The Silver Crest Donut Shop, whose red neon sign has boasted “We never close” for as long as fans of 24-hour doughnuts can remember, is no more.
A Facebook post from early Tuesday morning shows that the diner on Bayshore Boulevard along the eastern edge of Bernal Heights has been boarded up. The phone line has been disconnected.
For much of its long run, the cash-only Silver Crest was one of the most peculiar restaurants in San Francisco, like something from a David Lynch film. The fluorescent light was tinted blue-green. Long-silent jukeboxes crowned most of the booths, and the pinball machines were usually broken. Nominally an all-night breakfast spot, the restaurant had a menu that included a fried ham sandwich for $11.95, Sanka for $2.95 and a hot snail (a sticky pastry, not escargot) for $2.95.
Zombie menu items — like the no-longer-available liverwurst sandwich — remained posted on the wall, only their prices painted over. The only special was steak, for $29.95.
Until recently, there was a back room with a pool table. At any time of day, George and Nina Giavris, the Greek American couple who had run the place since the 1970s, might pour patrons a gratis shot of ouzo. Over the last 15 years or so, they seemingly defied human nature by putting in exceptionally long workdays. According to a 2023 profile in Alta, George once shot someone in the leg. For her part, Nina claimed to have worked 48 hours straight more than once, fueled only by coffee.
Attempts to reach the couple went unanswered.
Noir-ish and confounding, the Silver Crest was no one’s idea of an excellent place to eat. It was an anachronism for a quarter-century or more. And to a certain curious segment of the city who enjoyed burnt coffee, gruff service and moderate psychic discomfort, it was an absolute institution — always open, always there.