The Real Story Behind the Threat to Louis' Restaurant
Categories: Buzz Machine
Today at our sister news blog, The Snitch, Joe Eskenazi grabs a phone with Tom Hontalas, one of the owners of Louis', the Sutro Heights diner whose landlord is putting the place out for bid for a 10-year lease. The Hontalas family has operated Louis' here since the 1930s, but that doesn't give it a leg up in the bidding. Eskenazi explains: 
easywriterguy/Flickr The long-term lease for the diner space near the Cliff House is going out for bid.
The restaurant sits on land owned by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), and is thereby governed by the same regulations as a snack bar in Yellowstone or hot dog-stand in Yosemite. Instead of just re-upping Louis' lease, federal law stipulates a contract for the restaurant site must go out to bid. And if someone outbids the Hontalas family ― goodbye Louis'.As we noted Friday, the Hontalas family is soliciting customer reminiscences via Facebook to help convince the GGNRA they should get to stay, and they're hosting a sort of rally April 17. Read all about one family's uphill struggle to hold on to its business.
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