Pencil(ed) in.
A note to self; to be continued…
I started this draft 3 years ago in 2018 with the intention of writing about Pencil cafe and the 5 years I spent running & operating this little community sandwich shop in Pasadena, CA with my mom. It’s been almost 3 full years since we closed our shop, but I know this story, my story of Pencil, isn’t over yet. I’d like to think this is the reason why this post was left unpublished, sitting in my drafts, and only penciled in as a must come back to project. I’m not sure as to the exact beginning or even the ending…this story transcends the time period of 2013–2018. I just know I have to begin, again.
It’s now April 2021. Since closing the cafe, I earned a graduate degree in social entrepreneurship from USC, got married and moved to Boston (where I’m currently writing this), started working in the biotech industry, and currently trying to persevere with mental + physical health intact through this pandemic like majority of the rest of the world.
This past year especially, forced me to reflect on the many hardships and struggles of owning a small business in the restaurant industry (not to mention family-run, boot-strapped, women-owned, and in a high-rent area of Los Angeles). It was triggering to hear of the statistics of small businesses that had to close due to the pandemic, many of them small mom & pop eateries and minority-owned. In an attempt for a silver lining, or perhaps my own way of consolation, I’ve come to appreciate the timing of the closing of Pencil — the fate of a lease term that was not renewed pre-pandemic — and the painful yet slow luxury of saying our goodbyes over a period of several weeks — in person, with hundreds of warm hugs, squeezing of hands, and full familiar faces of all the customers and friends we’ve come to know over the years, exchanging words of encouragement, gratitude, and prayer.
There are so many blessings that came from this little corner shop. Some regulars used to equate the familial environment to Cheers Boston. There are so many smiling faces I miss. (Unironically, the iconic landmark “Cheers” bar in Boston closed due to the COVID pandemic). Despite all the challenges and the bittersweet ending, I’d like to think we got to erase this magical shop in good timing.
