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San Francisco's Papenhausen Hardware to close after 88 years

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San Francisco's Papenhausen Hardware to close after 88 years


A legacy business in San Francisco that has been around since 1936 is going out of business.

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Papenhausen Hardware, a fixture in West Portal for 88 years, will close its doors on Dec. 31, or sooner if inventory runs out.

On Monday, customers flowed in and out of the store, many learning that the days of visiting the shop and benefiting from the staff’s expertise are limited.

“Without this place, where can you go?” asked customer Frank Ruiz.

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Karl Aguilar, who joined the staff in 1988 and eventually became a manager and partner, said the business survived two fires, the latest in 2018. However, it could not withstand rising rent and changing social patterns following the pandemic.

As a neighborhood business without a parking lot but situated close to the West Portal, it relied on a steady stream of commuters to stop in. The post-pandemic era, with remote work and food delivery, has led to a 30% drop in foot traffic.

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“We have always been more of a convenience store than a destination,” said Aguilar. “When you don’t have parking, you’re always going to be more convenience-based. We just became less convenient for 30% of our customers.”

The hardware store is offering deep discounts, and customers are flooding in to get what they need.

“Even though it’s a small store I find everything I need here,” said customer Joyce Zanze. “But, it’s our community, West Portal. We need a hardware store.”

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Papenhausen has been more than just a hardware store; it’s a neighborhood landmark. During the pandemic, it served as a location for essential workers and a gathering place for neighbors when it was safe.

John Veizades said the store’s history goes back farther than that.

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“We moved to this neighborhood when I was 11 or 12 years old and we were the commensurate DIY family,” said Veizades. “So, when you needed a screw or a bolt or piece of wire you came on down to Papenhausen.”

Now, the owners are saying their farewells to staff and loyal customers, urging people to support small businesses to prevent further closures in the city.

“I talk to a lot of business owners, and a lot of them are in the same boat,” Aguilar said. “Whether they’re doing better or worse has a lot to do with whether they were able to adapt, how much they can streamline, and whether or not they own their buildings.”

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San Francisco, CA

Sea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’

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Sea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’


A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.

The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.

The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.

Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.

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“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.

During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.

Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.

The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.

“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”

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Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.



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Giants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss

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Giants Head Home to San Francisco After Shutout Loss


After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.

The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.

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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.

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Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.

Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.

The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.

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They just didn’t get the job done.

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Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.

With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.

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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.

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The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.

All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.

Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.

That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.

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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.

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Why do gray whales keep dying in San Francisco’s waters?

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Why do gray whales keep dying in San Francisco’s waters?


The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.



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