On June 11, the San Francisco Fire Department told the Chronicle, a fire started in a flue at Foghorn Taproom on Divisadero and spread next door to Che Fico's roof. SFist reported that Foghorn was able to reopen that same night. Che Fico, the business next door that the fire spread to, stayed closed for four months.
Eighteen days after the first fire, a fire broke out in the rear of The Mill, a block and a half south. That damage was more contained, but it hit the oven that bakes the bread the whole business depends on.
This fall, every fire-damaged storefront on Divisadero is coming back on its own schedule. That includes the 2022 fires that still mark the corridor. The pattern holds every time. A storefront's reopening depends less on how dramatic the fire looked from the sidewalk than on what was damaged inside, and on how long the insurance and repair work behind it takes.
Che Fico's damage was in the roof
Che Fico, at 838 Divisadero, took the fire in the roof area. The damage was serious enough to close the restaurant. It was also structural damage of a kind a roofing and repair crew can fix, and early accounts said the restaurant's interior was not damaged.
By mid-August, the restaurant was hiring two staff positions as it prepared to reopen, according to Gazetteer SF. On October 3, chef-owner David Nayfeld, who owns Che Fico with Matt Brewer, announced an October 18 return. In his video, as quoted by the Chronicle, he made one request of the neighborhood:
"My response to everybody was, when we reopen, just one simple ask: Please come. Please come back. Re-create that energy that room has had since the first day it was open."
The sign is back on. A diner review on OpenTable dated October 25 described Che Fico as "back and firing." The restaurant opened in 2018, and it was gone from the block for about four months.
The Mill's fire took out its oven
The second fire happened overnight. Around 2:30 a.m. on June 29, a Divisadero bartender heading home after a shift saw smoke around The Mill at 736 Divisadero. Firefighters got there in three minutes, found fire in the rear of the building, and kept it from spreading to the residential and commercial buildings next door, the Chronicle reported. Fire officials ruled it accidental. No one was hurt and no residents were displaced.
The fire hit the core of the business. The Mill is two operations in one 1929 brick-front building, with Four Barrel Coffee at the counter and Josey Baker Bread baking in the back. The bakery side sells more than toast. It's the base for wholesale loaves sold at grocers across the Bay. Gazetteer SF later reported that the fire was caused by an oven left on.
City building records show what the repairs involve. On August 18, the Department of Building Inspection issued an over-the-counter permit for "removal of damaged burnt oven, debris, only removing the oven, masonry, concrete and insulation." The permit adds that "another company will install new oven." On the city's open permit data, that permit is the first step in a sequence. The old oven comes out, and a specialist puts a new one in. A separate electrical permit for temporary power was filed September 15 and completed September 22.
Before any of that work could start, there was the insurance claim. By mid-August, Josey Baker said restoration had stalled while they dealt with insurance and that cleanup would start in the coming weeks, according to Gazetteer SF. As of SFist's October 9 food roundup, the same item that announced Che Fico's return, The Mill was still closed.
Where the bread and coffee went
The Mill's bread kept baking while the café stayed closed. In September, Josey Baker Bread was baking temporarily at Saltwater Bake Shop in SoMa. The loaves were still on shelves at Bi-Rite Market, Rainbow Grocery, Berkeley Bowl, Mollie Stone's and Falletti Foods. The bakery's own site says it has temporarily relocated and is "working just as quick as we can" to supply its wholesale accounts.
For coffee, Four Barrel's Valencia café at 375 Valencia Street lists hours of 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. In a GoFundMe update, the company said it would keep two café managers employed through the rebuild.
The neighborhood's response is easy to measure. The Mill's GoFundMe set a $100,000 goal for cleanup, repairs and rebuilding. It has raised $106,399 from 945 donors. Speaking with Gazetteer SF the day after the fundraiser went public, Baker said, "It's kind of solidified that our root system runs very deep and I feel very clear and fortunate to say that we're going to come back."
Divisadero has run this clock before
The 900 block shows how long the wait can get. In 2022, a three-alarm fire started in a third-floor apartment above Oasis Cafe at 901 Divisadero, at McAllister. The café below took water damage rather than flames. It had opened in 2007, first as a grocery and later as an Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurant and café.
The apartments upstairs were restored and occupied again while the storefront stayed empty. Insurance did not cover the space's construction costs, including electrical, paint and plumbing repairs, and rent terms and restoration still had to be worked out, according to Gazetteer SF. Four years after the fire, the corner is changing hands. A new coffee shop called Cafe MD is coming to 901 Divisadero.
Kava Lounge, next door to the old Oasis, was damaged by the same fire and is still vacant. A week after that fire, another one at 244 Divisadero near Haight closed Phuket Thai, a 35-year-old restaurant. As of late September, that building was still empty and in disrepair. Banh Mi Viet, also closed by an earlier fire, did reopen.
The four timelines, in order:
- Foghorn Taproom, June 2026. The Fire Department traced the fire to its flue, and it reopened the same night.
- Che Fico, June 2026. The fire spread to its roof, and it reopened October 18, about four months later.
- The Mill, June 2026. The oven at the center of the bakery burned. Restoration waited on insurance through mid-August, and the oven removal permit was issued August 18.
- Oasis Cafe, 2022. It took water damage from a fire upstairs, then faced uncovered repair costs and rent negotiations. A new tenant is coming four years on.
None of these timelines follows the size of the fire. Each follows what was damaged and how long the claim, the lease and the repairs took to settle. Lt. Mariano Elias of the Fire Department told the Chronicle that the two 2026 fires were unconnected: "Accidents do happen. I wouldn't suggest that it's a trend or that people need to worry."
The shop next door
A closure affects more than the business that closed. Kelly Ishikawa, who owns The Perish Trust next to The Mill, told the Chronicle in July that foot traffic on the block had dropped since The Mill closed and that her sales had fallen with it. She has been hosting community events to bring people in. "They're going to rebuild," she said. "It's just a matter of how long it'll take."
Her current event is The Hammer Show, which runs through November 15 with work from 50 collaborating artists. It's the most direct way to support the block while 736 Divisadero is being rebuilt.
On the calendar around Divisadero this fall
The North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association and a few Divisadero businesses have dates posted through early December:
- Saturday, November 7, noon to 4 p.m. NOPNA's Rainbow Road Block Party on Lyon Street between Fulton and McAllister.
- Sunday, November 8, 9:30 a.m. to noon. Littles & Parents Meetup at the Panhandle Playground.
- Through Saturday, November 15. The Hammer Show at The Perish Trust.
- Thursday, November 19, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. NOPNA community meeting at the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center, 401 Baker Street.
- Friday, November 27, 5 to 7 p.m. NOPNA happy hour. The venue will be posted on the NOPNA calendar.
- Saturday, November 28, noon to 2 p.m. Neighborhood cleanup, meeting at Scarlet Fox, 1690 Hayes Street.
- Saturday, December 5. Madrone Art Bar's free Holiday Market at 500 Divisadero, with local artists and makers selling handmade, independently designed and vintage goods. That morning, Littles & Parents meets at the Panhandle Playground from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Monday, December 7, 7:30 a.m. NOPNA Runday, meeting at Matching Half.
Che Fico takes reservations on OpenTable. Josey Baker Bread is on the shelf at Bi-Rite and Rainbow Grocery. The Mill's next permit will show up in the city's building records for 736 Divisadero.
Fire repairs, insurance claims and lease negotiations decide which storefronts on a block come back first, and they're part of what I watch on every street where I help clients buy and sell. If you'd like to talk about what's changing near you on Divisadero, Suzy Reily is glad to share what she's seeing. Let's Connect.
