Despite community members’ best efforts, in Nov. 2006, one of the Mission’s heroines likely will have to leave her home of 35 years. Local artist Susan Kelk Cervantes recently settled with Doug Wong and Pearl Yee, the new owners of 389 Precita Ave. where Cervantes lives and maintains twin studios. “The trial date was Nov. 14 and we entered into a settlement,” said Cervantes’ attorney, Raquel Fox.”They’re letting her stay a year.”
Fox explained that after one year’s time, Wong and Yee hope to turn the property into a restaurant. While uncertain as to what type of restaurant it will be, their attorney, Michael Hall, said his clients have operated a number of successful Asian or Asian-Fusion restaurants in the past.
“So they might be headed in that direction.”
Yet with established restaurants already in Cervantes’ neighborhood is a new one necessary, and would it be welcome?
Marcello Gomez, manager of Caffe Cozzolino, located at 300 Precita Ave., said that as long as it isn’t too competitive with his business, he wouldn’t mind another restaurant opening just a few doors down from his.
“We’ve been here 22 years and have a lot of loyal customers,” said Gomez.
But Cervantes has been in the community even longer and has community support of her own. If Wong and Yee are unable to obtain the necessary permit, they might decide to sell the property, Fox said.
“If they choose to sell within the next 18 months, Cervantes will have an opportunity to buy the property before anyone else does,” said Fox. “Those are the terms of the settlement.”
While Fox admitted she is thankful that Cervantes does not have to move from her home right away, she wished the artist’s initial eviction notice was given in a more humane way.
In July, Wong and Yee served Cervantes with a notice giving her three days to move out of 389 Precita Ave. Because the previous owner had converted the bottom floor, zoned for commercial use, into a residential unit, the new owners said that her residence was an unlawful use of space.
“Residential tenancy in that building is illegal and we didn’t want it to continue,” said Hall. “An illegal contract puts owners and tenants in a vulnerable position.”
Not wanting to see Cervantes, founding director of the Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, ousted from the “sacred ground” where her two sons were born and her husband Louis recently passed away, more than 600 community members signed petitions to designate the building’s first floor as a landmark.
A fixture in the Mission neighborhood, Cervantes is responsible for more than 100 of San Francisco’s murals, including those along the Women’s Building and Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School, where her first major mural is exhibited.
In 1999 the San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper named Cervantes a Local Hero and in 2002, KQED Public Broadcasting did the same.
According to the KQED Web site, “Susan Cervantes has helped to create a unique multipurpose community arts organization that has emphasized San Francisco’s rich cultural heritage and the value of arts education.”
To this day, Hall maintains that he and his clients knew nothing of Cervantes’ history. Regardless of her character, or how long she’s lived in the community for which she serves, Hall said she shouldn’t be living at 389 Precita Ave.
“Length of time doesn’t make it any less illegal,” said Hall. “It’s not criteria in assessing the best legal approach.”
Perhaps not, said Fox. But Cervantes’ attorney said she wishes Wong and Yee had taken a different approach to the one they chose. She would have preferred they sit down with Cervantes and explained what was happening to her, instead of serving her with the notice and a letter saying that she could call them if she had concerns.
But Cervantes is known for her strong spirit and so is continuing the fight for her home. In hopes the owners decide to sell, she is trying to come up with enough money to buy the space that more than 600 people feel is rightfully hers.
