Recently we learned that the Albatross - one of Berkeley's oldest and most storied pubs - is being evicted from our neighborhood.

According to Berkeleyside, "The storied pub, also known as “The Bird,” announced over the weekend that it would be closing by Nov. 30 because it couldn’t weather the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. While restaurants and bars that sell food have been able to reopen at limited capacities, liquor venues and clubs are of the last frontier for re-openings locally."

The most galling aspect, however, is that the landlord could simply allow for the original COVID agreement to continue, and therefore give the Albatross to make it for several more months while its ownership applies for small business grants and continue its crowd-funding campaign. The Albatross could then gradually repay the back rent when it reopened. 

According to the Albatross owner, "We had an agreement with our landlord to pay 50% rent during Covid until we were allowed to reopen. A couple months ago he said he could no longer accept 50% rent, and would need 100% rent moving forward. While we were paying half rent, we were able to budget to keep things hanging on into next year, however, paying full rent obviously cuts this in half, giving us not much time until we would need to close permanently."

The Albatross is not just a neighborhood pub. It is a mainstay of our beloved community, and has been for six decades! It has brought friends and families together and helped build new ones. It has sustained our formerly blue-collar and still diverse (albeit rapidly gentrifying) West Berkeley neighborhood. It is bad luck to shoot down an albatross. On this Thanksgiving, we are starting this petition to appeal to the landlord's hopeful appreciation for what this local pillar of our community and of the entire Bay Area has meant to the tens of thousands of customers who have frequented it.

Please sign and share widely. We need as many signatures as possible before December 1, 2020 to try to effect an extension of negotiations by one month. 

In gratitude for your generosity,

A West Berkeley neighbor