This article was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle
By Carolyn Stein
Hamburger Haven, an Inner Richmond restaurant that has been operating since 1968, was burglarized early Sunday morning with thieves taking a beloved and irreplaceable antique cash register. Owner Roozbeh Falahati described the cash register as a “centerpiece” of the establishment.
“It’s been there since my dad had it,” said Falahati, whose father ran the restaurant for decades before Falahati took it over. He thinks that the thieves ultimately took the register because they were unable to open it, noting that the thieves had gone through two newer registers but did not find anything in them.
To wake up and discover that the register was missing was “devastating” for Falahati.
“There was nothing you could take in that restaurant that was irreplaceable other than that,” he added. “I’m experienced to waking up to break-in calls. … This is the first time I felt robbed.”
Thieves also damaged one of the windows.
This is not the first time Hamburger Haven has been broken into. The business was burglarized last winter, but nothing was reported as stolen, according to a previous news report.
Falahati said he’s had a total of four break-ins since reopening the business in July 2022. He also noted that the police have been called in all four instances.
The San Francisco Police Department said that no arrests in the Hamburger Haven burglary have been made and that the investigation remains ongoing.
Falahati said that other businesses were also broken into that same morning, including Cafe La Flore on Clement Street and Sweet Cleaners on California Street. According to the San Francisco Police Department, police also responded to a burglary at Sweet Cleaners that same morning and observed a shattered glass door to the business. They determined that money was stolen from the business.
The police also responded to a burglary on the same block Cafe La Flore is on after a bystander alerted the police to a similar incident. When officers arrived on the scene, they observed damaged to the front of the store and determined that property and money were taken from the business.
The burglaries have been a continuous source of frustration for Falahati, who wants to see more action from city’s leaders. He says that he has been advocating for more early morning patrols in the neighborhood since 2022.
After Sunday morning’s event, Falahati put a sign outside his business detailing the break-in and advocating for voters to change the leadership in the city.
Property crime continues to be a top issue in the mayoral election with voters expressing frustration over the issue despite Mayor London Breed touting big declines in reported crimes across many categories.
The break-in caught the attention of mayoral candidate Mark Farrell, who posted a photo of the sign outside Hamburger Haven on his social media accounts, including X, previously known as Twitter.
“They’re just the latest small business to fall victim to City Hall’s public safety failures,” Farrell wrote, who added that he would take a “zero tolerance approach” to crime if elected. “If you’re on Clement this weekend, be sure to stop by and support Hamburger Haven. And like they said — be sure to VOTE.”
Hamburger Haven responded to Farrell’s post on X, emphasizing how the business has been asking for more police after break-ins in the Richmond District.
“We are only making reasonable requests,” the Hamburger Haven account posted.
Crime is also a main issue in the supervisor race for District 1, which includes the Richmond District. Billboards went up last week pointing to property crime statistics for the area, but they were misleading and lacked important context.
The Clement Street Merchants Association is also working with the small businesses affected by the thefts, the organization wrote in an email to the Chronicle, which includes helping small businesses access grants for vandalism-related costs and other resources. However, the organization still wants to see more action to prevent burglaries in the area.
“We are not a crime prevention organization, and we have been actively calling on our Richmond PD and Mayor Breed’s office for additional resources to continue to keep our small businesses safe and open,” the organization wrote.
Despite the troubles, Falahati hopes that change will come soon. Although Falahati does not live in the city, he says that he would vote for Farrell if he could in the coming election.
“As small-business owners, we don’t have a platform to speak on,” Falahati said. “Anyone that’s willing to help us, we’re happy to engage with.”
This story has been updated with additional comment from San Francisco Police Department and The Clement Street Merchants Association.