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From KQD in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.

More than 120 restaurants closed in San Francisco in 2021, and you get the feeling walking into many still open places

that they're on their last legs. Dining simply has not come back, and though some businesses

have prospered by making lemons into takeout, others are tapping out. And it's not just

restaurants. The iconic Castro theater is planning to switch to live events to survive. We'll

talk about our trans-COVID cities.

Then, Lunar New Year's next week, we'll talk to KQEDU's food editor, Luke Tsai,

about the special dishes that Bay Area communities will be eating to ring in an abundant new year.

That's all next.

Welcome to Forum.

I'm Alexis Madrigal.

Before the pandemic, our Bay Area cities were already changing.

The last reporting I did before Al Hell broke loose was a hearing on the rise of ghost kitchens in San Francisco. Retail had entered a period of what would probably be

long-term decline as stores get Amazoned. Streaming had sapped some of the power of the box office.

And then came the pandemic, which has made the restaurant business in particular

that much harder. Just in the past few weeks, Lucas Tap Room and Brown Sugar Kitchen, both in

...