Ever heard the story of the Ghost of Cursed Retail?
It’s not a specter you can see, but rather an energy in the air — the touch of a poltergeist, ready to steal vibes and profits for no reason other than its own cruel pleasure.
Sometimes, the curse is obvious: A storefront that just sits there empty for ages, menacing a neighborhood while daring anyone with a business ego to attempt a revival. (“You can fix me,” it whispers with a siren’s tongue.)
Other times, the Ghost of Cursed Retail lies low, hidden from view until it grasps you by the ankle and drags you into the swamp, draining your savings and drowning your small business dream.
I’ve been seeing glimpses of this unholy spirit floating around the Castro for years. Surely, it fed off the despair of the pandemic and all the retail closures that the lockdown instigated. But amid a surging commercial recovery in the historic district and queer destination, there’s one restaurant space I fear is continuing to grapple with the ghost.
You wouldn’t know it by looking at Hulu Wa China Bistro from the outside.
It occupies a tidy space at 3970 17th St., on the backside of the popular gay club The Cafe. On paper, the location could be ideal: It’s steps away from both Market and Castro streets, and surrounded by popular businesses like the Brazilian eatery Cafe de Casa and the legendary diner Orphan Andy’s.
That’s made it all the more frustrating for Sarah Fu, who co-owns Hulu Wa with partner Dereck Li. The duo took on the space about a year ago after agreeing to partner with an owner of the previous restaurant, Niji Sushi Bar.
Initially, the deal was to try and revive the sushi concept, but business continued to peter out. In November, Fu and Li decided to pull the plug and replaced it with a streamlined version of their already successful Hulu Wa restaurant in San Rafael.
“Things have picked up in the last two months,” Fu told me. “We’ve been losing money until now, and it’s just tough to manage. We do things like have a smaller menu, so we can still focus on quality without raising prices. I’m hoping the summer makes it busier.”
A month of Pride parties and gatherings in the Castro will surely help, but Fu acknowledges that the location has proved daunting. She and Li, who live in Ingleside with two kids, initially saw a lot to love about the storefront.
“Living in the city and running a restaurant in San Rafael, it was a lot. We wanted to make something happen in San Francisco,” Fu said. “Dereck, especially, thought the Castro is a good location. Lots of residents, lots of tourists. But we didn’t realize that foot traffic would not come 500 more feet to us from Castro Street. We didn’t realize that there are no cars coming by, either.”
Hulu Wa sits at a dead-end for 17th Street, which terminates at Jane Warner Plaza just outside of historic Twin Peaks Tavern. The restaurant is tucked around the corner from a gas station, and is effectively impossible to spot from Market Street. And while people do gather around the plaza (and the Muni underground station just across the way), it’s almost as if there’s a gravitational anomaly pulling people away from 3970 17th St.
The Ghost of Cursed Retail has harvested many souls from this perilous address. The space was created as part of a 2009 expansion of The Cafe, and its track record is spotty since. Pica Pica Maize Kitchen opened there in 2013 and died after just nine months. Then came Manos Nouveau, the Latin spot that moved from 22nd Street only to close in 2016 after less than two years of operation. The best run came via the Thai joint Me & Tasty, which arrived in 2017 and shuttered amid the pandemic in fall 2021.
Since then, it’s been a bit of a bloodbath: The confusing Nash Hot Chicken & Ramen came and went after just five months in 2022. Niji Sushi Bar hung around for even less than that. Which brings us to Hulu Wa.
Six restaurants in the span of a decade isn’t exactly a sign of success, even considering the stressors of the pandemic. And I fear it has very little to do with the food: As goofy as pairing hot chicken and ramen might sound, Nash made some delicious stuff (and earned glowing reviews on Yelp). Niji, while a bit pricey, filled a need for sushi in the neighborhood.
And Hulu Wa also has sterling reviews, including from myself: After several meals, I’m happy to return. While the menu isn’t expansive, everything I tasted — including prawn chow mein, string-bean beef, stir-fried eggplant with chicken, honey-walnut shrimp, char-siu fried rice, and potstickers – came out hot, expertly seasoned, and generous in portion.
Such is the nature of hauntings: The curse seems to unfairly strike people who are acting in good faith.
Overall, the Castro is seeing an upswing: Andrea Aiello, executive director of the Castro Community Benefit District, tells me that commercial vacancy is down 10% from last year and hovers around 15% today. So-called “good spaces” with more visibility and foot traffic tend to stay vacant for very short periods of time, Aiello adds. For example: While it stung to lose seafood restaurant Catch after 22 years at 2362 Market St., Aiello is pleased that it’s being replaced by another successful Bay Area bistro, ChouChou, this summer.
But she’s also blunt about the uphill challenge some unlucky operators face, including at Hulu Wa.
“It's an awful location. No one knows it's there,” she said. “You have to walk down 17th Street, and people don't because it's mostly residential.
“It's just about foot traffic. And consistent foot traffic. Inconsistent traffic is really hard on restaurants in particular. Everyone will say we need more foot traffic, not just in June, but throughout the year.”
It could always be worse. Across the road lies not just a Ghost of Cursed Retail, but a full Lovecraftian coterie of terrible vibes, just camping out at the former Pottery Barn on the northeast corner of Castro and Market. Certainly, if Hulu Wa is in need of more foot traffic, it doesn’t help that a gargantuan retail space is sitting boarded up, absolutely killing the energy on this stretch of upper Market.
It’s been closed since 2017, and Aiello diagnoses the problem as one of management: “Frankly, there have been many, many attempts to fill it. The property owner has just asked for too much money. It doesn’t work for pop-ups, because the rent is too high,” she said. “The city was toying with purchasing it for an LGBT museum years ago, but the owner was asking for too much.”
What’s worse: A property owner who wants to squat on an empty building for the better part of a decade, or a storefront seemingly haunted by bad luck? They’re both cursed, in a sense.
As for the future of Hulu Wa, well, it depends. Although it’s a milestone for Fu and Li to be in the black for the last two months, turning a profit remains tenuous. Fu tells me that, if things don’t improve by the time their lease is up for renewal in about a year, they’ll have to close up and move elsewhere.
The Castro deserves a small business like this: Owned by a family that wants to spend more time in the city, making good food without any pretension. But the Ghost of Cursed Retail is a wily, vicious opponent to face.
I just hope Hulu Wa breaks the bad-luck streak and reclaims 3970 17th St. for good.
