Empty hofbrau, empty hearts in Hayward

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 1, 2005 | by Matt O'Brien, STAFF WRITER

HAYWARD -- The last days at the Silver Spoon Hofbrau were just like all the other days, except it wouldn't stop raining outside.

Al Akre arrived at 7:30 a.m. every day.

He chose his seat at the center table, joining friends Allen Strutz, Henry Skinner, George Pacheco, Harry Wolfe and a few others, depending on what day of the week it was.

"You get in the wrong chair, you get chased out," joked Akre, an 81-year-old Silver Spoon regular. "Especially if you sit in Allen's chair. The old animal instinct, you know?"

After 25 years of serving an unusual combination of buffet Chinese food and German-inspired carved roasts, owner Cindy Leung closed the landmark downtown hofbrau Wednesday.

Her son, manager Simon Wong, said the business is trying to find a new home for itself and all the regulars who have dined there for the past 25 years.

"We feel bad because we have to leave these relationships," Wong said. "Every customer has been such an individual story."

Pacheco, 74, frequented the diner since the long-ago days when it was called Alexander's.

He said he and his friends have to find another downtown establishment where they can talk about politics, family, history and health.

"It felt like a home," Pacheco said. "We talk about one another's problems. When you're old, that's what happens. Some of us can't hear good. Some of us can't see good."

Skinner, 72, considers himself a newcomer to the group. He's only been meeting there for 10 years or so.

"I listen to what they all have to say," said Skinner, a carpenter who left the long winters of north central Montana for Hayward about 40 years ago.

Strutz, 88, grew up on A Street and is the unofficial organizer of the group.

"We reminisce about the past," Strutz said. "Maybe once in a while, we get into politics, but not too often."

The restaurant's home, the historic Palmtag Building at B Street and Mission Boulevard, is scheduled for a renovation that has caused Leung and her family to move out.

The owners of the building, Oakland-based Browman Development Company, have not revealed their plans or time frame for the renovation.

Pacheco and Strutz remember when the Palmtag housed a radio station and later a drug store.

Leung, a San Lorenzo resident originally from Hong Kong, took over the storefront restaurant with her family in 1980. She added a Chinese element to the Bay Area phenomenon of the hofbrau, which takes its name from the word for a German brewhouse.

"It was a different kind of hofbrau," Wong said of the Silver Spoon.

Skinner said he used to rotate between the Silver Spoon's breakfast combination items 1, 2, 3 and 4, all of which cost $3.39.

"The younger generation wants all this fast food stuff," Skinner lamented. "They hardly ever come in."

Akre, once operations supervisor for the Oro Loma Sanitary District, appreciated the Silver Spoon because the group could always stay as long as they wanted. And someone always refilled their coffee cups.

He stuck to the oatmeal and egg sandwich and enjoyed the comfortable routine and camaraderie.

"The only thing unusual is when we get together and go to Jackson (Rancheria Casino)," Akre said. "Then we talk about that for two weeks."

There was chatter between booths this week about where customers would go next. Wong said the Silver Spoon is trying to find a new Hayward home.

Downtown chiropractor Ralph Herndon, who arrived at the restaurant every morning at 8 with a newspaper and his own bag of fresh fruit, said he is thinking of heading to El Rancho down the street.

Strutz and Akre said they would try out the food court at the mall.

Matt O'Brien can be reached at (510) 293-2473 or mattobrien@dailyreviewonline.com.