There’s a parking lot behind the club and concert venue The Midway where an independent businessman runs an illicit operation.
San Francisco, CA
The city says his parking lot is illegal. He says clubgoers love it
Standing at around 6 feet, 3 inches, and weighing somewhere in the region of 250 pounds, the man, whom we’ll call the Watcher, offers to protect the cars of clubgoers — for a price.
The Port of San Francisco, which owns the lot, contends that the operation is illegal, and The Midway issued a disapproving statement. But when San Francisco Police Department officers visited the lot Jan. 17, they merely gave The Watcher a warning and left, he said. The SFPD was unable to confirm this or “locate any information.”
Rough, with fading paint and weeds sprouting through cracks in the asphalt, and the distinct smell of urine in one corner, the lot sits next to an entrance to Pier 80 at Islais Creek. During the day, it’s mostly empty. But on weekend nights, it fills with the cars of revelers heading to The Midway and, sometimes, teens pre-gaming in their vehicles.
The Watcher, who lives in the Antioch area and declined to provide his name for obvious reasons, discovered the lot’s money-making powers last year while working as a driver in the area. When he lost his job, he had an idea: Hang out at the lot entrance and charge people $20 to park. He knew it wasn’t legal, but neither was it legal for club-goers to park or drink there. So one July evening, he gave it a shot. Promising to keep a watchful eye on the cars, he quickly found he could make up to $700 on a busy Friday or Saturday night. But most weekend nights, he nets around $250, he said.
Six months later, he’s commuting to the Central Waterfront every Friday and Saturday to work the lot entrance. He shows up before The Midway’s first event of the evening and stays until about 3 a.m.
According to the Watcher, there has been one car break-in in the lot since he started the operation, and it was targeted — a dispute between men he did not want to get involved in.
“There’s people that want me to watch their car,” he said on a recent Friday.
The unofficial lot attendant, dressed in sneakers and a blue coach’s jacket and smoking a cigarette, said he sees his work as honest. He has even pulled weeds in the lot and, with help from the city, would like to repaint the parking space lines and clean up the urine, he said.
“He watches the cars here. I think people should at least give him something,” said Manny Ranjo, a nurse who was heading to The Midway to see rapper KRS-One perform.
Ranjo said he loves The Midway in part because he doesn’t have to worry about his car getting broken into while he’s at a show. He added that he went to an electronic concert series at Hibernia SF but couldn’t enjoy himself because he was worried about his car the whole time.
But not everybody supports the Watcher. Redditors have described him as “sketchy” and “thugy.” One commenter speculated that the Watcher would threaten anybody who refused to pay; another worried about getting stabbed.
The Midway has denounced the Watcher’s actions. “We hate hearing someone is illegally profiting off of our patrons from parking obtained without the property owner’s consent,” said Ian Molloy, general manager of the club.
The Port of San Francisco, meanwhile, will work with police to “take further steps if the activity continues,” according to a spokesman. The port has contracted a security guard service to monitor the lot in the evening.
James Cosculluela of A1 Protective Services was working the lot when The Standard visited.
“His time is coming to an end,” Cosculluela said of the Watcher, adding that he’d notified police of the illicit activity.
The Watcher seemed unbothered by the possibility that police would come. He said he’s never threatened anybody at the lot, and if people decline to pay, he doesn’t stop them from parking; he just doesn’t watch over their vehicles or wait for them to return before he leaves. SFPD officers have come before, he added, and let him off with a warning.
The Watcher did, however, seem annoyed by Cosculluela’s dedication to bringing him down. The last security guard who monitored the lot, he said, took a cut of his informal earnings — until the guard’s employer found out and fired him. He tried to offer Cosculluela money once, but the guard refused it.
Growing up in the Mission, the Watcher got involved with gangs at a young age. He said his parents gave him an ultimatum: He could live with family in either Central America or Utah. It was an easy choice, he said, and he spent the next 20 years south of the border (he wouldn’t say which country).
When he moved back, he reconnected with an old girlfriend and got married. They live in the East Bay, and he works the parking lot to support them. He’d like to get a permit from the city and open an honest parking attendant business, but he doesn’t know where to start, he said. All he has is the clientele.
Ranjo is now one of Watcher’s regular clients and texts him before heading to events at The Midway to make sure he’ll be working. One of his friends, a fellow music lover who had his car stolen from another venue, also enlists the Watcher’s services, Ranjo said.
The Standard observed the Watcher chatting with other regular customers and explaining the rules of engagement to newcomers.
“It’s $20 if you want me to watch your car,” he told one couple. They agreed.
He feels it’s not fair for people to call him a scammer.
“If I was a scammer, I’d take the money and leave,” he said. “It’s more like a hustle.”
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.
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.
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.
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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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.
One of San Francisco’s busiest freeways remained shut down Saturday, creating major traffic delays and dampening business for some local restaurants and shops.
All eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 just before the Bay Bridge are closed as crews work around the clock to rehabilitate the roadway. The 55-hour shutdown, which began on Friday night, is scheduled to last until Monday morning in time for the commute.
The closure has forced drivers onto detour routes, leading to heavy congestion for those trying to reach the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley.
The impact is being felt beyond the roadways.
At MoMo’s, a restaurant across from Oracle Park, staff found business noticeably slower.
“A little bit more mellow than usual. We usually see a little bit more foot traffic, a little bit more people on Saturdays,” said Daniel Bermudez, executive chef at MoMo’s.
Bermudez believes the freeway closure may be discouraging visitors from coming into the city this weekend, despite favorable weather.
“The weather is beautiful today. It’s nice and sunny. So we have plenty of tables outside,” he said.
With the San Francisco Giants playing an away game, the restaurant had hoped fans would still gather to watch, but turnout during game time remained light.
“This is kind of like our off-season Saturday. A lot slower than our baseball weekend,” said Casandra Alarcon, general manager at MoMo’s.
Other small businesses in the Mission Bay and South of Market neighborhoods reported similar trends, saying most of their customers are regulars who live nearby rather than visitors.
“A little bit slower for sure. Before, we had tourists come and walk to the baseball park,” said Ajaree Safron, manager at Brickhouse Cafe & Bar.
Caltrans has shut down eastbound lanes between 17th and 4th streets to repave the 71-year-old roadway. The goal is to extend the life of the Bayshore Freeway by another decade.
City and transportation officials said the timing of the closure was intentional, noting fewer major events scheduled in San Francisco this weekend, aside from the Cherry Blossom Festival.
Westbound lanes remain open, and officials said traffic heading into San Francisco from the East Bay has not been significantly affected.
“Getting into the city, it wasn’t too bad. Regular [traffic], what we expect on a Saturday morning,” said visitor Andrea Inouye.
While the closure has posed challenges for businesses, some workers said they are taking it in stride.
“Hopefully, it’s not for too long and we get past it, and get back to our normal routine,” Bermudez said.
Despite early concerns about widespread gridlock, transportation officials said the region has avoided the worst-case scenario. Traffic remains heavy in areas near detours, but the anticipated “carmageddon” has not materialized, in part because many drivers chose to avoid the area or take public transit.
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