CONVERSATION
The Inner Sunset has served everyone from starving hordes of youth sports teams and UCSF medical students at Pasquale’s Pizzeria, now in its seventh decade, to the late great Robin Williams, who was sometimes spotted at the Irving Street cafe Tart to Tart.
In the past decade or so, the neighborhood has exploded in popularity, boosted by community groups, flea and farmers markets, along with some new restaurants, bars, mochi muffin shops, and infrastructure renovations like parklets and rustic-chic train stops.
Like the rest of western SF, however, the Inner Sunset hasn’t built its fair share of housing, despite having one of the world’s premier medical institutions. In fact, it’s one of the worst offenders, with only 133 new units in the past five years, according to an SF Chronicle analysis.
But that’s about to change. Over vociferous challenges, UCSF is expanding its Parnassus Avenue hospital, including a critical seismic redo, and adding about 1,200 units of housing.
To check in on all these changes, The Frisc beamed into the Amazing Fantasy comic-book shop on Irving. Since 2000, Frank McGinn has owned the shop just across the street from Tart to Tart (which shuttered earlier this year, RIP), and has remained steadfast through both boomtown highs and recession and COVID-fueled lows.
McGinn has also called the Inner Sunset home for 43 years, all while watching the city try to address perennial issues such as housing and homelessness. He says the answers could be simpler than we think. In his mind, the residents of San Francisco can be the heroes we need if they paid more attention and lent a hand.
The conversation has been edited and condensed.
The Frisc: Let’s start with your origin story. When did you move to San Francisco, and from where?
Frank McGinn: I think it was 1979, [from] a teeny little beach town called Cayucos. Nice, easygoing, and then a move to the big city. So it took a little while to get used to.
I started here part-time when it was a chain of stores, Comics and Comix, back in, like, the mid-’80s. Then it went through some ownership changes and closed down. And then I reopened it as Amazing Fantasy in 2000.
How has the Inner Sunset changed?
Back then it was a very quiet, sweet little neighborhood. Not as many restaurants, not as much going on at 6 o’clock at night. It was dead quiet — you know, people going into bars and stuff, but not like now where there’s a lot of nice restaurants and a good variety.
I don’t think it’s changed as much as a lot of other neighborhoods. It’s still really nice. Generally, when somebody closes a new place opens up pretty quick. Pluto’s closed down, and there’s a new Mexican place. I’m not sure what’s gonna go into Tart to Tart. That was a shame. It actually had been here as long as this store. Both opened as a comic store in 1978.
How do you feel about the UCSF expansion?
Well, they’ve always been expanding since they’ve been here. I know some people don’t like it. But I think it’s a necessary thing. We lost so many people because of COVID and those that moved out. We need to replace the population all over the city. It’s up to San Francisco to make it a place where people want to come live again.
What would make folks want to come back?
Of course, the homeless thing — it’s ridiculous. The city continues to say it’s doing this and this and this, but it does nothing but get worse. [We also] need affordable housing and to get schools on track and let kids go to schools in their neighborhood.
‘We’ve been broken into twice, and we’ve had three broken windows just in the last three years. The bad guys know they can come to SF and do almost whatever they want.’
And then crime: Before COVID, I don’t think we had any break-ins or broken windows. People blame it on COVID, and I’m sure it has a little bit to do with that. But we started having trouble a year to six months before. We’ve been broken into twice, and we’ve had three broken windows just in the last three years. The bad guys know they can come to San Francisco and do almost whatever they want.
Is there a superhero who could be of help to San Francisco?
[Laughs.] I don’t know if anyone can help us right now — the combination of like, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. Maybe we need Thanos to snap his fingers and not kill everybody, but just get rid of the bad guys. Because overall that’s a very low percentage of people in the city. For the most part, people are just fantastic.
What can people do?
First off, you need to vote. Then stuff like, if you’re walking down the street and you see a piece of trash, pick it up and put it in the trash can, right? If somebody falls down, help them. Little steps to look out for each other, especially with the anti-Asian hate stuff going on. That’s insane. There’s a lot of Asian Americans in the Sunset, so keep an eye out so that they’re not getting victimized.
Where do you see the Inner Sunset and your business in the future?
I think we’re still gonna be here and it will get better. It’s just gonna take time. The industry is very strong. We don’t do as well as we used to because of Amazon and eBay. We lost 20 percent to 25 percent of our business from online sales. But in San Francisco, a lot of people go out of their way to come here rather than online. There’s no way we can come close to matching online, but heck yeah, I have hope for the future. I’d stay home and do nothing for the rest of my life if I didn’t have any hope.
Paolo Bicchieri is a writer whose work has appeared in Eater SF, the SF Examiner, SF Weekly, Ghost City Press, Animal Heart Press, Nomadic Press, and more. He thinks Hellboy, Seconds, and Watchmen are comics worth reading for any Baydestrian.