As Printers Cafe shutters, patrons lament end of an era

Update: The Planning and Transportation Commission voted unanimously on April 10 to recommend approving Palo Alto Fit’s application for a conditional use permit.

Despite a last-minute push for leniency and an outpouring of support from the community, Printers Cafe officially closed shop this week after more than three decades on California Avenue.

The building at 320 California Ave. was completely hallowed out of furniture, decor and equipment on Tuesday morning. Its outdoor dining area, a popular gathering place for visitors to the city’s “second downtown,” was cleared of tables and chairs.

The cafe, which began as a book store, shut down to accommodate a proposal for a new Palo Alto Fit, a gym whose owners last year bought the buildings at 310 and 320 California Ave. The new gym would take over the space that is currently occupied by Performance Gaines, another gym, as well as Printers Cafe building.

Two subtenants of Printers Cafe, Gallery House and Moods Wine Bar, have already found new locations in other cities.

But while the departure of Printers is now a done deal, the future of Palo Alto Fit is somewhat less certain. The gym needs a conditional use permit to operate on California Avenue. The process of getting such a permit is frequently routine, subject to approval from the planning director. But given the high interest in preserving Printers Cafe, Planning Director Jonathan Lait deferred to the Planning and Transportation Commission and the City Council to rule on the permit, a process that creates an opening for delays and increased public scrutiny.

The planning commission is slated to hold a public hearing on the conditional use permit on April 10. Among the factors that the commission and the council will consider is whether the proposed land use for 310 and 320 California Ave. is consistent with the city’s zoning ordinance and its land-use bible, the Comprehensive Plan.

Even if the commission and the council take the unlikely step of denying the permit, the decision won’t be enough to placate the dozens of residents who have urged the city to step in and preserve Printers Cafe and its subtenants. Greig Scott, a frequent visitor to Printers, was one of about 60 residents to submit a letter to the city in recent weeks lamenting the planned closure of Printers, a development that he called “incomprehensible.”

Scott said the cafe “filled a unique place in the fabric of Palo Alto.” As a resident of Park Boulevard and employee of Stanford University, he said he watched the cafe be “at times a place that allowed quiet solitude for remote work, and at others a beehive of activity, a center of community life on California Ave.”

“It is getting harder to find locations that organically become part of the community life” Scott wrote. “Printers Cafe has been one of these places.”

Many others shared this view. Terry Shuchat, whose camera store Keeble and Shuchat was once a California Avenue fixture, urged the city to do what it can to retain both Printers Cafe and Moods. So did Yousef Vazir, an Old Palo Alto resident and longtime patron of Printers. He called the cafe “an asset to the community and a safe gathering place for the residents of this area and visitors.”

“Palo Alto city government needs to do more to preserve such assets that enhance the character of the city,” Vazir wrote.

Associate Planner Nishita Kandikuppa noted in her report to the commission that most of the public communication that the city received from patrons of Printers Cafe and Moods Wine, people who have “utilized the cafe space for social and professional gatherings, community meetings, and leisure for over 40 years.”

“In addition to the loss of family-owned business, many are concerned about the pedestrian appeal and walkability of California Avenue. They prefer to have a vibrant cafe space on a downtown strip that is inviting to all as opposed to a gym that is targeted towards a select few who are members,” Kandikuppa wrote.

A notable dissent came from David Landferman, the attorney representing Palo Alto Fit owners Nina Nguyen and Mirco Horst. He called Lait’s decision to defer the approval of the conditional use permit “unfounded and hasty” and characterized the departure of Printers Cafe as a “private lease issue” in which the city should not get involved. The cafe’s lease has already been terminated, Landferman said, and the denial of a conditional use permit will do nothing to change that.

Al Ghafouri, owner of Printers Cafe, told this publication that he agreed last summer to shorten the length of cafe’s lease in response to the new building owners’ proposal to raise rents to $22,000 per month. His cafe had been granted a rent reduction during the Covid-19 pandemic and he believed the reduced rent of $18,000 would remain in place until the end of the year.

Ghafouri said that prior to that point, he had been talking with the new property owners about extending the lease for another three to five years. While his prior lease was set to expire in October 2025, he ultimately agreed to limit the lease to April 6 in exchange for keeping the rent from rising. But after he agreed to the new termination date, Horst and Nguyen indicated that they were no longer interested in a lease extension, he said.

Ghafouri emphasized in a February letter to Horst that the rent reduction was the only reason he accepted the earlier termination of the lease.

“You left me no choice, since our business had not recovered from Covid and we could not afford to pay pre-Covid rent,” Ghafouri wrote.

In their correspondence with city planners, Palo Alto Fit owners wrote that the parties “mutually agreed” to reduce rent during the Covid pandemic and for a time afterwards. When the original rent was set to be reinstated, Printers Cafe “indicated a preference to shorten the lease term in exchange for a reduced rent for that shortened time.” The new termination date, they wrote, was requested by Printers Cafe.

Landferman argued that neither city staff nor the public should “act under the misconception that the delay or denial of the CUP approval would somehow prevent the already-agreed termination of the lease.”

“Accordingly, Mr. Ghafouri and his supporters should recognize and accept the fact that opposing or trying to delay the CUP application is not the way to try to restore or reinstate Mr. Ghafouri as a tenant at these properties,” Landferman wrote. “To the contrary, such actions simply impede and delay our clients’ efforts to improve the properties so as to be able to continue to provide the types of great coffee, food, and ambience that the community has long enjoyed at this location.”

With the building now vacant, Nguyen and Horst are hoping to both expand the gym and set up a new cafe. In a letter to the city, Nguyen wrote that her team is “dedicated to promoting sustainable lifestyle changes that will contribute to the long-term wellness of the community.” They are also preparing to open a new cafe under new ownership, Nguyen wrote.

“This cafe will offer a refined selection of great coffees and healthy food items,” Nguyen wrote. “Designed as a healthy retreat, it will provide the community with a space to convene for relaxation and enjoyment in an inviting ambiance.”