I am so tempted to buy a can of spray paint and replace that last zero in twenty-twenty with a one. Because given that Southern California’s COVID-19 crackdown continues unabated—and that the restaurant couldn’t have opened in “Early Fall” because of it—autumn twenty-twenty-one looks ever more realistic. That assumes the place isn’t forced into insolvency, like so many other local eateries. In this County, SanDiegoVille keeps a running list of restaurants and pubs permanently shuttered during 2020—the majority since the pandemic’s start. I count 113 entities, but more when accounting for establishments with multiple locations.
These businesses are prohibited from seating customers, indoors or outdoors; take-out and delivery are the only options, and they don’t generate enough revenue to keep operations aloft. The widening spread of COVID-19, which is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2), demonstrates that forced closures are ineffective killing the pandemic. But they sure look likely to massively massacre small- and medium-size businesses.
For his amazing straight-faced, saving lives performance, Governor Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom should receive an honorary Oscar at the Academy Awards—assuming enough members of Hollywood’s liberal elite can order up designer HAZMAT suits in time for the ceremony (okay, if there is one). Sometimes social distancing and KN95 masks aren’t enough to get that knot of fear out of their stomachs. But in the spirit of “the show must go on” maybe the Newsom administration will move Tinseltown’s finest to the front of the vaccination line. And, of course, every Oscar Night attendee must receive in his or her swag bag a brand new iPhone 12 Pro Max loaded up with a personal, COVID-19 QR-Code vaccine passport.
If Red Fox ever opens, and I haven’t escaped California yet, the Wilcox family will eat there in the spirit of supporting the local business. Dining out is such a novelty now one must do it. And if the lockdowns last long enough, parents will discover that their kids won’t grasp the concept of sitting down at Denny’s or even McDonald’s for a meal. “Geez, Mom, that’s so stupid! I’m hungry. C’mon and Uber Eats! My friends are waiting to Zoom-Tok together with AOC”.
I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image on Jan. 2, 2021. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/400 sec, 28mm; 3:21 p.m. PST.