"At the end of the day, they (American Apparel) definitely screwed up," said a planning commissioner. And shortly after, the commission voted unanimously against allowing cool kids chain American Apparel into 988 Valencia St., citing both the company's failure to connect with the community and the Mission's collective smackdown of the store. There's never been a flood of emails and speakers quite like this one, and the commission heard the village loud and clear. Missionites, for the most part, left their pitchforks at home, and often even spoke brightly of their affinity for the brand— just not in their "delicate flower" of a neighborhood, where coffee roasters and struggling artists work, hands clasped together, to "bring to fruition their dreams." And just before a round of kumbaya broke out— one commissioner seemed to almost choke up over talk of gentrification on Valencia— everyone agreed that American Apparel was quite the stand-up company, but they'd rather BART to Union Square to get their tees, thx. And the crowd went wild.
· Hipsters Rally: American Apparel Awakens A Sleeping Giant [Curbed SF]
· Storefronting: American Apparel on Valencia?! [Curbed SF]
· On The Books: A Chain-Free Mission [Curbed SF]
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