What does a block have to offer before a business that already has a following decides to move there?
On Valencia Street between 21st and 22nd, inside the Liberty Hill historic district's eastern edge, this year gave two answers. A diner that has served Mission Street for about 20 years opened a second room at 1020 Valencia. An e-bike shop closed its first storefront, on Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights, and moved to 1031 Valencia. Neither was a new business. Both had built a customer base somewhere else and chose this block for their next location. Between those two addresses sits Ritual Coffee Roasters at 1026 Valencia, which has been on the block since 2005. In late October it opened its own new location downtown.
The street had to settle first
These moves came after one of the city's longest arguments over a single street ended.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency installed a center-running bike lane on Valencia in summer 2023 as a pilot. Removal began in February 2025. SFMTA's construction update set the start for Monday, February 10, with crews working north from 23rd Street over roughly two to three months. By mid-May 2025, Mission Local reported that the replacement was officially open.
The new layout runs the bike lane along the curb, with parked cars, and in places floating parklets, between riders and traffic. Where a parklet still sits at the curb, the bike lane routes around it. The agency's Valencia Bikeway Improvements page lists the project as complete, and the protected segment runs from Market Street to 23rd, which covers the whole 21st-to-22nd block.
The early safety figures are what make the design look settled. In an April 30, 2026 update from Streetsblog SF, SFMTA data for the first six months of the curbside design showed the collision rate down about 30% overall and 67% for collisions involving bikes. Pedestrian-involved crashes were down 100%. The same report said the agency had revised some loading zones, added accessible ramps at white zones, was working on cars stopping in red zones, and planned to retime signals to bring back some of the bike "green wave." South of 23rd Street, toward Cesar Chavez, the bike lane is still a painted, unprotected Class II lane.
That is the street the two new tenants chose. One of them said so directly.
The e-bike shop that left Cortland for the bike lane
The New Wheel announced its move in December 2025. Its schedule had the service center opening at 1031 Valencia on January 12 and the retail store on January 29. Mission Local's January 14 Mission Buzz column reported that the storefront near 21st Street had opened that Monday. The column said the new location would replace the shop's first one, on Cortland Avenue, and would also take in a repair shop the company had previously run in the Bayview.
The shop's own announcement describes the block this way:
"We've landed on a truly special block—right across from Ritual Coffee, surrounded by great food, independent shops, and a beautiful green bike lane right out front."
The same post says the San Francisco store is open every day again, Mondays included. Posted sales hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The shop's first two reasons for the location were a café that has been on the block for two decades and a bike lane that had been open for about seven months. A business that sells and repairs e-bikes gained curbside protected riding right outside its door. It also put its sales floor and repair bench under one roof for the first time in the city.
The diner that added a room without leaving home
Mission's Kitchen took longer. Mission Local's November 22, 2025 Mission Buzz reported that the restaurant, then at 2738 Mission St., was opening a second location at 1020 Valencia near 21st Street. The column said it was unclear when the Valencia location would open because management was still hiring.
A neighborhood blogger who walks the block tracked the storefront through the winter. It had previously housed Flor de Cafe and Ma's Tacos. A "Coming Soon" sign went up in November 2025, and by March 2026 the site looked quiet. An April 12, 2026 update reported the Valencia location had opened the week before and was serving from 7 a.m. daily.
The Mission Street location stayed open. In its October 8 review of the Valencia room, Mission Local described the restaurant as a neighborhood fixture for about 20 years on Mission Street and said the original location is "still much loved." The reviewer called the new space "bright and cheery" and "on its way to becoming another institution."
The review's menu notes show what the diner brought to Valencia:
- Chilaquiles with house-made tortilla chips, chile verde and sunny-side-up eggs
- A Central American breakfast with black beans, fried cheese and plantains
- A double-decker club sandwich with fries
- Huevos rancheros with a spicy red salsa
- Veggie omelets, breakfast burritos, waffles, burgers and salmon BLTs, served until 2:45 daily
The reviewer also wrote that the dining room drew families, 20-somethings and seniors, and described the place as family-run, with fast service and large portions.
So Mission's Kitchen expanded rather than relocated, carrying a recipe proven over two decades a few blocks west. It joins a block where The New Wheel cited Ritual as the first selling point.
The anchor started exporting
Ritual's October move makes the year's pattern clear. Mission Local's October 28 Mission Buzz reported that Ritual Coffee Roasters had opened its fifth location, and third in San Francisco, the week before. The new café is at 259 California St., near Battery Street in the Financial District.
The address has history. According to the column, the café sits on the site of one that owner Eileen Rinaldi managed before she opened the first Ritual at 1026 Valencia in 2005. Mission Local introduced the item as "another Mission District institution is expanding."
The 1026 Valencia café stays where it has been for 21 years. The block's oldest tenant now has a sibling downtown, and its two newest tenants each have a sibling or predecessor elsewhere in the neighborhood. In one year, the 1000 block of Valencia sent an established business outward and took two in.
How the block reads in November 2026
On a walk between 21st and 22nd Streets now, the three addresses that defined the year sit within a few doors of each other:
- 1020 Valencia, Mission's Kitchen, open from 7 a.m. for breakfast and lunch until 2:45. Its original location, 2738 Mission St., is still open.
- 1026 Valencia, Ritual Coffee Roasters, the block's tenant since 2005. Its newest café is at 259 California St. downtown.
- 1031 Valencia, The New Wheel, across the street from Ritual, with e-bike sales and the repair shop that used to be in the Bayview under one roof.
Out front, a curbside protected bike lane runs the full length of the block and continues to 23rd Street.
For anyone living on the Liberty Hill side of Valencia, this year's changes came from businesses neighbors already knew. The breakfast, the coffee and the bike repair all come from operators who built their following on Mission Street, on Cortland Avenue, or on this same block in 2005.
The 1000 block of Valencia is a block I watch closely, and so are the Liberty Hill streets just west of it. If you live nearby and want to talk about what changes like these mean for your home, On The Right Paige is always glad to compare notes over coffee across from The New Wheel. Let's Connect.
