#478 - Lowells Seafood and Spirits, Burlingame, CA - 3/11/2006

#477 - Cassidy's, San Francisco - 3/10/2006

An Irish-themed dive, but too little Irish and too little divey to make the great dive bar list. However, about 30 seconds after I sat down, a patron threw his empty pint glass at the bartender, who was on the phone, yelled something about a "want a fucking beer," and stormed out, melodramatically flinging a bunch of change at the wall as he stomped on out the front door. So a plus for entertainment.

#476 - Club Hide (The Foundery) - 3/10/2006

Unlike Obscure Curio, this was a real goth night with real goth people. Unfortunately, it was only about ten people, on all three floors.

#475 - The Stud, San Francisco - 3/10/2006

The ads for "The Obscure Curio" made it look like a monthly goth event at a normally gay venue. As it turned out, it was just a DJ playing goth music at a gay club. ("Not that there's anything wrong with that.")

But since gays don't like goth, it was also super boring. There were six people there, and they were wearing blue jeans. When you can't even get gays to dress in theme, you're in a bad way.

#474 - The Tonga Room - 3/10/2006

Excellent. I would rate the Tonga Room a very close second to the Mai Kai, and I can't understand why more isn't made of it by west coast tiki folk. Not only is the general decor close the Mai Kai, but the rain storms every half hour and the band -- though it's neither an exotica band nor a very good band -- coming out on a boat in the middle of the pool -- this is top rank tiki escapism.

#473 - The Bus Stop, San Francisco - 3/9/2006

An old bar -- Since 1900, the signs say -- and in the evenings crammed with attractive women. Unfortunately, it's also crammed with everything you hate in a bar.

#472 - Bayside Sports Bar & Grill, San Francisco - 3/9/2006

1787 Union St., San Francisco, CA 94123 - (415) 673-1565