Kate and Cristobal Leal dressed as Bob’s Donuts and tossed Bob’s apple fritter holes to the crowd at the Bay to Breakers in 2014, and when that bonding experience inevitably led to marriage they served Bob’s Donuts at their wedding reception. So the least they could do Sunday was drive down to San Francisco from their home in Novato to say farewell to the original Bob’s before it closed for good at 9 p.m. after 64 years on Polk Street at Sacramento Street.
“We wanted to come say goodbye, it’s kind of sad,” said Kate, who brought their son Calvin Leal, 2, for an introduction. “Bob’s holds special memories for us.”
That was true of most of the customers Sunday because Bob’s has already opened a clean new location just a block away, with a much wider entryway, two rows of table seating and double display window for modern delicacies including croissants and Cuban papelitos. It has clean public restrooms and a Christmas display. The only reasons to still visit the grimy old Bob’s, with its four tiny tables and five unbroken stools along a Formica counter, is history and nostalgia — which, it turns out, are powerful motivators in the doughnut world…