Mark Murphy, one of my operatives always on the ground, constantly reporting on the Tenderloin Beat, tells me that Milkbean — a sandwich and coffee joint which opened recently in the space in the Sam Spade Building once occupied by the What a Grind coffee and sandwich joint — just did a major nod to plying their trade in 891 Post by naming a roster of their Crafted Subs after characters familiar to fans of The Maltese Falcon.
A regular patron of What a Grind — more commonly referred to by the in-crowd as Sam’s Place, since it was run by a guy named Sam — Mark understands things move on, and feels “the new proprietors deserve at least a little credit for giving homage to the fact of the building’s connection to Hammett, and to his most famous novel specifically.”
Most customers clicking in to Yelp might never realize the significance of ordering a Sam Spade Sub, or a Ruth Wonderly or Iva or Effie or Dundy, but in those names lurk the Hammett legacy.
