Shuttered North Beach restaurant plasters polarizing messages in its windows

A San Francisco restaurant is the talk of North Beach, but not because of its cuisine.

Provocative messages have been taped inside the windows and they are upsetting nearby business owners and residents.

The messages went up mid-week.

Even though the Italian eatery has closed for good, it’s still serving up quite the controversy.

Hand-scrawled messages plastered inside the windows of Trattoria Pinocchio on Columbus Avenue in North Beach and have been upsetting many business owners.

“They were appalled and thought it was very bad and very negative for their businesses,” said Daniel Macchiarini, President of the North Beach Business Association.

Macchiarini, a business owner, says calls of concern started coming in a couple of days ago.

The restaurant messages are written in a mix of Italian and English. They are political, provocative and polarizing.

“Some of the things he’s saying, Clinton, Obama, b***jobs, god I can’t believe this stuff,” said Marilyn Kitagawa, who works at nearby North Beach Restaurant.

One message questions the gender of former first lady Michelle Obama, another suggests a race war is coming, while another calls San Francisco a cesspool. And that’s just a sample.

“It doesn't represent this neighborhood nor the commercial district, North Beach commercial d... (Read more)

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