While music venues, like Slim’s, are permanently closing in SF during the COVID-19 crisis, this beacon of light in Hunters Point still stands as a one-of-a-kind community stalwart that desperately needs our support now
This 1920s-30s-inspired jazz supper club feels ideally suited to Hunters Point. But it’s so much more than a restaurant-bar-live-jazz club. It’s also a community builder and shaker, the kind of model one wishes was replicated in cities everywhere. As a vocational training ground, at-risk youth (ages 16-22) — dressed in the supper club’s red and black, embellished with bow ties and hats — run all aspects of the business, some staying with the restaurant for years and eventually moving into management. The musicians are also local San Francisco youth: talented teens playing classic jazz from an upstairs mezzanine that looks down over the restaurant.
Old Skool is the brainchild of gracious founder and CEO Teresa Goines, who pioneered it in 2004, has since moved to its current space in 2012. It’s clear talking to her that this is her passion and calling, not just a business. As she gives youth the skills to become chefs, hosts, servers, and entertainers with her comprehensive training program, her business directly addresses cycles of poverty, crime, and incarceration, bringing purpose and a future to the young people she employs.
Goines’s heart began to break for the hopelessness of the youth in her city stuck in cycles of poverty, gangs, and drugs. “No one woke up and decided they wanted to join a gang or sell drugs,” says Goines. “They were simply suffocating as the world around them constricted and squeezed all the hope out of the room.”
Goines began asking the young people in her community what they would need to leave gangs: “I repeatedly heard the same answers — jobs. And by getting a job, they not only secured gainful employment but also “a sense of family [and] purpose.”
She then asked herself where people spent money in San Francisco and immediately knew the love of food and the arts were commonalities among San Franciscans. Thus, the idea was born for a dinner and entertainment venue employing youth in all aspects, providing jobs, community, and purpose.
It was a long journey: Goines hosted Old Skool in her home for six years, then launched in a subsidized rental space given to her by two pastors in the Hunters Point neighborhood. Eventually, dear friends making possible the build-out of the space into a full restaurant and jazz club. Local and national press followed and Old Skool has become an institution.
Here, dining has purpose and intention — eating and drinking dollars transform lives and prepare youth for the hospitality industry. These outings, too, double as an engaging night out. Strains of jazz flow down a long hallway lined with photos of youth who have worked here over the years, welcoming you into the dining room, inviting with little lights, red booths and the waftings of soul food.
Soul food does indeed shine here, whether red wine-braised short ribs over garlic mashed potatoes, shrimp ‘n’ grits, or buttermilk-brined chicken with coleslaw. Better yet, most entrees run between $17-19, with hearty portions in tow.
But standouts are recipes from youth chef’s families, such as the Polynesian island of Tonga: taumoepeau ota, ceviche-reminiscent diced swai (shark catfish) in lemon, chili pepper, and a Tongan cream sauce, all scooped up with tortilla chips. My favorite is an African staple, Abu’s Peanut Butter Stew (vegan and gluten-free), a rich stew of peanut butter, coconut milk, herbs, and cherry tomatoes over rice.
Over the years, one of the biggest challenges remains getting people through their doors.
“Many people still don’t know we exist,” explains Goines. “We have a small, grass-roots non-profit with a small adult staff [, many of them part-time], so not having a marketing/PR team has made it tough to keep our seats in the restaurant full.”
Recent changes, pre-COVID-19? An acquired liquor license (meaning you gained the option to sip martinis with jazz. And Old Skool also launched a food counter in the impressive nearby (and currently closed) Chase Center. As we keep Old Skool alive during these trying times, when we’re back to games or concerts at Chase, it can be with a bowl of that addictive peanut butter stew — all while contributing towards the careers of local youth via Goines’ visionary business model.
// Please donate to Old Skool Cafe here. They need your help more than ever to support the youth they employed in the neighborhood until they can reopen again; 1429 Mendell Street (Hunters Point), www.oldskoolcafe.org
