North Beach's Cafe Divine Has Shuttered After a Decade

The corner of Stockton and Union, overlooking Washington Square Park, is a pretty divine space to have a cafe, but after a decade, Cafe Divine is no longer. Inside Scoop caught wind of a note that owner David Wright posted to the cafe's website, in which he said that his lease was up and he'd decided this was a good time to retire. But with the space already being touted on Craigslist, it looks likely that the landlord has decided to jack the rent. Considering the recent restaurant boom at that intersection, with Park Tavern, Original Joe's, and Tony's Pizza Napoletana all abuzz, a higher-end tenant may be on the way.

Though the space has been Cafe Divine for the past decade, its history dates back further than that: originally a drugstore, it was transformed into Caffe Malvina in 1987, featuring a custom-built marble bar and pizza ovens in the kitchen that potential new tenants will likely be drooling over. Wright and chef David Wees took over the space in 2005, serving up artisanal comfort fare like pasta and cassoulet. Cafe Divine prided itself on featuring live music and local artists, and also played host to the famed Old Spaghetti Factory mural, which features many of the leading lights of the beatnik era (and was the subject of its own documentary). It remains to be seen whether any of those factors will be incorporated into the cafe's new incarnation.