Before we took over the space at 870 Valencia, it had housed an upholstery shop for many years. The people who ran the shop lost their lease, and ended up moving their operation to Oakland. The sheer quantity of STUFF that was contained in the building is difficult to credit -- even more so when you consider that the photos you are seeing were taken after the former tenants had filled three full-size moving trucks with the accumulation of their business items, and even more furniture, pieces of furniture and who-can-fathom-what. The photos you see are the items they abandoned.
This is what the basement contained:
As well as being a place for ritual.
Moving upstairs to what will be the main cafe space...
Jim and Alan remove the old layers of linoleum until they find the original wood floor (nine layers down). Wait until you see it fully restored.
Once some of the junk is removed, you can start to see the space.
The front entrance.
More walls come down.
This is the HellMouth we found at the bottom of the basement stairs. We really hope it was a sump, but we're just not sure. It has since been cleaned out and filled with cement. No bones have been discovered.
The cafe sitting empty, waiting for permits.
Signs up so the neighborhood knows that the space is rented and that a cafe is coming in the near future.
