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Bars where Pete has had a Drink (5,974 bars; 1,754 bars in Seattle) - Click titles below for Lists:


Bars where Pete has had a drink

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

#2087 - Fizzee's, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

I would like to tell you all the interesting things the owner Yung told me about this bar. But I lost my notes, my memory's generally terrible, and this was far too late into my bar crawl to recollect much in any case. But the pictures remind me that they do have a car on the wall and a pretty bartender whose dishwashing gloves match her dress. You don't see that combination every day.



3954 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118 -- (415) 221-7300
Reviews: yelp

#2086 - Abbey Tavern, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

The Abbey Tavern seems to bounce between Irish pub (with Celtic music and poetry readings), sports bar, college bar, and nightclub. I suppose it is just an Irish-themed neighborhood joint, trying awkwardly to embrace whatever seems like it will pull in 22-year-old guys

It is not particularly old nor particularly new. It is not a classic Irish pub, nor one of the soul-less knockoffs just hanging the same old Guiness posters. It is not a classic sports bar, nor a bad choice to catch a game. I didn't love it, nor did I hate it.
Wall decoration, Abbey Tavern, San Francisco
Animated conversation in Abbey Tavern, San Francisco

4100 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118 - (415) 221-7767
Est. 1997
Web site: abbeytavern-sf.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp

#2085 - Would You Believe?, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

Not particularly interesting for me.

4652 Geary Blvd San Francisco, CA 94118 - (415) 752-7444
Web site: facebook
Reviews: yelp

Sunday, October 27, 2013

#2084 - The Hearth, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

The Hearth has basically everything you want in a classic dive bar. It is dark; it has a mix of people including several older, local regulars; it has an oddball collection of decorations that have accrued with no particular theme; and it is old.  I'm not sure how old it is, but the previous owner Sid owned it for 40 years before selling it in 2007, and there is a photo that appears to show it several years before that (1959).  One thing it doesn't appear to have is a hearth -- at least the kind with real stone and real fire -- although a faux version flickers in a corner festooned with trophies and red curtains. Apparently there are sometimes open mike comedy performances there, but when I arrived there were just a few other people and friendly bartender Texie.

Ray Rex bought the place from Sid, added some German touches, and had his copyrighted description painted on the outside: "No Whiners, No Website, Just Booze"©  That works for me.






4701 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118 - (415) 751-0200
Reviews: sfgateyelp - sfbarkast

#2083 - McKenzie's Bar, San Francisco - 3/1/2013



5320 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121 - (415) 379-6814
Web site: facebook
Reviews: everybarinsf - yelp

#2082 - The Nags Head, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

The Nags Head appears to be basically a dive for beginner drinkers, with candy flavored drinks named for desserts, candies, and various sexual acts ("Bubble Gum," "Chocolate Cake," "Blow Job").


5346 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121 - (415) 387-9510                  
Reviews: brokeassstuart - yelp

Saturday, October 26, 2013

#2081 - Tommy's Mexican, San Francisco -3/1/2013

Well, as of this night, and my chat with Julio, I no longer order salt on my margaritas. Tommy's was opened in 1965 by Tommy Bermejo, serving Mexican and Yutatecan food in the Richmond district. But it was Tommy's son Julio, who now runs the place and tends bar, who made it an international destination and a mecca for tequila and margarita lovers.

I started with the famous Tommy's Margarita. The small bar and restaurant were packed while I was there, but Julio still made the time to give me a tequila class, setting out various samples of the largest collection of 100% agave tequilas outside of Mexico. We talked tequila, and bars, and bartenders and when I left he gave me a Tommy's shot glass. It was a very fine night out at the bar.


5929 Geary Blvd San Francisco, CA 94121 - (415) 387-4747
Est. 1965
Web site: tommysmexican.comfacebook
Reviews: sfgate - sfweekly - foodrepublic - esquire - grubstreet - yelp - partyearth

#2080 - Trad'r Sam, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

Opened by Sam Baden in 1937, Trad'r Sam is the oldest tiki bar in the world. The old "bamboo bar" pre-dates the Don The Beachcombers and Trader Vic's, which started the tiki trend. It remains as a comfortable neighborhood dive, retaining the tiki decor and serving tropical drinks and scorpion bowls to a mostly younger crowd. The sign outside no longer lights up, which was partly disappointing, and but also satisfyingly apropos for such a genuine, old dive.

6150 Geary Blvd San Francisco, CA 94121 - (415) 221-0773
Est. 1937
Reviews: critiki - sfexaminertikicentral - sfweekly - yelp - foggedinlounge

#2079 - Jamber Wine Pub, San Francisco - 3/1/2013

A nice, woody, casual spot on Folsom that serves updated comfort food, craft beers and several wines on tap (no bottles).























858 Folsom St San Francisco, CA 94107 - (415) 273-9192
Est. year - Sep 28, 2012
Web site: jambersf.com - facebook
Reviews: grubstreet - grubstreet - eater - yelp

Saturday, October 05, 2013

#2078 - Pied Piper, San Francisco - 2/28/2013

Parrish's "Pied Piper of Hamelin," shortly before 2013 restoration
The Pied Piper was established in 1909 in the reconstructed Palace Hotel (after the great quake). The original Palace Hotel, built in 1875, hosted presidents Grant, Harrison, McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt. The new hotel has hosted presidents Taft, Harding, FDR, and Clinton -- with Warren Harding passing away there. It's also hosted Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt, who arrived with her pet baby tiger.

For the opening of the Pied Piper Bar in the newly constructed Palace, Maxfield Parrish was commissioned to create a 16 foot long by 6 foot tall painting, which has resided behind the bar with limited interruptions every since. One of those interruptions came shortly after my visit, as the hotel concluded that it did not make sense to keep an artwork worth millions of dollars sitting behind a bar. But a public outcry ensued, thousands of signatures were gathered protesting the move, and the owners subsequently changed their minds and returned the painting after some restoration work.

A bar tender in the old version of the hotel wrote one of the definitive books on cocktails in 1891, William T. Boothby's "Cocktail Boothby's American Bartender: The Only Practical Treatise on the Art of Mixology Published."  (Yes, the term "mixology" dates back to the 19th century.) The current bar maintains a focus on the classics, and provides one of the more elegant settings in the city to sip a drink.


2 New Montgomery St San Francisco, CA 94105 - (415) 512-1111
Est. December 19, 1909 - Building constructed: 1909 (previous building 1875)
Previous bars in this location:
Web site: sfpalace.com
Reviews: sfgate - examiner - wikipedia - sfheritage - blackbook - yelp

#2077 - Zero Zero, San Francisco - 2/28/2013

Upscale ‘Calipolitan’ pizzas, various small plates, and some nice, barrel-aged cocktails.

826 Folsom St San Francisco, CA 94107 - (415) 348-8800
Est. July 7, 2010
Web site: www.zerozerosf.com - facebook
Reviews: sfgatechow - yelp - tripadvisor

Saturday, September 28, 2013

#2076 - ThirstyBear Brewing Co, San Francisco - 2/28/2013

Just a couple blocks from the Moscone Center, the decor and vibe of ThirstyBear Brewing is fairly typical of a contemporary craft brew pub, with warm woods and exposed brick. However, in addition to their nine beers (including two rotating seasonals), they feature a cocktail program (I didn't try them) and Spanish tapas. It's a nice stop for a good beer.

661 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94105 - (415) 974-0905
Est. Sep 1996
Web site: thirstybear.com - facebook - vimeo
Reviews: bythepint - sfexaminergayot - beerbybart - beeradvocate  - cityseeker - urbanspoon - yelp - sfgate

#2075 - Union Square Sports Bar, San Francisco - 2/23/2013


115 Mason St San Francisco, CA 94102 - (415) 345-8484
Est. April 1, 2009 (Feb 1, 1998 on O'Farrell St. location) - Building constructed: 1907
Previous bars in this location: Bradley's Bar
Web site: unionsquaresportsbar.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

#2074 - 21 Club, San Francisco - 2/27/2013

Update: Club 21 closed in 2015


In the center of the 21 Club -- some say at ground zero of the Tenderloin -- stands Frank. On the wall to the left, there is a very complimentary Central City Extra article about Frank, and when he catches you looking at it, he is quick to point out that he did not put that up there. The article talks about how Frank has not only owned and run the quintessential dive bar for 40 years, but how his place has served as a sort of unofficial community center for the neighborhood. Later in the evening I'll see something like this first hand, as an elderly woman named Donna engages Frank in a somber conversation behind the bar, and he eventually moves to the cash register, and returns stashing two bills into her hands. "You game me some breathing room," Donna says to him, as she makes her way to the door.

When I came back a few days later, April is working the bar. She tells me that the article got several things wrong -- that Frank's been here 30 years, not 40.  Another article I find says that it was once a transgender bar named Rossi's. April tells me she drank at 21 Club for eight years before she worked as bartender. She and multiple others tell me how much rougher it is now with other neighborhood joints closed, and this corner of Turk and Taylor so dominated by drug dealers that even the street people are scared to come in. There have been shootings and murders just outside the front door.

Three blocks up the street, where there is now just a parking lot, from 1950 until 1963 the Blackhawk Nightclub stayed open late hosting the likes of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillispie, and Dave Brubeck. Count Basie squeezed 16 players onto the small stage on night. Later in the 60s, a few steps north on Hyde, Wally Heider Studios churned out recordings by Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Credence Clearwater Revival, Van Morrison, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. At that time Turk Street was lit up by the blinking blade signs of the nightclubs and sex shops.

I'm staying at boutique hotel just a block away. A block the other direction there is a touristy BART stop and a Nordstrom across the street. But there's not much left on this block of Turk except for the drug dealers and a well-fortified convenience store. Yet the 21 Club remains a great little bar -- "the diviest bar in the Tenderloin," Esquire called it, while naming it one of the top 100 bars in the country. The cast of characters, inside the bar and outside it's large windows, make it a can't miss bar stop. But it is Frank who really makes the place, the regulars tell you -- and enough hipsters stray in from the shows at the Warfield to fill Yelp with reviews echoing that sentiment. "Frank is the soul of the Tenderloin," says a local theater owner in the article on the wall. "And the 21 Club is a window on the world."


98 Turk St, San Francisco, CA 94102 - (415) 771-9655
Est. 1971
Previous bars in this location: Rossi's
Web site: facebook
Reviews: central city extra - soapboxdespot - hoodline - yelp - sfbarexperiment - KALWfoundsf

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

#2073 - Comstock Saloon, San Francisco - 2/26/2013

Comstock is a rare, felicitous combination of a great, old, historical bar site with a top notch craft cocktail menu. The building was constructed on the Barbary Coast just after the great quake, and the Andromeda Saloon opened there in 1907. The original owners are said to have been local boxing promoters, who once employed Jack Dempsey at the door, and welcomed Jack Johnson as a customer. The current bar features various vintage boxing photos in homage to this history. The antique, belt-driven ceiling fans, looking like there were lifted from some Jules Verne contraption, date back to 1916. The original 20-foot mahogany back bar is still there, and now topped by a statue of Emperor Norton. Also remaining, though one hopes no longer used, is the tile urinal running along the base of the bar.

The latrine bar appears to have been a mid-19th innovation devised largely to combat competing taverns from stealing their customers away with free drink tokens during an outhouse break. "According to historian Brian Rea, a barkeeper in San Francisco was livid ab out losing a constant trickle of patrons to a competitor, lured away from his bar by boys giving out tavern tokens by the outhouse. The owner devised a trough that ran the length of the bar so that drinks need never leave the saloon for a pee." (America Walks Into A Bar - Christine Sismondo)

The Andromeda Saloon survived through prohibition as the Andromeda Cafe (still dispensing alcohol, but only for "medical" purposes) but eventually was remodeled in 1977 and renamed the Albatross Saloon. The Albatross was purchased in 1985 and renamed the San Francisco Brewing Company. "Allan G. Paul, while living on Telegraph Hill, developed an obsession with Barbary Coast history and unique, micro-brewed beer. Paul bought the Albatross Saloon in 1985 and renamed it the San Francisco Brewing Company. It still housed all the historical pieces from its early days, but had his addition of antique-style micro-brewing, which brought beer in brass pipes straight from the basement, where it fermented and self-carbonated, into a pint glass." (Wikipedia) The San Francisco Brewing Company closed in Nov 2009, and the space was purchased by the current owners, from Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, who named it in honor of the Nevada silver discovery that boosted San Francisco's fortunes in the second half of the 19th century.

The lighting in the current day Comstock is a romantic glow, and the cocktail emphasis is on classics very well made. Food options are largely upscale versions of dishes that sound like they may have been on the menu in the old Barbary Coast days. It's one of the oldest bar spaces in the city and one of the most pleasant.


155 Columbus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133 - 415-617-0071
Est. May 20, 2010 - Building constructed: 1907
Previous bars in this location: Andromeda Saloon (1907-?), Albatross Saloon (1977-1985), San Francisco Brewing Co. (1985-2009)
Web site: comstocksaloon.com - facebook
Best articles: link - tablehopper - the-joy-of-drinking - semaphore - sfweekly - sfgate - asterisk - esquire - yelp - metrowize

Saturday, September 21, 2013

#2072 - Old Ship Saloon, San Francisco - 2/26/2013

The Old Ship Saloon is not a particularly interesting bar as it stands today, but it has one of the more remarkable histories of American bars. It's origins can be traced back to 1849, when the three masted whaling ship the Arkansas ran aground on Bird Island (now Alcatraz). The ship was towed to Yerba Buena Cove and set on a beach with several other ships abandoned in the gold rush. The area became increasingly landfilled, with the ship below what would eventually become the corner of Pacific and Battery -- one of any number of Barbary coast ships now buried under the San Francisco streets.

By 1850 locals had come to refer to it as "the old ship," and in either 1850 or 1851 Joe Anthony cut a door in the hull and opened the "Old Ship Ale House." A sign on the gangplank down to the Pacific Street Pier is said to have read, “Gud, Bad, and Indif’rent Spirits Sold Here!  At 25 cents each.” (1)  A rooming house for sailers as built on the deck in 1855 (by that time landfill had filled in the surroundings), and in 1859 this was torn down and replaced by a brick hotel, with a bar that continued under the name of The Old Ship Saloon. The hotel was destroyed in the great earthquake in 1906, and the current building was constructed in the space in 1907.

During the 40s it was notorious for the brothel upstairs, largely serving WWII servicemen. It is unclear exactly what names the bar has operated under for all of this time, but it was named "Bricks" for much of the 20th century and re-named the "Old Ship Saloon" in 1999 by Bill Duffy, who purchased the place in 1992.

Despite being able to trace its history to 1851 in some sense, given that it neither consistently retained the name nor is located in the same physical structure, I do not count it as quite the oldest bar in San Francisco (see my entry on The Saloon for a discussion). But it is nice to see that recent owners have restored the old name and revived the history with various old photos and artifacts on the exposed brick walls. The saloon now serves pretty typical cafe/pub food and drinks to a white collar working crowd.

298 Pacific Ave San Francisco, CA 94111 - (415) 788-2222
Est. 1851 - Building constructed: 1907
Previous bars in this location:  Bricks
Web site: oldshipsaloon.com
Reviews: examiner - sfgate - Attitude Adjustment Hour video - insidebayarea - thrillist - yelp - sfexaminer - atlastobscura

#2071 - Bamboo Hut, San Francisco - 2/26/2013

Along with the fine craft cocktails of Smugger's Cove, and the old school showiness of the Tonga Room, the Bamboo Hut, along with Trad'r Sam, complements the tiki options of San Francisco with the essential neighborhood dive style tiki bar. The drinks are okay, which is to say, substantially better than your average divey tiki bar, it is happily dark, and the menu and decor are fully invested in the theme. The dominant feature is a large tiki head that is said to have been from Sacramento's Coral Reef Restaurant and date back to the late 40s. Some might consider it a bit too nightclubby and a bit too young to be merit the description of "dive," but the various characters from the sketchy neighborhood clinch the matter for me. It's a fun place.


479 Broadway San Francisco, CA 94133 - (415) 989-8555
Est. 1999
Web site: maximumproductions.com - facebook
Reviews: critiki - yelp - The Swank Bastards video - sanfrancisco.com