Cafe Culture Crushed: Sanlitun Venues Lose Extensions on Several Longstanding Strips

One of the longest standing strips of restaurants in the Sanlitun area fell under the chai today as multiple venues in the north part of the neighborhood were knocked down.

Businesses mixed up in the debris include Serve the People, Athena (pictured in the lead image above), and Peter Pan restaurants, all of whom have spent the better part of two decades feeding diners in the embassy-heavy neighborhood.

The teardown removed all the venues on Sanlitun Xiwujie and also reached northward onto the strip in front of Jenny Lou’s supermarket and April Gourmet on Sanlitun Beixiaojie. 

According to a construction worker we interviewed on-site, the work is scheduled to continue until Aug 15. 

Despite the appearance of complete destruction, many of the businesses on the strip are in fact still in business, including Jenny Lou's, April Gourmet, Serve the People, Da Giuliano, In and Out and Athena, the latter of which is displaying a sign in its window to that effect. However, most of the shops that filled their front windows – juice shops, tailors and coffee kiosks – were stripped away by the demolition.

The same construction worker confirmed that the demolition works were targetting illegal extensions which had been added to the front of the properties’ origin footprints. This practice of tacking on un-regulated extensions was tolerated during Beijing’s boom times, but has recently become the target of city planners who are increasingly sticking to the letter of the law, and demolishing buildings that do not comply with the buildings' original plans. 

It remains to be seen exactly which of the affected businesses will resume operation after the demolition is complete. 

Read more about Beijing's rampant redevelopment here.

Additional reporting by Michael Wester

Images: Huang Chenkuang