A paper posted in front of the Veganburg restaurant on San Francisco's Haight Street: they're closing October 22nd. I wasted time trying to figure out whether their vegan-ness helped or harmed their business, but kept reading and found the real culprit: They've been open for nine years. The reward for a San Francisco restaurant surviving for ten years is, of course, that your ten-year lease expires and the landlord raises your rent.

Bad news for San Francisco, but good news for the town where Veganburg USA is moving: Hesperia, California, a town between San Bernadino and Barstow. I don't know much about Hesperia, but I guess it's the last remaining place in California with reasonable retail rents.