants to provide just two tables and four seats outside its storefront at 3876 Noriega St., next-door neighbors Yefim and Vita Zeltserman say those four seats represent a big change from the neighborhood they thought they were getting when they bought their second-floor flat just to the west.
“This home is our first home in our new life,” said Yefim Zeltserman, explaining that he and his wife are retired and bought their flat after living in the Richmond District for about 20 years.
While they liked the Richmond, Vita said, the opportunity to buy property in an area they saw as beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and close to the ocean with its abundant fresh air was ideal for the couple in their later years. But with several windows in their home overlooking Noriega Street — including those in their bedroom and bathroom, as they showed a reporter on Thursday — they are worried that the sidewalk tables will bring smells and noise into their home.
“We don’t want any smell in our window, we don’t want any noise,” Yefim said.
The couple also said they are concerned that crumbs from people eating outside will attract pigeons and the birds’ inevitable waste.
To Devil’s Teeth owner Hilary Passman, the Zeltsermans’ concept of that stretch of Noriega as a quiet residential area is out of whack with its official designation as a neighborhood commercial zone.
“Their main complaint seems to be that they want to live in an quiet retirement home,” she said.
But Passman says she think her bakery serves a previously unfilled need in the neighborhood, where she and her family also live.
“The block of Noriega that we’re on has been designated as a neighborhood commercial cluster,” with ground-floor businesses in nearly every building on the block, Passman noted. “They moved into a business area and now they’re unhappy about it.”
There is a cafe on the other side of Noriega Street, and within about a block are two convenience stores, a produce market, a bar, several restaurants, a church, two beauty salons, a taqueria, a pet-supply store and a surfboard shop.
In fact, Passman said, she is surprised there has been any objection to her business at all, given that the City has granted her permits to operate and that the area is clearly zoned for small commercial uses. She also noted that the Zeltsermans knew before they bought their property that a bakery would be operating next door — something Yefim acknowledged, though he said they thought it would just be a coffee shop without any on-site baking or outside seats.
Passman said she has collected about 700 signatures from customers and neighbors on a petition in support of her business.
Signs posted in the neighborhood advertise the upcoming public hearing
Another nearby resident also has objected to the permit application for sidewalk seating. The Ocean Beach Bulletin contacted via email a person who identified himself as that resident, but he declined a request to be interviewed until after deadline.
On Wednesday, June 1, the Department of Public Works will hold a public hearing to consider the permit application for sidewalk seating at Devil’s Teeth Baking Company. The hearing for the application officially known as Order No. 179,290 is scheduled for 9 a.m. in Room 400 of City Hall. Anyone who wishes to send written testimony or an opinion can send it by email before 5 p.m. May 31 to dpw@sfdpw.org. For more information on the hearing, visit DPW’s page on public hearings.
Passman said she plans to appeal if her permit request is turned down. Yefim Zeltserman said he’s not yet sure what he will do if the permit is granted.
DPW’s general guidelines for sidewalk seating.
Review property information and permit history for 3876 Noriega Street.
Review zoning maps for Noriega Street and the rest of San Francisco.
this is a city, no matter what neighborhood you live in, it’s bound to get loud and have pigeons.
I love my community. I’ve been living here for a while and it always has been a peaceful and welcoming place. I can’t believe that all these harassing statements were made about Yefim by the members of my community.
Suggesting that people have to walk away for just defending their home from unwanted noises and smells is against all the rules of community interaction. The basic right of each and every homeowner is to enjoy his property and nobody should be allowed to interfere with it.
It’s fun to have the bakery few blocks away from my house. But if I lived just above it I would probably have strong concerns too.
We all know that each conflict has a resolution. Hilary seems to be a nice woman. Her desire to expand and get more profit is understandable. She needs to work it out with all the people in the building first, if she wants to get the respect of the community. We should stop multiple provocative articles and harassing comments which are harmful for the community spirit and would never help to resolve the issue.
What I don’t understand is why they’re only complaining about the bakery when there’s a Korean restaurant a few doors up that has been there quite a while. And they’re open much later than the bakery. So they object to the food smells of the bakery but not the Korean place?
I hope that some reasonable solution can be found that will satisfy them because I think the baker is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood.
The bakery is a great improvement (along with the surfboard shop) to an otherwise offensive, dreary building that never should have been approved in the first place. The sidewalk gatherings, BBQs, and informal seating are great community assets. More tables would be great. Especially on sunny days.
Yefim should have bought the house that existed on that lot prior to the hulking multi-unit mammoth replacement building if they wanted a quiet retirement. Maybe they should have been tipped off by the ‘multi-use commercial’ part of the building located directly below their bedroom.
Someone, if not me, should tell the Zeltsermans to walk west about 4 blocks and go POUND SAND!
1. They KNEW when they bought their property, that there were commercial businesses zoned and planned for the ground floor below them, and with that, the typical noises, smells, and sometimes crowds of people that go with such commercial establishments.
2. The PROPOSAL of 2 tables and four seats is hardly going to result in any massive disruption or loss of privacy…the bakery closes at 4pm…and is open only during normal hours.
As far as I see it, we should all weigh the cost and benefit of this bakery to our neighborhood…the benefits of a wonderful (arguably the only decent eaterie) on Noriega Street to our neighborhood and its residents FAR outweigh the whining and complaining and kvetching of Mr. and Mrs. Zeltserman…so I am back to my first point…Mr. Z and Mrs. Z….GO POUND SAND…
Reminds me of the people who move to the Lombard crooked street block and then complain about the traffic.
I don’t want to get into an opinion about the merits of the permit application or the objections to it, but here’s some interesting stuff that I didn’t have room for in the article:
The Zeltsermans actually seemed like a rather pleasant retired couple. They said they had met with Passman and liked her personally, in spite of their issues with the bakery. They didn’t come off as malicious or vindictive, but they knew I was recording the interview and taking notes.
As far as their complaints about Devil’s Teeth go, some of the issues (besides the ones represented in the article) they brought up as objectionable are pretty standard situations for San Francisco’s neighborhood commercial districts that have residential uses above commercial space, particularly bakeries. But every situation is different, and it will be interesting to see how the DPW hearing officer treats this one.
Turning to Hilary Passman, one might think that complaints about the bakery would sour her on doing business in the Outer Sunset, or doing business in the city at all. Not so. In spite of complaints and an original permit process she described as Sisyphean (you know, the Greek guy who kept trying to push a rock up a hill only to have it roll back down again), she told me she still loves having a bakery there. “Even knowing what I know now, I would totally do it again,” she said.
I hear rossmore is nice and quiet.
I can’t believe a grouchy old couple (or anyone) would deliberately move into a business district and then complain about a new bakery. The rest of the neighborhood is thrilled. Devil’s Teeth is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. The Zeltsermans should sell their flat and move out of the city if they want quiet. Their property value has probably already increased since a great new bakery has opened right next door.
This business provides what the area needs, a real bakery. A small business, not a chain is a welcome addition to our neighrborhood. I wish them the best and hope they are allowed their tables and chairs.
I think the Zeltsermans should have moved to the country if they don’t want sounds or smells or pigeons. Are you kidding me? This is the City!
This couple have a strange idea of quiet. The 71 bus runs 24 hours a day right out front of the building.The area as well as the city is infested with pigeons. I’m confused why they believe they should deny outdoor seating.