The Last Vegan Curry
Down in Oakland, on Craig Street, there has for the past dozen years been a place called Kiva Han. It was a coffee shop, but also a lunch place and a place to read a newspaper and hide from work for a little while. It was far from perfect, but it was friendly and unique. I've eaten a disturbing amount of veggie curry there over the years.
They closed today. I went down to get one last curry for lunch, but they were doing their Sunday brunch menu, so I ended up with a nice panini. The last curry was some day earlier this week, I guess. The place was mobbed today.
It was busy most days, actually. It didn't die because of the Great Recession or because they ran out of money or because the health inspector got them. It died because Pittsburgh Bagel Factory rented their location out from under them. Kiva Han was doing all right, but they just couldn't come up with as much money as PBF, a much larger company. So Pittsburgh loses something I think was unique, 10 or so people lose their jobs, a lot of cheerful Goth-types lose a place to hang out and work, and Pittsburgh gets Yet Another Bagel Shop.
Theoretically, I should be happy about this. The Great Engine of Commerce marches forward, and after a few months or years PBF will probably generate more dollars per square foot than Kiva Han did. Somewhere, some Job Creator is... doing whatever the heck they do. Somehow, though, I'm not feeling it. Unique things and unique places have a value beyond their revenue-per-square-foot, and I think this is a loss for a lot of Pittsburghers and for the city as a whole. It's more than just the curry. But I'll miss the curry too.
They closed today. I went down to get one last curry for lunch, but they were doing their Sunday brunch menu, so I ended up with a nice panini. The last curry was some day earlier this week, I guess. The place was mobbed today.
It was busy most days, actually. It didn't die because of the Great Recession or because they ran out of money or because the health inspector got them. It died because Pittsburgh Bagel Factory rented their location out from under them. Kiva Han was doing all right, but they just couldn't come up with as much money as PBF, a much larger company. So Pittsburgh loses something I think was unique, 10 or so people lose their jobs, a lot of cheerful Goth-types lose a place to hang out and work, and Pittsburgh gets Yet Another Bagel Shop.
Theoretically, I should be happy about this. The Great Engine of Commerce marches forward, and after a few months or years PBF will probably generate more dollars per square foot than Kiva Han did. Somewhere, some Job Creator is... doing whatever the heck they do. Somehow, though, I'm not feeling it. Unique things and unique places have a value beyond their revenue-per-square-foot, and I think this is a loss for a lot of Pittsburghers and for the city as a whole. It's more than just the curry. But I'll miss the curry too.