On 24th Street This Fall, Familiar Names Are Coming Home

"Every day, we have people peeking in and asking us, 'When are you gonna open? How much longer?'" That is how Ivan Calvo-Perez described the weeks before Fresca came back to 3945 24th Street. The people peeking in were not looking at a new restaurant. They were looking at an old one, in the same storefront, run by the same family.

That pattern runs through most of what changed on 24th Street between July and October. Fresca went back to its own former address. A children's clothing store is about to move back to the storefront where it opened 34 years ago. A taqueria took over 4063 24th Street and kept serving the rotisserie chicken that two earlier tenants also built their menus around. The one major closure, Alice's Restaurant on Sanchez, was handled within the family too. Its staff moved to a sister restaurant on Church Street.

3945 24th Street, same family, same door

Julio Calvo-Perez and his wife Zoila opened the first Fresca in 1996, and at its peak there were four locations around the city. The Noe Valley branch opened in 2005. Jose Calvo-Perez described it as the middle ground between the family-style counter service of the West Portal original and the late-night energy of the Pacific Heights location. The pandemic changed that. The family sold West Portal to an employee and had closed every other Fresca by 2023.

The brothers began thinking about Noe Valley again as early as 2022. They had already given up the lease, but the space stayed open long enough for them to come back. According to SFGATE, they never considered opening anywhere else. Fresca reopened on August 24. In its September issue, the Noe Valley Voice called it "downtown Noe Valley Peruvian eatery Fresca."

Jose runs the kitchen. His menu includes tiradito, lomo saltado and eight versions of ceviche, the dish his father helped popularize in San Francisco. Ivan runs the bar, which is built around pisco. The opening-week photos showed a Chilcano 24 named for the street and a chicha morada sour called the Purple Rain. The restaurant's site lists a weekday happy hour from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Published hours vary from source to source, so check the restaurant's own site before you go.

"I think the city deserves a Fresca," Ivan told SFGATE. "We've been here going on 30 years."

4063 24th Street keeps getting rotisserie chicken

A block and a half west, the comeback is a menu rather than a family. The Noe Valley Voice's September Store Trek column laid out the storefront's recent history:

Bonita is the third San Francisco location for a family-owned business that started in 2014. The others are at 2257 Chestnut Street in the Marina and 2227 Polk Street near Russian Hill. Owner Jawad "JJ" Sweidan lives on Twin Peaks. He told the Voice he has long spent time at the Valley Tavern across the street and "had my eye on the spot." His sister, Jenna Salah, runs marketing, catering and administration. Their father, Issa Sweidan, ran the Squat and Gobble mini-chain for 32 years.

What stands out in the column is Sweidan's own sales figure. "What is funny is the chicken, by far, is very popular," he told the Voice. "We are selling already more rotisserie there than we do at the other locations. For whatever reason, this neighborhood clearly loves rotisserie chicken." A half chicken is $16 and a whole is $26. You can add two sides for $8, including crispy potatoes with Tajín or black beans with cotija. Two earlier tenants built their concepts around the same bird at the same address, which makes his result less surprising.

A few practical details for a weeknight or a weekend:

• Brunch runs seven days a week, from opening until 3 p.m. The menu includes chilaquiles, horchata pancakes and tres leches French toast, priced from $17 to $28.
• The back patio is dog-friendly. Inside, a long floral mural by San Francisco artist Amanda Lynn runs the length of the dining room.
• Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
• The kids' menu has $8 and $9 options, including a cheese quesadilla and two mini tacos.

Small Frys is moving back to where it started

The children's clothing store Small Frys is leaving 3985 24th Street, across from Just for Fun. It is moving back to 4066 24th Street, the storefront where it opened 34 years ago. That space has been home to Moonshot Studio since 2018. Owner Carol Yenne told the Voice the remodel "will be extensive and take a lot of work." She hopes to reopen in January with "a larger variety of clothing for older kids too, and lots of sunlight coming through the front windows."

Moonshot Studio, known for its individually scented candles and fragrances, is moving somewhere else in the Bay Area. Owner Teresa Fitzgerald planned to keep the 24th Street shop open through September. She is also taking private-label candle orders of 24 or more, and you can reach her at 415-876-8724.

Alice's closed, and its staff moved to Church Street

The one long-running closure of the season was Alice's Restaurant, at the corner of Sanchez and 29th. James and Sharon Sung opened it in 1996, the same year the first Fresca opened. They named it after Sharon's favorite niece, and it became known for Hunan and Mandarin dishes like spicy eggplant and basil-and-peppercorn chicken. The Sungs retired, and Alice's closed for good at the end of August after 30 years.

The Voice reported that the corner was busy in the final week. "The place was packed, so I guess the word had gotten out," customer Steve Steinberg told the paper. "I sure will miss them."

The cooking did not leave the neighborhood. According to the Voice, all of Alice's staff moved to Eric's Restaurant at 1500 Church Street, which shares many of Alice's menu items. Eric's is a Sung family restaurant, run by Kim Dang and Tony Sung, and it has been open since 1991. If you have been ordering Alice's spicy eggplant for years, the closest match is now on Church Street, likely made by some of the same people.

No new tenant has been confirmed for 1599 Sanchez. Steinberg told the Voice that Sharon Sung said a Vietnamese restaurant would open there "in about four months." No name or filing has been reported.

The storefronts still waiting for a second act

Three addresses on or near the strip are open questions heading into winter:

1. 3901 24th Street at Sanchez. Pressed Juicery closed here in mid-August. A sign is up seeking a tenant for the roughly 1,000-square-foot space, a few doors from Fresca.
2. 3985 24th Street. The landlord has a for-lease sign in the window, and the space opens up at the end of the year when Small Frys leaves.
3. 1599 Sanchez Street at 29th. The former Alice's, with an unconfirmed report of a Vietnamese restaurant to come.

Based on this summer, the next tenant at any of these could easily be someone the street already knows.

On the Town Square calendar this month

While the storefronts change, the Noe Valley Town Square between Vicksburg and Sanchez keeps its schedule.

• Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Noe Valley Farmers Market
• Tuesday, October 6, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: Fleet Week Marine Brass Band
• Sunday, October 18, 10 a.m. to noon: S.T.E.A.M. in the Square
• Friday, October 23, 5 to 6 p.m.: Le Jazz Hot

The Le Jazz Hot set ends at 6 p.m. on a Friday. That leaves time to walk east to 3945 24th Street at Sanchez for a pisco sour and a plate of ceviche at the address where Fresca first opened in 2005.

Storefront turnover is one of the clearest signs of how a block is doing, and Colleen Cotter Real Estate Group tracks it address by address across Noe Valley. If you'd like to know how this season's changes on 24th Street fit into the value of your own home, request a complimentary market consultation.