SAN ANTONIO – After a celebration marking its 90th anniversary on Saturday, nearly all the tables at the Golden Star Café were filled on Monday with the kind of lunch crowd it hadn’t seen in a long while.
Arnold Ortiz, who came by to pick up a to-go order, sounded like the generations of customers at the event over the weekend.
“When I was a little boy, my dad used to bring me here. I’m 63 now,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz said they went to the Golden Star’s original locations further up West Commerce, known for its trifecta menu of American, Chinese and Mexican food.
“They’ve been here forever,” Ortiz said. “I hope they never go away.”
Yet the restaurant’s 90-year legacy on the West Side is now in jeopardy, said Bo Jean Lim, its owner.
“On a day-to-day basis, we are contemplating if we can still hang on,” Lim said. “It’s that serious.”
She said the pandemic was bad enough, yet even then, “We were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”
And then Lim said, “Here comes the construction.”
Golden Star’s main entrance off West Commerce was cut off by major street construction as part of the 2017 bond. To enter its parking lot, customers have to come in through South Frio or West Houston.
Almost a year into the construction,” Lim said, “They’re still calling here, asking us if we’re still open.”
Paul Berry, San Antonio Public Works spokesman, said the project, which began last January, is on schedule but won’t be completed until November 2024.
The project located in the Zona Cultural District includes street reconstruction, sidewalks, landscaping and street amenities.
However, Berry said underground utility work is currently underway, which takes the longest.
Berry said Commerce between Pecos and Frio will be open to traffic in March next year.
However, he said, “We are working hard to try to get one of the traffic lanes open by December.”
Lim said due to a technicality in the application process, Golden Star does not qualify for city funding to aid small businesses in similar predicaments. But Lim said she’s still looking for other possible funding.
Teri Castillo, District 5 city council member, said restaurants like Golden Star Café are “part of the city’s cultural fabric and economy.”
She said ever since the pandemic, the city continues to offer programs to help support small businesses that continue to struggle, including $31 million in American Rescue Plan funds.
In response to the issues raised by infrastructure improvements, the city has a construction mitigation pilot program for small businesses impacted by city-initiated construction projects.
Castillo said the economic development department would begin issuing $17 million in COVID-19 impact grants to businesses.