Beloved SF shoe shiner survived pandemic, remains committed to downtown

Shoe shiner Christopher “Olajuwon” Mitchell has been a fixture in downtown San Francisco for much of the last 40 years, often bedecked in San Francisco 49ers gear and Hawaiian bead necklaces.

“Shine ’em up! Get ’em shined,” Mitchell called recently to the passing commuters and tourists, the lifeblood of his one-man business, as he sat juggling brushes in a chair atop a portable stand outside the Embarcadero BART and MUNI station.

Times have been tough for Mitchell, with the COVID-19 lockdown, depressed tourism and the low number of workers returning to downtown offices hurting his business.

For more than three years, Mitchell was not plying his trade on the streets at all. Instead, he said, he was sustained largely by donations from some of his long-term customers who approached him when they saw him out feeding homeless people even though he himself was out of work.

It’s been a year since Mitchell reopened for business, and times are still lean — particularly on Mondays and Fridays, when large numbers of people who regularly used to come downtown work remotely instead. On slow days, Mitchell said, he might get only one or two shines in 10 hours.

But Mitchell said tourism is getting stronger , with cruise ships delivering welcome waves of visitors, and he looks forward to the convention business improving.

Wednesdays are almost back to pre-pandemic levels, and it’s enough to keep Mitchell smiling in the broad way that has won him many dedicated fans.

“I work a little extra harder, and somehow things work out. I can’t explain it, but it’s beautiful,” Mitchell said from under his umbrella, with incense and music from a boombox wafting around him. “Plus, I love people. That’s the key: You have to love people.”

Mitchell’s clients, including bankers, lawyers, builders and politicians who have known him for decades, return that affection and are eager to sing his praises.

Allison Davis, who recently retired from her job as an antitrust attorney, still goes downtown to see Mitchell, whom she has known for more than 20 years.

The two share ties to Louisiana, where Mitchell grew up, and Davis has a house. When Davis recently returned from a visit there, she brought cooking spices as a gift for Mitchell.

“I always enjoy seeing him,” Davis said. “It brightens my day.”

Another supporter is Dennis Herrera, the former city attorney and current general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

“Olajuwon is an absolute gem and has been a stalwart of the downtown scene for decades,” Herrera said. “Unfortunately, the pandemic and its aftermath have devastated his industry, but I am so impressed that he has stuck it out and continues to do great work — and always with a smile!”

Mitchell keeps big binders filled with sheets of paper that show his customers’ balances for their shoeshine package purchases.

Patrick Suciu, a senior vice president and private-client advisor at Bank of America Private Bank, said he has known Mitchell for 18 years. He admires that when Mitchell reopened for business, he honored the multi-shine packages he sold customers before the lockdown, something not done by all businesses.

Suciu said Mitchell likes to talk about cooking, and he recalled one tale about a dish with shrimp, tequila and lime.

“He can describe cooking something or barbecuing something, and he makes it sound so good,” Suciu said.

On one occasion, Suciu said, he took Mitchell to have lunch at the nearby Tadich Grill .

“He had a good time with that,” Suciu said. “He does enjoy his food.”

Just before the pandemic lockdown, several customers gave Mitchell money and warned that hard times were coming. One man who had recently been in China, where the pandemic started, handed him $1,500.

“He say, ‘you’re gonna need this because you’re not gonna be shining shoes for a while,’” Mitchell said.

When city officials told Mitchell to shut down, it drove home what he had long believed: that he, like many people, could be forced into homelessness with a few hard knocks. Matters got worse when his stand got hauled away.

Mitchell said he went to pray at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in lower Pacific Heights, not far from his apartment. There, he was inspired to focus his energies on feeding homeless people.

“I’m a Southern cook,” he said. “I’m not professional, but I’m saying, give me some fire and some wood, I can cook anything you got: steaks, ribs and the whole cow, whatever you need.”

Wali Jelani, a doorman at the nearby Hyatt hotel who said he has known Mitchell for three decades, said Mitchell is “an excellent cook” who sometimes brings dishes for him to taste. A recent meal featured okra, shrimp and rice seasoned with Mitchell’s own elaborate spice mix.

“He’s very classy,” Jelani said. “I like him very much.”

Reze Wong, an operating partner at prominent venture investment firm Khosla Ventures, said he was moved to see Mitchell — at a time when he did not have his shoeshine stand operating — on Market Street near the Embarcadero with a pot of homemade gumbo or fish stew, handing out meals to homeless people.

“It really is incredible,” said Wong, who met Mitchell 15 years ago and was immediately “hooked” by his charisma and his trademark lines like, “Fresh out of the box!”

“It’s hard not to root for a guy like that,” Wong said. “I wouldn’t think of going anywhere else.”

“You can tell he has such a big heart,” Wong said. “For a guy who’s seen a lot and been through a lot, he’s still optimistic. That can be tough to find.”

In addition to the cash support Mitchell received, one customer paid for the construction of a new carpeted shoeshine stand that rolls on wheels. Olajuwon credited Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin with connecting him to a nearby building operator who has provided space to safely store the stand.

“He is an ambassador,” said Peskin, whose district includes Mitchell’s spot and has also helped Mitchell address housing issues. “He tells tourists where to go and what to see. The City needs to show him love, and I have been trying to do that for years.”

A native of Iberia Parish, La., about 130 miles west of New Orleans, Mitchell said he played sports as a youth, including college football and a yearlong semiprofessional stint. He left college early after having a daughter and took a job as a courthouse security guard.

Mitchell said two of his brothers had brief professional football careers, and he remains an avid sports fan who regales customers with stories of meeting famous players, such as San Francisco 49ers great Ronnie Lott, and shining the shoes of 49ers CEO Jed York.

Mitchell left Louisiana for Honolulu, where a sister lived, and spent a decade working there as a medical assistant and a phlebotomist, he said. He moved to San Francisco to be near his daughter and her mother. He was working as a night security guard when he met a man on a bus who taught him to shine shoes and gave him the lasting nickname of “Olajuwon” because he said Mitchell looked like professional basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon .

Since then, Mitchell has worked inside for long stretches, but he said he currently wants to remain outside and independent — maybe one day with a shoeshine stand made to look like a cable car. One thing is certain, though — he expects to be in downtown San Francisco.

“This is the same location. Almost 40 years ago,” Mitchell said. “That’s my history.”