Another historic first: In-N-Out closes a restaurant in Oakland on truly scary crime concerns
In crime-plagued Oakland, the city achieved a "historic first" that they'd probably rather not advertise:
According to the San Francisco Standard:
In-N-Out Burger announced Sunday that it plans to close its Oakland location within the next two months due to what it described as "ongoing issues with crime."
Fine and undandy.
In California, especially Southern California, but also in the north, In-N-Out Burgers is an institution.
Older than McDonald's, it's popular because of its non-processed food with no chemicals to give you a headache, and for its simple menu with the best prices on the fast food scene of California. People love the place, it's iconic, they hop off from airplanes at LAX and other airports and make a beeline to the In-N-Out nearby. They buy branded merchandise with its cute little palm tree designs from the place. Movie stars go there and yes, it is to be seen.
I just went to In-N-Out this weekend in San Diego where I carefully timed my visit to make sure I got in ahead of the crowd at the drive-thru because the car lines can be very long, though the restaurant is pretty good at making it move quickly anyway. A young man in a traditional 1950s white military-style hat greeted me and took my order from the window, well before I got to the order intercom or the pay window. My order was all done and ready to go by the time I got to the pickup window.
Still, it's competitive from even the road to get into the line and frequently, the car line snakes out into the road, so I know the visit needs to be timed and planned. Once through, though it's delicious!
The details of that closure, from the company are ugly enough:
In a statement confirmed by an ABC7 reporter and obtained Sunday by The Standard, In-N-Out Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick spoke plainly about the company's "repeated steps to create safer conditions," saying "our customers and Associates are regularly victimized by car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robberies."
The company said the store's last day of business would be Sunday, March 24.
In-N-Out thanked the community for its 18 years of support before acknowledging the impact the sudden closure would have on workers and their families, stating that "this location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and well- being of our Customers and Associates—we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment."
It's pretty bad if you have to close a profitable restaurant because the crime hitting your customers and staff outweighs even the profit. As with LAX, this In-N-Out is located on the highway to Oakland's airport which makes it a convenient place to eat in the era of no-meal airline flights.
Almost no residents nearby. Car dealers, gas stations, and office buildings. Across the freeway is the Oakland. Coliseum, abandoned by its basketball, football, and (rumored soon) baseball tenants.
It gets even worse when you read the San Francisco Chronicle's account of what was going on there:
The In-N-Out, a convenient pit stop for travelers headed to Oakland International Airport and a buzzy hangout after A’s games at the Coliseum, has become the epicenter for crime in a city grappling with a surge in violence and theft. Since 2019, police have logged 1,335 incidents in the vicinity of the diner on 8300 Oakport St. — more than any other location in Oakland.
...and...
That number includes nine robberies, two commercial burglaries, four domestic violence incidents and 1,174 car break-ins, according to Oakland police data. Chaotic scenes unfold daily. Sean Crawford, who works in a building around the corner from the diner, said he’s watched robbery crews bust doors of work vans and heard In-N-Out customers loudly confronting burglars.
In one instance last year, Crawford and some co-workers were driving by the diner when they saw a car pull up to the drive-thru line. Two people jumped out and methodically went from vehicle to vehicle, robbing people at gunpoint, Crawford said.
This is the kind of horror that happens in Latin America, in the bad parts of Venezuela, or Colombia, or maybe Brazil during its worst years. You can't build a society with trust with that kind of unpunished crime going on, and obviously, it's been going on a long time for it to get to that level.
In-N-Out is apparently no stranger to these security concerns, either, what with its long car lines. Here is the one I went to -- and I had no idea there had been problems until I saw this CBS8 report from a few years ago:
What a nightmare.
San Diego's is still there but Oakland has another 'historic first' -- the first blue city to send In-N-Out fleeing for refuge based on the conditions of the city -- even though they were making money.
I hope the leftists running that city are proud of themselves.
Image: Screen shot from CBS8 video, via YouTube