San Francisco is a collection of small villages nestled among each other, under the cool damp fog. Despite the many shifts over the past few decades, most of these little villages maintain their unique vibes and local cultures. Because of that, it’s easy to get stuck in your own neighborhood, which makes exploring other (relatively) far-flung regions of the city feel like a vacation in your own town.

If you’re like me, it means you’ve got favorite bars you rarely visit scattered around San Francisco. I’ve lived on the Mission/SoMa border for 11 years, so there are places I love around town that I don’t get to pop into enough. And in the Inner Richmond, that bar is 540 Rogues. Whenever I’m in the area, whether it’s grubbing on dim sum, book-shopping at Green Apple or ogling the tropical fish at 6th Avenue Aquarium, I always stop in for a tipple or triple.

“This is the original craft dive bar,” Clarke Dorsey tells me from behind the stick. It’s midafternoon on a Thursday, so he’s balancing serving the happy hour clientele and answering my questions about the history of the bar. Kevin Hansen, one of his business partners, is seated next to me, tag-teaming the answers. Both of them were born and raised in SF and were employees of the bar before the pandemic.

The spacious bar at 540 Rogues draws a devout crowd of regulars from the Richmond District and all over San Francisco.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

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“Ben Mansell, the old GM coined the term [craft dive bar],” Dorsey continues. “Before we closed down, I think we had two cocktail glasses, but we always made a really good cocktail. And now, we’ll make you one of the best versions of a classic cocktail but also give you a dive bar, shot-and-a-beer vibe.”

“Just don’t let it become a mixology bar!” one of the regulars hollers playfully from across the room.

“I will never allow that to happen,” Hansen earnestly replies. 

The boozy history of 540 Clement St.

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540 Rogues is a brand-new bar … kinda. 

The space at 540 Clement St. has had a lot of lives, almost all of them boozy. It was constructed in the early 1900s as the Bank of Italy and later listed as the Park-Presidio Office of the Pacific States Savings and Loan Company in November 1929. 

As documented by some longtime 540 Club regulars who contribute to the Western Neighborhoods Project — a nonprofit that “preserves and shares the history and culture of the neighborhoods in western San Francisco” — someone has been dispensing alcohol at 540 Clement St. since at least 1936, when William and Ella Greely were listed in the Polk’s Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory as serving beer there. While it’s a little hazy on whether it was a bar or a liquor store, we know for sure that it has been distributing good times for 87 years, assuming many different identities: Five-Forty Club (1942), Touchables 540 Club (1963), Touchables (1969), Hak’s Cocktail Lounge (1972) and Hak’s (1975). It became Max’s in 1980, but was also referred to as Max’s 540 in a 1989 Examiner profile that quoted bartender Karen Ziesmer as saying, “This is the only bar in town where the customer’s never right.” In the 1990s, it was called O’Rourke’s, and then in 2003, it became the 540 Club under the ownership of Jamie Brown.

From what was originally built as a bank, 540 Clement Street still retains many original historic details, upper right and lower left, as well as the signage for Max’s 540 Club, upper left. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)(Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)From what was originally built as a bank, 540 Clement Street still retains many original historic details, upper right and lower left, as well as the signage for Max’s 540 Club, upper left. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)(Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)

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From 2003 to 2020, it was a perfectly dingy, smelly dive bar with cracked floor tiles, local art, pool, cheap drinks, and what was rumored to be one of the city’s first internet jukeboxes. Then the world shut down, and so did the 540 Club. We all feared that it was the end of the Inner Richmond’s best dive bar. Then the now-owners of 540 Rogues stepped in.

“I was doing work from home, and I was miserable,” Dorsey explains. Before the pandemic, he was managing the bar while also working in tech. “The one thing that was missing was hospitality.”

One day, the landlord called Dorsey and asked if he was interested in opening the business, so he and Hansen went on a bike ride through the city to talk about it. “And then that became something a lot bigger than we ever expected,” he says.

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Two of 540 Rogues’ co-owners, Leejay Victor and Clarke Dorsey, hang with the crowd at their historic bar on Clement Street in San Francisco’s Richmond District on Saturday night, May 27, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Teaming up with Leejay Victor, who had also worked at the 540 Club, and Chris Squire, who had worked down the street, they bought a new liquor license, since the previous one had too many dings on it. And then in October 2021, they went to work opening 540 Rogues.

What makes 540 great 

My love affair with the bar started probably 15 years ago when it was the 540 Club. To put it succinctly, it was a great bar in which to get tore up. What it lacked in frills, it made up for in drunkenness. There were weekly specials like $1 well drinks on Mondays and $2 cocktails on Tuesdays. The mascot was a pink elephant, which was a nod to delirium tremens, the condition, not the beer. But most importantly, it was always filled with cool people. Most of them lived in the neighborhood, worked in the service industry or both. I felt at home the first time I walked in the door. According to Hansen, the demographics have shifted just slightly since the name change. 

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“Reopening after the whole COVID thing, we thought we’d see a lot of the same faces,” Hansen tells me. “A lot of people have moved away. A lot has changed. But new people have moved in, and maybe others have aged into our group, and they want to find a chill bar and not go clubbing. So, we picked up a lot of really cool neighborhood people that call this their local now.”

Inside 540 Rogues: Local “Chef” Pierre Benitomako, upper right, shows off his custom 540 Club tattoo (by Jason Story of Picture Machine), lower left, amid other bar regulars … canine and otherwise. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATEInside 540 Rogues: Local “Chef” Pierre Benitomako, upper right, shows off his custom 540 Club tattoo (by Jason Story of Picture Machine), lower left, amid other bar regulars … canine and otherwise. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

What makes the 540 a truly great bar, though, is that everyone is welcome and feels comfortable. It wouldn’t be strange to see someone tattooed knuckles to neck, who works as a door guy somewhere, sitting next to a tech millionaire while they chop it up and watch the Warriors game.

That said, opening a bar in 2021 wasn’t easy. The post-pandemic recovery has been extremely tough on nightlife. People just don’t seem to go out as much as they used to. But unlike downtown businesses that largely catered to commuters and tech companies, neighborhoods like the Inner Richmond are having a bit of a renaissance. The past few years have seen a boon of cool, creative, locally owned new shops open within just a handful of blocks on Clement. The Golden Hour is a vintage shop, Fleetwood acts as a gallery, boutique and screen-printing place, and The Drawing Room is an art gallery. Collectively they team up with other local spots that have been around for years, like Park Life, and do events like the Clement Street Holiday Stroll or the First Thursday Art Walk. Of course, 540 Rogues takes part in this too, hosting a “Drink and Draw” night where people can chase their old fashioneds with a wee bit of arts and crafts.

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Don’t mess with a good dive

What struck me most the first time I walked into 540 Rogues was that they’d managed to keep what made the 540 Club special while getting rid of what sucked. And by that, I mean the smell. Yes, I know a dive is a dive, and often old, terrible plumbing comes with the territory. But it certainly is glorious when it doesn’t.

“We didn’t want to ruin the vibe and the culture,” Dorsey explained. “But there were holes in the floor. And there were places where you walked and it would drop you down a couple of inches. And the plumbing was a disaster.”

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Bartender Jack Murphy pours his signature Manhattan at 540 Rogues in San Francisco’s Richmond District on May 29, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Since they got the keys during the pandemic, it allowed them to take the time to do things right. Instead of turning it into some fancy new place, they renovated the space and brought it back to its former glory, highlighting some of the original features, like the high ceiling, heavy bank doors and Aztec-themed floor tiles. But there was still some necessary gutting involved.

“At one point, we had demoed about a foot and a half down,” Dorsey details, “and the only thing left was the bar top, which was suspended by an engine hoist so we could pour concrete around it.”

They also incorporated various things from the bar’s previous lives and gave them a new purpose, like hanging an old Max’s sign inside or converting a church pew from the 540 Club into the wheelchair-accessible bar. And while they had to get rid of the pool table to make enough space to get to the bathroom, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, they brought in lots of cool old-school arcade games instead.

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(Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)(Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)(Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)(Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)

As happens with so many old buildings, the renovation led to some unique and bizarre surprises. Under a layer of carpet, then wood, then tile, then more wood, they found the 6-square-foot cement footing for where the bank vault had been. Then there was a humongous (“like 100-inch, 600-pound”) rear-projection TV embedded into the mezzanine wall that was hidden by a projector screen. Also hidden was the giant shadow box-esque space you now see above the front wall adorned with the Golden Gate Bridge. While sanding and painting, the 540 Rogues team came across glass that had been painted over. Behind it, the space was completely intact and ready to use again. All they had to do was put in new lightbulbs.

The rogues’ gallery

As I was finishing my conversation with the guys, I finally asked, “So, what’s behind the name 540 Rogues, and hey, is that Carmen Sandiego on your logo?”

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“That’s Carla San Leandro, sir! And she has no affiliation with Carmen Sandiego,” Dorsey responded with a mischievous smirk.

But the name of the bar came about because of the owners’ self-proclaimed nerdiness. It was partially inspired by the fact that Dorsey, Victor and Squire all play Dungeons & Dragons (there’s a class of characters called rogues). They also noted that “Rogue One” is the best “Star Wars” film, but the history of San Francisco played just as much of a role.

540 Rogues is at 540 Clement St. in San Francisco’s Richmond District and is open from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. on weekdays and from noon to midnight on weekends.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

“There’s a book called ‘The Magnificent Rogues of San Francisco,’” Dorsey explained, “that’s like short vignettes on the Barbary Coast era and the scoundrels, crooks and miscreants, the historical people like the Emperor Nortons of the city. So, it was kind of an homage to that.”

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Most importantly, though, the name came about because this band of misfits went rogue and bought themselves a bar. And the Inner Richmond and San Francisco are better because of it.

The post The 87-year historical past of San Francisco’s booziest dive bar deal with appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

San Francisco’s super-rich have pumped the brakes on buying ultra-luxury estates, many of which are dropping sharply in price to entice buyers. 

After an overheated pandemic peak, home sales and sales prices across all segments have dipped—but the city’s most expensive homes have taken an even steeper dive. 

“The market has clearly changed, and price points are being pushed down,” said Payton Stiewe with Artemis Real Estate. “That ultra high-end market is definitely on the quiet side, and prices in the $10 million-plus segment are taking a haircut.”

Houses on Walnut Street are pictured in San Francisco on Friday. The luxury and ultra-luxury housing market has recently seen pricing cuts and a major drop in transaction volume. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

A property at 3410 Jackson St. in Presidio Heights was put on the market in February at $23.5 million before eventually selling at $18.5 million in May. 

Less than a mile away in Cow Hollow, a property at 2660 Scott St. that was listed for sale in January at $16.5 million sold in July at $13 million.

In Sea Cliff, a property at 9 25th Ave. that first went on the market last September at a $32 million asking price saw a series of price drops before selling in April for $20 million. 

Hanne Vastveit, a broker with San Francisco firm Avenue8, pointed to the rise in interest rates and stock market uncertainty as factors in the drop off in luxury home sales and downward pressure on prices. 

In July, the median price per square foot for homes over $5 million in San Francisco was $1,468, a more than 20% decline from the number one year prior, based off three-month rolling data.

Sales for homes over $5 million in San Francisco are down 56% year to date in 2023 compared with a year prior. In the ultra-high-end segment of $10 million+ homes, sales are down 45% over the same period, according to data from the Multiple Listings Network, a database compiled by residential brokers. 

The sales price to list price ratio of luxury homes this year—a measure of how sales prices compare to where homes are listed—sits at 96%, compared with 104% in 2022. That 8% difference could mean $800,000 for a $10 million home. 

A ‘Consumer Confidence’ Problem

Brokers like Stiewe attributed some of the drop-off in San Francisco to larger concerns among local residents of urban problems like homelessness and public safety. 

“We have plenty of clients that have moved out of Pacific Heights and the Marina Boulevard area because of the feeling that they’ve just had enough,” Stiewe said. “The more established families are those that are a bit more sensitive to the changes in the city, but the younger, newer buyers coming in are not at the point financially to really buy these big mansions.”

Stiewie, who works in both Marin County and San Francisco, said North Bay luxury properties have had a tendency to hold their value more consistently even through some of the market doldrums. 

The home at 3410 Jackson St. was put on the market in February at $23.5 million before selling at $18.5 million in May.  | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

In the first seven months of the year, home sales over $5 million in San Francisco have failed to reach levels seen in 2019 or 2018. On the other hand, luxury home sales in Marin, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties have exceeded pre-pandemic numbers during the same period.  

“People who’ve been through many cycles in the city know it’s a boom-bust town,” said Arrian Binnings, a co-founder of Artemis Real Estate. “When it’s booming, it’s amazing. And when it busts? Well, it’s got an ugly side, too.”

Binnings said the higher up the property ladder, the more susceptible homes are to wild swings in value because of the relatively few buyers at that price point. But he made sure to note that some of the data and perception around the current downturn is skewed by the frenzied nature of the housing market during 2021 and the beginning of 2022.

“It’s like when you give a kid a toy and you take it back,” Binnings said. “The psychology from a lot of people is ‘Well, we’re going to get our toy back.’”

Danielle Lazier, a broker with Vivre Real Estate, said San Francisco’s negative perception issue has cut the number of interested buyers currently in the high-end market. 

“It still comes back to consumer confidence. Are you someone who’s familiar with the city and feels we’re more or less at the bottom? Then it might not be a bad time to buy a premium property,” Lazier said. “But if you’re more pessimistic, you’re thinking, ‘I’d rather keep my liquidity.’”

Lazier said she’s found high-net-worth families moving to San Francisco, drawn by the city’s strong labor market and tech industry, have taken to renting expensive properties instead of buying.  

“Very expensive rentals are in high demand right now, in the realm of $30,000 or $35,000 a month,” Lazier said.   

Interest Rate Woes 

Although affluent purchasers at this price point tend to deal mostly in cash, brokers say macroeconomic issues have also played a role in price drops.  

First Republic Bank, which was shut down by regulators and sold off to JPMorgan Chase in May after a bank run, made so-called jumbo mortgages a centerpiece of its business model. The company was well-known for offering lower-than-market rate mortgages as a sweetener to attract clients.  

“First Republic was our No. 1 go-to bank for high-end real estate financing and nobody has filled that gap,” Stiewe said. Although brokers say they’ve heard of piecemeal deals, and institutions like Redwood Credit Union are seeking to expand lending portfolios, no company has really embraced jumbo mortgages.

Mortgage lock-in, a phenomenon where existing homeowners have avoided purchasing new properties because of higher interest rates, has also slowed transactions. 

The home at 2660 Scott St. was listed for sale in January at $16.5 million and sold in July for $13 million. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

Instead, Stiewe said many homeowners in neighborhoods like Pacific Heights have taken the opportunity to undergo renovations and upgrades.  

Oftentimes, expensive properties are floated off-market for months to get a sense of buyer interest prior to a public listing. They can also come with protracted negotiations, said Alexander Fromm Lurie, a luxury real estate advisor with the Lurie Group

Although the bulk of ultra-luxury properties are located in Northern neighborhoods like Pacific Heights, Presidio Heights and the so-called Gold Coast, Fromm Lurie said Downtown’s challenges have impacted the high-end condo market in neighborhoods like SoMa and South Beach. 

“There are just fewer buyers there; there are fewer people who want to be living there and specifically spending tens of millions of dollars to do so,” Fromm Lurie said. 

The downturn in the Downtown condo market, however, has created some opportunities for some of Fromm Lurie’s ultra-wealthy clients. He said a handful have purchased lower-priced condos as investment properties with the idea of flipping them for a profit when interest rates fall and market conditions improve. 

More of the Same

Brokers report buyers are choosier than in the market’s pandemic peak, and the slower market means more leverage for buyers who are generally seeking turnkey or ready-to-move-in properties.

“Oftentimes, that’s still not enough,” Binnings said. “It has to be well presented, it has to be completely priced and it has to be in a desirable area. It’s very house-dependent.”

Buyers have more leverage to ask for contingencies on an offer.

“Contingencies leave the door open for renegotiation,” Binnings said. “So we’re in a market right now where sellers should not necessarily be counting on their agreed-upon contract price to actually stick until contingencies have been removed.”

A Porsche sits parked on Jackson Street in San Francisco on Friday. | Source: Jeremy Chen/The Standard

The summer months are typically a slow time for luxury home sales, but brokers said they aren’t holding their breath for a dramatic fall recovery. 

Most brokers say they expect to see more of the same until there’s a broader recovery of the city, along with an indication that the era of rate-tightening is coming to an end.  

“The last year has certainly been slower in terms of the ultra-luxury price point. That’s just objectively true,” Fromm Lurie said. “It’s more of a political conversation, but I think you’re going to see more interest come back into the city as San Francisco rights itself.”

The post San Francisco’s Marketplace for Mansions Has Taken a Dive appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A competition is underway for the best bathroom in the nation—and a local loo is in the running. 

Two “dazzling” potties at the beloved San Francisco queer dive El Rio have been nominated for the 2023 America’s Best Restroom Award along with “porcelain pioneers” from the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City to the Hell n’ Blazes Brewing Company in Melbourne, Florida. 

El Rio’s ADA-accessible, unisex “two-stall stunners” with vibrant yellow tile and black-and-white waves, evoke “a futuristic Tokyo-bound subway,” wrote Cintas, the Ohio-based restroom supplies company that’s sponsoring the contest. “They feature brightly colored and patterned tile and paint, backlit mirrors.”

El Rio bathroom | Source: Mikiko Kikuyama

The two johns were designed by Principal Maryam Rostami and Associate Kate Thorson of TEF Design. 

El Rio, a San Francisco Legacy Business, opened in 1978 as a Brazilian leather gay bar and continues to be a LGBTQ+ space that is welcoming “to all good people.” San Franciscans love it for its spacious back patio, musical acts, hard-to-beat drink specials and laid-back, creative vibe. 

The bar has legions of fans, but for most of its history, El Rio’s restrooms had been its Achilles’ heel. The cramped “universal toilet” and tiny “galactic urinal”—cheeky names for gender-neutral facilities long before they became widespread—routinely had long lines at parties like Daytime Realness or Hard French until they were renovated earlier this year. 

The America’s Best Restroom contest has been running for 21 years to honor “America’s Porcelain Pioneers.” 

“A growing number of companies are going the extra mile to create the most memorable restrooms imaginable,” explained the Cintas website. 

“Many people take public restrooms for granted,” added Julia Walsh, the company’s marketing manager. “This year’s list of finalists represents some facilities that people seek specifically for the restrooms.” 

The 10 finalists were released July 11, and the public has one month to vote for their favorite toilet. The winner receives $2,500 in products and services from Cintas—in addition, of course, to the honor of being voted best bathroom. 

In a city that’s sometimes criticized for being thin on public restrooms, some San Franciscans feel a deep allegiance to their favorite loos. With the news of Nordstrom’s departure from Downtown’s Westfield Centre, some mourned not only the loss of the department store but also one of the city’s most-beloved public restrooms. 

But the city still has some world-class public bathrooms hiding in plain sight. 

The Plaza Hotel’s grand bathrooms are open to anyone who happens to stroll through its historic halls, and museums like SFMOMA and the De Young also have excellent—and clean—WCs. And if you broaden yo ur search to restaurants, you’ll encounter some heart-stopping designs, like in this recent list of favorites put together by Eater SF. 

Will El Rio end up number one? We think there’s no contest—but we’d settle for number two. 

The Standard would love to know: What’s your favorite public restroom in San Francisco? Email your top contenders to jzigoris@sfstandard, and we’ll do a follow-up story with the results. 

The post San Francisco Dive Bar in Working for Greatest Rest room within the Nation appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

“You still get a lot of writers in here?” I asked the barman as I worked on my beer.

“Yes and no,” he said, “But I don’t really give a f—k anyways. I sold this place and I’m moving back to Kansas.”

That was back in 2010. The fact that the owner had just sold the place was disconcerting news. Too often, we’ve seen legendary local dives get bought and turned into something bougie or worse — something bougie that tries to channel the grittiness of the thing it replaced, like a doomed peep show-themed cocktail bar in the former Lusty Lady space.

But as anyone who’s ever been to the Tempest knows, that sure as hell didn’t happen. In fact, it may even be divier than it was back then. And I mean that as the highest form of compliment. Old bicycles dangle from the ceiling while local art and SF Giants memorabilia fight for wall space with hundreds of stickers. Pool players of every imaginable variety hover around the billiards table to the staccato rhythm of shot glasses landing back on the bartop. Neon beer signs illuminate the room with almost as much color as the graffiti in the bathroom. Yes it’s divey alright, and that all thanks to a group of fellas who go by Pour Guys.

Details of Tempest in San Francisco’s South of Market (SOMA) District as seen on May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Alessandra Goldsborough of San Francisco hands over a fresh Tempest Mezcal Margarita at the South of Market (SOMA) District bar on Sunday night, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Old friends Abby Tornquist of Seattle, left, and Cassie Simpson of Chaska, Minnesota catch up at Tempest while visiting San Francisco on Sunday night, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

An interior view Tempest, in San Francisco’s South of Market District, as seen on Sunday evening, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Inside the Tempest: Bartender Alessandra Goldsborough, upper right, serves up a fresh Tempest Mezcal Margarita; Old friends Abby Tornquist of Seattle and Cassie Simpson of Chaska, Minnesota, lower left, catch up at Tempest while visiting San Francisco. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)
Inside the Tempest: Bartender Alessandra Goldsborough, upper right, serves up a fresh Tempest Mezcal Margarita; Old friends Abby Tornquist of Seattle, left, and Cassie Simpson of Chaska, Minnesota, lower left, catch up at Tempest while visiting San Francisco. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)

“Yeah, we didn’t come in and rip everything apart and change it aesthetically,” Joey Christensen tells me as I sit in the office-slash-storage area in the basement of the Tempest. Instead of just bulldozing in with what they thought the Tempest should be, they asked themselves, “Does this fit the Tempest?”

“We wanted it to be gradual as well,” Tony Cooney, one of Christensen’s business partners, chimes in. “So, it wasn’t shocking, like, ‘Hey my home bar just changed. It’s going to suck and ruin everything.’” One weekend they might paint a wall. Another they might hang up some cool artwork they found.

Cooney, Christensen and their partner Justin Trujillo took over control of the Tempest on the night of Game 4 between the San Francisco Giants and the Phillies in the October 2010 National League Championship Series. If you were around San Francisco in October 2010, then you know how incredibly fortuitous it was to own a bar at that particular moment.

“It was really lucky,” Christensen smiles. “It kind of slingshotted us in. I think when we took over, we had just literally a couple hundred bucks left in the bank. Not even enough money to restock the shelves.”

That wouldn’t be a problem again. The Giants beat the Phillies in the playoffs, and then went on to defeat the Texas Rangers and win their first World Series since 1954. San Franciscans danced and partied in the streets, but nobody was as jubilant as the city’s bar owners. Multiple publicans I know paid off all their debt that year thanks to Los Gigantes, and while I doubt that was the case for Cooney, Christensen and Trujillo, it certainly put them in a far better place than most people when they first take over a bar. And then of course the Giants won a few more World Series rings, making things even better.

Glory days of the home Bay Area squads line the walls at Tempest in the SoMa District, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Within a few years, they teamed up with Stephen Crawford and Eric Mejia and officially became Pour Guys, ultimately purchasing three more bars together, Connecticut Yankee, Louie’s Bar, and the Showdown. And with each new bar the philosophy was the same: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Just make it smell a little better. (The Showdown is the only bar where they started from scratch — the spot was formerly a Thai restaurant, so it came with a much less divey set of smells.)

The Tempest is born

When I sit down to do these interviews with bar owners, I never really know what I’m gonna get. Other than the rumors, fables and urban legends that drunks pass around the barroom, usually the only information I have is my own personal stories with a place. So, it was an absolute stroke of luck that, while I was sitting there asking Cooney and Christensen about the history of the bar, media industry veteran Margo Brenes walked into the basement.  

“I was drinking at Hanno’s when I was 17 — when I started at the paper — and then celebrated my 21st birthday there,” Brenes laughs while regaling us with the history of the Tempest and its previous incarnations. And she knows quite a bit.

Joey Christensen, left, and Tony Cooney, co-owners of Tempest, kick back at the SoMa District bar after catering a private party on Aug. 25, 2022.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

She worked at the San Francisco Newspaper Agency from 1974 to 1992 (the agency was the group that owned the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner until 2000 when they were run under a joint operating agreement). Then she came to work for the San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild (now called the Pacific Media Workers Guild). The guild owns the Tempest building and is thus the bar’s landlord. Between talking to Brenes and doing some of their own research, Cooney and Christensen pieced together the history of the building and the bars who’ve inhabited it.

-The edifice at 431 Natoma St. was built in 1914. 

-It’s not clear what went on for the next 54 years it existed

-In 1968, it was bought by the San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild. 

-The first lease Team Tempest found with a bar or restaurant was in 1969, owned by a man named Roger Aguilar. It was called Page One, an obvious reference to the building that SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle share just a short stumble away (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms). 

-A fair amount of drama and changing hands over the next decades, but then a man named Hank Cheeke really put Page One on the map. It was apparently a big gay bar at the time, just rather quietly.

-At the time, there was a bar even closer to the Chronicle building called Hanno’s, at Minna and Mary streets, but Hearst bought the building and tore it down. 

-In 1983, Joseph Bourne and Harry Horton signed the lease at 431 Natoma St. and changed the name from Page One to Hanno’s in the Alley. 

-In 1995, Darla Kubala and Eric Berman took over and started Tempest Bar & Grill.

-Then one day in 2010, I sat at the bar while Eric told me “I don’t really give a f—k anyways. I sold this place and I’m moving back to Kansas.” The Pour Guys have had it ever since.

Decor details of Tempest in San Francisco’s SoMa District as seen on May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

The story goes that in the heyday of Page One and Hanno’s years, newspaper writers would drink at M&M, a bar that was where the Chieftain currently is on 5th and Howard streets. Journalists were such a fixture that the San Francisco Chronicle reportedly put a direct phone line into M&M so that reporters could file their stories from there (I’ve heard many a tale of Warren Hinckle doing this from a plethora of bars). It was the blue-collar guys who would hang out at Hanno’s after loading up the newspaper delivery trucks in the very early morning.  

The cheapest PBR in town

By the time I started hanging out there, it was popular with a different group of blue-collar workers: bike messengers. While the Tempest would fill up with baseball fans to watch the Giants have an incredible run, it was really bike messengers, service industry people and Moscone Center workers who were the bar’s bread and butter. And of course, a smattering of writers, too.

Longtime Examiner and Chronicle columnist Al Saracevic was a regular right up until his untimely passing in 2022. He’d reportedly drink a double Dewars on the rocks, and the Pour Guys would honor the price that Eric and Darla used to charge him: $5. In fact, there are a handful of loyal customers that are grandfathered in to their pre-2010 prices. Cheap drinks are one of the things the Tempest is known for.

“We always want to be priced on the lower end of the market. To be your everyman’s bar,” Cooney explains. 2010 is when fancy cocktail bars started to really make a splash in San Francisco, and the Pour Guys wanted to buck that trend.

“We did $2 Pabst forever,” Cooney continues. “We were top 10 in the country with Pabst sales.”

Shots of Fernet-Branca were also always cheap. For many years, they were only $4, which meant you could get a shot of Fernet and a PBR for $6. I know people who pretty much lived off that combination for years.

The Box Burger ranks high on the Tempest menu, as seen fresh off the grill on May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Cole G. brings another ready order to The Box window outside Tempest bar, on Sunday night, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Gilberto Cinta fires up an order in the kitchen of Tempest, on Sunday evening, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

The Potato Cheese Taquitos at the Tempest, on May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

Clockwise from top left: The popular Box Burger at Tempest; Cole G. brings another ready order to The Box window outside Tempest bar; The Potato Cheese Taquitos; Gilberto Cinta fires up an order in the kitchen of Tempest. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)
Clockwise from top left: The popular Box Burger at Tempest; Cole G. brings another ready order to The Box window outside Tempest bar; The Potato Cheese Taquitos; Gilberto Cinta fires up an order in the kitchen of Tempest. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE)

Unlike the vast majority of dive bars though, what really sets the Tempest apart is the food served by their kitchen, Box Kitchen.

Right about the time their original chef was moving on, Stephen Crawford — a regular at the bar who cooked at Michael Mina — made a proposition: “I could take the food I’m doing at Michael Mina, make it approachable bar food, and launch this to another level.” And that’s exactly what he did.

Suddenly a dive bar that sold $2 PBRs was getting written up by national publications for their eats, and foodies were flocking to sit elbow to elbow with the bike messengers, writers and off work service industry people. The elevated bar cuisine like mac and cheese egg rolls, asparagus fries, and potato skins with pork belly and quail eggs was an immediate success. Crawford went on to be the executive chef for all the subsequent businesses, too. It also helped that in a city with diminishing late-night food options, the Tempest served until midnight — which it still does.

A dive bar empire faces uncertainty

For 10 years, things were really humming at the Tempest. So much so, that Pour Guys were able to open a few other places, including the Showdown in 2019, and then … well you know what happened.

“2019 was a perfect year to start a new restaurant,” Cooney laughs. Considering the immediate and astounding success of the Tempest, it becomes a bit of a yin and yang story with The Showdown. Opening a new place just before a global pandemic shuts the world down is never good for business. But the Tempest and all the Pour Guys spots survived.

The Tempest at 431 Natoma St., an alley at the cross of Mary Street in San Francisco’s SoMa District, as seen on Sunday night, May 7, 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special to SFGATE

“We did whatever we could,” Cooney explains. “It was ‘come inside, don’t come inside,’ ‘sit down, you’re not allowed to sit down.’ It was like every day they changed the rules and we would just do it.”

Luckily, having a great relationship with the landlord helped the Tempest stay afloat. “They had our back,” Christensen says of the Pacific Media Workers Guild. “We are on the same team for sure. They love that we’re a blue-collar bar, a workingman’s bar. I mean, they’re a union.”

And that’s not just good for the Pour Guys, it’s good for San Francisco.

“We’re not leaving here anytime soon,” Cooney tells me. “The lease is up in a couple years. And we’ve already been discussing with the landlord. They want us to stay and we want to stay.”

While prices have had to go up to reflect economic realities — I think a PBR is now $4 and a Fernet is $7 or $8 — it’s heartening to know that there will still be a working-class bar in the heart of downtown San Francisco where writers, bike messengers, service industry folks, and general weirdos can hang out and hope the Giants might just do it all again this year.

The post How the San Francisco Giants saved dive bar Tempest appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

„Ich weiß, das ist Haarspalterei, aber wenn du Pop’s eine Kneipe nennst, ist das eine Art Beleidigung für Kneipen“, sagt mir Tom Tierney am Telefon. Wir sprechen über die Kneipe, deren Miteigentümer er seit 2014 ist, ein Ort mit einem langen Erbe, das bis ins Jahr 1937 zurückreicht. „Weil Kneipen ihren eigenen Platz in San Francisco und in Amerika haben“, fährt er fort, „ Ich betrachte uns als Nachbarschaftsbar.“

Was genau ist eine Kneipe? Als jemand, der einen guten Teil seiner 20-jährigen Karriere damit verbracht hat, über sie zu schreiben, glaube ich nicht, dass ich es Ihnen genau sagen kann. Sogar die Wikipedia-Definition davon ist Wischiwaschi. Genauso wie man die Bedeutung von „cool“ erklärt, ist es unmöglich, eindeutig zu definieren, was eine Spelunke ist. Man erkennt nur einen, wenn man ihn sieht.

Was ist also der Unterschied zwischen einer Kneipe und einer Nachbarschaftsbar? Nun, ich denke, das hängt einfach von der Nachbarschaft ab. Und in San Francisco kann das alles bedeuten.

Pop ist in der Luft

Das erste Mal, dass ich zu Pop’s ging, war wahrscheinlich 2004 oder 2005. Ein paar von uns gingen durch Valencia und versuchten herauszufinden, in welcher Missionsbar wir unsere erbärmlichen Einnahmen ausgeben sollten, als mein Freund sagte: „Ich weiß! Lass uns zu Pops gehen! Es ist wirklich schick und wirklich billig, und sie geben sich irgendwie keine Gedanken über irgendetwas.“ Zu diesem Zeitpunkt hatten wir anderen noch nichts davon gehört, aber es klang genau nach der Art von Ort, den wir liebten, also stapften wir die 24th Street hinunter, vorbei an Panaderías, Waschsalons, Kirchen, Juweliergeschäften und Nagelstudios.

Anita Ellis von Bernal Heights schneidet am Donnerstagabend, dem 2. Februar 2023, eine Orangenschale in Scheiben, um einen Negroni in der Pop’s Bar im Mission District abzurunden.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

Zweite Kopien von Fotostreifen säumen die Wände in Pop’s Bar im Mission District von San Francisco, 2. Februar 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

Die Pop’s Bar im Mission District von San Francisco zieht an jedem Abend der Woche ein buntes Publikum an. 5. Februar 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

DJ Matty Holt (@sterling45s) legt am Donnerstagabend, den 2. Februar 2023, klassischen Soul für ein besonderes Set in der Pop’s Bar auf. Sehen Sie sich seine Residency-Oldies-Sets jeden Dienstag von 18 bis 21 Uhr in der Bar Mission District in der 24th Street an.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

Im Uhrzeigersinn von oben links: Barkeeperin Anita Ellis schneidet eine Orangenschale in Scheiben, um einen Negroni zu krönen; zusätzliche Fotokabinenbilder; DJ Matty Holt (@sterling45s) spielt an einem Donnerstagabend klassischen Soul für ein besonderes Set in der Pop’s Bar; Kunden an der Bar. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special für SFGATE)
Im Uhrzeigersinn von oben links: Barkeeperin Anita Ellis schneidet eine Orangenschale in Scheiben, um einen Negroni zu krönen; zusätzliche Fotokabinenbilder; DJ Matty Holt (@sterling45s) spielt an einem Donnerstagabend klassischen Soul für ein besonderes Set in der Pop’s Bar; Kunden an der Bar. (Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/Special für SFGATE)

Wir waren ein Haufen College-Kids und frischgebackene Absolventen, hauptsächlich Weiße, manche Schwarze, manche Asiaten. Die Mission war billig, zentral, warm (für San Francisco) und voller Bars und Taquerias. Und obwohl es größtenteils noch ein Latino-Viertel war, war es auch unser neues Viertel. Und wir haben es geliebt. Für uns fühlte es sich so an, als würde an einem Ort eine wunderbare Mischung von Kulturen passieren.

Damals waren wir zu jung oder zu naiv, oder wir hatten einfach nicht die Rahmenbedingungen, um zu erkennen, dass wir etwas vorantreiben, das die Mission für immer verändern würde. Wir waren die Vorboten der Gentrifizierung. Das Wort war noch nicht Teil unseres Lexikons – das sollte ein paar Jahre später passieren. Aber als kleine Kinder, die sich oft etwas mehr leisten konnten, haben wir die Mieten in die Höhe getrieben und damit begonnen, was letztendlich dazu führte, dass sich die Mission sehr schnell änderte, wobei der Anteil der Latino-Bewohner zwischen 2000 und 2020 von 50,1 % auf 34,7 % sank.

Aber all das hatten wir nicht im Entferntesten im Sinn, als wir an diesem Abend zum ersten Mal das Pop’s betraten. Es war genau so, wie mein Freund es beschrieben hat: schick und super billig, und niemand schien tatsächlich einen Scheiß darauf zu geben. Es war auch laut und roch schlecht, und es war voller Skater, Graffiti-Writer und Menschen, die in der Gegend aufgewachsen waren. Es war eine typische Kneipe. Und aus der Nachbarschaft, schätze ich. Es war perfekt.

Graffiti an den Wänden der Toiletten in Pop’s Bar in der 24th Street im Mission District, gesehen am Donnerstag, 2. Februar 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

An diesem Abend gingen meine damalige Freundin und ich in die Fotokabine und fanden eine Brieftasche mit 1.000 Dollar darin. Wir gingen um die Bar herum und versuchten, den Führerschein einem Gesicht in der Menge zuzuordnen. Als wir ihn gefunden hatten, war er so erleichtert, wie man sich fühlt, wenn man feststellt, dass man eine ernsthafte Katastrophe nur knapp abgewendet hat. Anscheinend war es sein ganzes Geld für Miete und Rechnungen für den Monat – damals hätte es locker die Miete für mein riesiges 700-Dollar-Zimmer gedeckt – und so kaufte er uns einen Drink, um sich zu bedanken, und hieß uns in seiner Lieblingsbar willkommen.

Es war im Laufe der Jahre die Lieblingsbar vieler Leute, und obwohl sie es seit den reißenden Tagen der 2000er Jahre ein wenig aufgeräumt haben – hauptsächlich nur, um coole historische Sachen aufzuhängen und diesen schrecklichen Geruch loszuwerden – ist Pop’s immer noch eine fantastische Bar in einem der besten Viertel der Welt. Und ich behaupte, es ist auch immer noch ein Tauchgang.

Jahrzehntelange Getränke

Heute gehört die Bar Tom Tierney und Michael Kraus. (Vielleicht erinnern Sie sich an sie aus meinem Artikel über Madrone.) Aber im Laufe der Jahre gab es viele verschiedene Besitzer, und jeder brachte seine eigene Persönlichkeit in die Bar ein.

„Mein Lieblingsbesitzer ist Jack O’Connor“, erklärt Tierney. Ich kann ihn fast durch das Telefon lächeln hören. „Er war Teil der Beatnik-Szene. Und was ich wirklich an ihm mochte, war, dass er ein Spieler war. Er war ein Trinker. Er war ein Weltkriegsveteran. Und er war eine angesehene Katze in dieser Umgebung, und deshalb rede ich wirklich gerne über ihn.“

Der Besitzer der Pop’s Bar, Tom Tierney, hängt am Donnerstag, den 2. Februar 2023, mit dem Publikum am Donnerstagabend an seinem historischen Ort in der 24th Street im Mission District ab.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

Als Tierney und Krouse anfingen, sich mit der Geschichte der Bar zu beschäftigen, schien es zunächst so, als ob Pop’s Bar 1947 von Jack O’Connor, Kanonier aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, eröffnet wurde, der aus dem Südpazifik nach Hause zurückkehrte. Die Geschichte war, dass sein Vater ihm half, die Bar zu eröffnen, daher der Name Pop’s. Aber sie wurden schließlich als falsch erwiesen.

Eines Tages schlenderte ein Mann namens Brian Saxsenmeier in die Bar und erzählte den Leuten dort, dass sein Großvater, Carl Joseph Saxsenmeier, alias Pops, der wahre Pops sei. Nach einer Suche in Aufzeichnungen stellte sich heraus, dass diese Geschichte wahr war, sodass die Zeitachse der Bar um ein Jahrzehnt zurückgeschoben wurde. In diesem Moment scheint die Bar 1937 von Saxsenmeier eröffnet worden zu sein. Gerüchten zufolge führte er vor 1937 ein Geschäft namens Clubhouse und war während der Prohibition Schmuggler.

Der Grund, warum ich „in diesem Moment“ sage, ist, dass es anscheinend immer mehr über die Vergangenheit der Bar zu erfahren gibt. Wie Tierney sagt: „Jemand könnte morgen in meinen Laden kommen und mir viel mehr Geschichte erzählen.“ So wie es aussieht, ist dies das, was sie über die Geschichte des Besitzes und der Standorte der Bar wissen. Viele dieser Informationen stammen aus der Legacy Business-Anwendung, die im September 2022 genehmigt wurde:

1937: Pop’s Club House öffnete um 2820 oder 2830 24th St. Carl Joseph Saxsenmeier, auch bekannt als Pops, war der Gründer der Bar.

1941: Pop’s Club House wurde an Jack Pryal verkauft.

1947-1951: Jerry O’Connor (das zweite „Pops“) und Jack O’Connor (sein Sohn) gehörten der Bar. Jack heiratete und verkaufte die Bar; Dann ließ er sich scheiden und eröffnete das New Hearth (eine Bar, die jetzt The Hearth heißt) am 4701 Geary Blvd.

Ein Porträt des einzigen Pops (ca. Anfang der 1940er Jahre) hängt hoch oben an der Wand neben dem Eingang der historischen Bar und ist eine Hommage an den ursprünglichen Besitzer, wie am Donnerstag, dem 2. Februar 2023, zu sehen war.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

1951-1957: Charlie Leahy war der Besitzer von Pop’s Club House. Er verkaufte die Bar, als er die Tochter der Besitzer des St. Francis Fountain heiratete.

1958-1967: Während dieser Zeit gab es drei Besitzer von Pop’s Club House: Buff „Red“ Volkmeir, Walt Brennan (Großonkel von Gavin Newsom) und Albert Beurgelson. Brennan war Gastgeber für Baseballfans vor und nach den Spielen der SF Seals, die in der 16th Street und im Potrero-Stadion stattfanden, wo jetzt ein Safeway steht.

1967: Bob und Connie Griffin wurden zusammen mit Jacqueline Griffin die Eigentümer.

1970: Die Griffins verlegten Pop’s Club House den Block hinunter an seinen jetzigen Standort in der 24th St. 2800 und benannten es in “Pop’s Bar” um. Sie brachten die klassische Leuchtreklame mit.

1982-1985: Die Familie Castillo übernahm den Besitz von Pop’s Bar.

1985-1994: Bradlee J. Fitzgerald war der Eigentümer des Unternehmens. Er war Motorradfahrer, und es wird gemunkelt, dass sie innen einen Schießstand hatten und früher auf Heuballen geschossen haben.

1994-2003: Frances Prieto war die Besitzerin, und die Bar diente hauptsächlich der Latino-Community.

2003-2014: Malia Spanyol und Harmony Urmston besaßen Pop’s Bar. Es richtete sich unter anderem an Lesben, Skater, Graffiti-Writer und Punks.

2014: Eigentümer wurden Tom Tierney und Michael Krouse.

Die Pops von heute

„Aber an wen richtet sich Pop’s heute?“ Ich habe Tierney gefragt.

„Wir haben alles, jeden Lebensbereich. Es hängt wirklich davon ab, zu welcher Tageszeit man auftaucht“, erklärt er. „Wir haben um 6 Uhr morgens Ärzte und Krankenschwestern und Arbeiter. Dasselbe gilt für die Happy Hour. Wir haben Elektriker, Klempner, Anwälte, Graffiti-Künstler, Leute aus der Dienstleistungsbranche. Du kannst einen Dartpfeil werfen und fast jede Karriere treffen, und ich wette, sie tauchen in meiner Bar auf.“

Es gibt einen guten Grund, warum so viele Ärzte und Krankenschwestern um 6 Uhr morgens bei Pop’s landen. Das San Francisco General Hospital ist nur ein paar Blocks entfernt, und diejenigen, die von der Friedhofsschicht kommen, wollen oft einen Drink. Als das Pop’s-Team dies erkannte, entschied es sich ziemlich clever, im Jahr 2015 im Morgengrauen mit der Eröffnung zu beginnen. Die Änderung hat erheblich zum finanziellen Erfolg des Unternehmens beigetragen.

Die Michelada des Pops, gesehen am 2. Februar 2023.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

Als jemand, der seit einem Jahrzehnt in SF als Barkeeper tätig ist, klingt das für mich nach einer höllischen Veränderung, aber für jeden Juckreiz gibt es einen Kratzer. „Der Barkeeper am frühen Morgen ist eine besondere Art von Barkeeper“, erläutert Tierney. „Die Leute, die in den Frühschichten arbeiten, sind Leute, die sie arbeiten wollen. Sie mögen die Morgenzeit. Sie mögen die Atmosphäre.“

Aber selbst diese absurd frühe Schicht war von der Pandemie betroffen. Glücklicherweise hat Pop’s seine morgendliche Kundschaft langsam wieder aufgebaut. Und wie so viele andere Barbesitzer, mit denen ich in dieser Kolumne gesprochen habe, schreibt Tierney seinen Kunden das Überleben der Bar bis zum Schlimmsten zu.

„Ohne unseren treuen Kundenstamm wären wir nichts“, stellt er klar. „Da es Pop schon so lange gibt, hat Pop’s für viele Menschen eine besondere Bedeutung. Und ich denke, deshalb haben uns die Leute wirklich unterstützt, als wir unsere Outdoor-Drinks und ein Getränkefenster gemacht haben.“

Pop’s Bar steht am 2. Februar 2023 an der Ecke 24th Street und York Street im Mission District von San Francisco.

Kevin Kelleher & Emily Trinh/ Special für SFGATE

Tierney hat jedoch eine Meinung zur Pandemie, von der ich noch nichts gehört habe – „Ich werde Folgendes sagen: Die Pandemie war schrecklich, aber ich hatte eine wirklich gute Zeit bei dem Versuch, das Geschäft zu retten. Alles, was Sie wirklich tun könnten, ist, Dinge gegen die Wand zu werfen, um zu sehen, ob sie funktionieren. Es war irgendwie befreiend.“

Ich denke, jede Leuchtreklame hat einen Silberstreif am Horizont.

Weitere Kneipen in San Francisco

The post San Francisco’s Pop’s sparks debate on the time period ‘dive bar’ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

For decades, Pittsburgh’s Pub was the Outer Sunset’s most notorious watering hole.

It opened at 8 am and stayed open until 2 am It had a fireplace without a chimney. Its bathroom door swung open into people’s seats. It was the sort of place where “when you walked in, everyone would stare at you,” according to general manager Jordan Mason, who first came to Pittsburgh’s to play pool when he moved to the neighborhood 12 years ago.

It was, in other words, a proper dive bar: grimy, unfriendly, a little rough. “It looked bad. It smelled bad,” said local surfer Matt Lopez, an Outer Sunset native who speaks with a laid-back California drawl. “There was red in the walls. There were multiple areas where you could see the daylight coming in.”

Andy Olive, another local surfer, said that when he grew up in the area, his otherwise permissive parents warned him never to go to Pittsburgh’s.

But today, it’s a very different bar. Lopez and Olive, its new co-owners, set out to rehab Pittsburgh’s without losing, in the process, some of the funk that always made it special.

Co-owners Matt Lopez (left) and Andy Olive (right) flank general manager Jordan Mason.

Felix Uribe/Special to The Chronicle

Last spring, the two childhood friends reopened the bar. It now officially goes by its longtime nickname, Pitt’s Pub, and it’s gotten a major cleanup. Gone are the chimney-less fireplace, the weird green ceilings, the holes in the walls. Pitt’s is now, to the shock of those who knew it in his previous life, the sort of place that has flower vases on every table.

Although it can probably no longer be categorized as a dive (the bathroom is too nice), Pitt’s 2.0 is certainly not fancy. “Neighborhood bar,” maybe, is more like it. The place is warm and welcoming — no one stars at newcomers anymore. It serves $5 beers but can also make a great Manhattan.

On a given evening, it’s clear that Pitt’s is attracting a wide cross-section of the Sunset. Aging hippies make small talk with Millennials at the bar. Groups invite strangers to join them in a game of pool. Smokers huddle together on the sidewalk outside.

To Lopez and Olive, this scene recaptures something of the San Francisco that they grew up in. “It used to be, you’d go out and mingle with other people,” Lopez said. Nowadays, “people go to a bar with a group and stay with their group.”

“I want this to be a place where you don’t feel like you have to match a vibe,” Olive said.

Bartender Ruari Horan makes a drink at Pitt’s Pub.

Felix Uribe/Special to The Chronicle

The bar at 4207 Judah St. has had several lives. Once known as the Reef, then as Kelly’s Bar No Grill, it became Pittsburgh’s Pub in the late 1990s (named for the hometown of its then-owner, Dan Strickler, according to Lopez). In the pantheon of Outer Sunset dive bars, Lopez and Olive considered Pittsburgh’s to be the diviest — besting Flanahan’s on Noriega and the Riptide on Taraval. The bars got progressively nicer as you went south, they said.

Over time, as this stretch of Judah got swankier — welcoming destination spots such as Outerlands and Trouble Coffee — Pittsburgh’s was a remnant of the old Outer Sunset, a stubborn holdout against third-wave coffee culture and restaurants that drew two-hour waits.

Then, soon after the pandemic shutdowns began, Pittsburgh’s owner retired and sold the bar’s liquor license. When Lopez, who also owns the upscale, craft cocktail bar White Cap on Taraval Street, heard that it was available, he jumped at the chance to bring it back. He signed a lease and obtained a new liquor license. The new one, incidentally, permits live entertainment, so Lopez is planning for DJ sets and small bands.

He asked Olive, a high school classmate and surfing buddy, to help him give the place a face lift. It was a full demo, taking those walls down to the studs to get rid of the rot. Pitt’s is now spiffed up, though it will still look recognizable to those who knew it before. There’s still the same long bar, the pinball machines and a pool table.

Alejandro Torres (left) and Marlo Torres at the new Pitt’s Pub.

Felix Uribe/Special to The Chronicle

Cleaning up a dive bar while retaining something of its character is a delicate act. It’s been undertaken before: A similar story unfolded at the Richmond’s 540 Club, which a group of longtime regulars bought and reopened this year. Like Pitt’s, the 540 is a lot cleaner than it used to be, but its dive-bar spirit remains intact. The 500 Club, in the Mission, also got a new owner a couple years ago — native San Franciscan Ali Razavi — but still feels like itself.

Rather than converting these old, sometimes tired-feeling bars into something entirely new — into a high-end cocktail lounge, say — there appears to be a renewed appetite in San Francisco for preserving these institutions, keeping them easygoing and affordable.

By the time Lopez and Olive were ready to open their new Pitt’s, in April, they worried that the crowd might have wandered. It had been closed for two years by then. The sign was down, the windows boarded up. Surely the regulars had found new bars to be regulars at.

But on the first day, a stream of those regulars showed up, Lopez said, ready to greet their old haunt. Since then, Pitt’s has been cultivating new sets of regulars, like a group of nurses who come in after their shift at the VA hospital, and another set of friends who went to high school together who gather here every Sunday afternoon.

On a recent weekday, I watched as a man entered, ordered half a beer (Mason said he happily accommodates strange requests like these and prorates the price), played a game of pinball, then left — all within a 15-minute span. He comes in and does that almost every day, Mason said.

A family looks into Pitt’s Pub on Judah Street.

Felix Uribe/Special to The Chronicle

Inside, you can feel Lopez and Olive’s nostalgia for the Outer Sunset of their youth. The walls are lined with San Francisco memorabilia — historic shots of the Cliff House, the beach, the Golden Gate Bridge while under construction. The ultimate nostalgic touch might be that groups of strangers here are actually mingling with each other.

Many customers are drinking those $5 Tecates. Others have traded up for craft beers such as Russian River’s STS Pilsner or Alvarado Street’s Mai Tai IPA. The draft cocktails ($12), which include an especially spicy, ginger-forward Moscow Mule, are popular, though the drink that Mason hopes will become Pitt’s signature — a very boozy Hurricane ($16) — is limited to two per person per night.

Is Pitt’s, like Outerlands and Trouble Coffee before it, becoming the Outer Sunset’s latest destination, drawing folks from all over the city to Judah’s chilly, windswept extremities? maybe But Mason suspects it’s more drawing out his own neighborhood, providing a gathering place that reaches more local residents than Pittsburgh’s did in the past.

The Outer Sunset tends to attract a self-selecting crowd, Mason said. “We’re really at the edge of the world out here.”

Pitt’s Pub. Open 3 pm-midnight Monday-Thursday, 3 pm-2 am Friday, 2 pm-2 am Saturday and noon-midnight Sunday. 4207 Judah St., San Francisco. instagram.com/pittspub_sf

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com

The post How SF surfers rescued the Sundown dive bar Pitt’s Pub appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

1.

In 2001, the band KISS unveiled the world’s first-ever fully-endorsed coffin, which was named the KISS Kasket (not gonna lie, it’s pretty clever). Band member Gene Simmons encouraged people to use it as a cooler before death. “You can have your last ride with your favorite band. But while you’re living, you can have a cold one,” he said. “Why not have a daily use for the caskets? Why not watch your favorite ball game on TV, invite your friends over and open the Kasket to get a drink?” Several KISS super fans were eventually buried in the caskets, including “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, a member of the band Pantera. Abbott had been murdered by a fan during a concert in 2004, and had requested the coffin in his will. Simmons ended up donating the coffin prototype to Abbott’s family.

2.

On August 9, 1996, filming on Titanic took a turn when nearly 80 members of the cast and crew were hospitalized after eating clam chowder. While many initially believed that they had food poisoning, a newspaper in Nova Scotia, where the scenes were being filmed, reported that the chowder had actually been mysteriously laced with PCP. Both actor Bill Paxton and director James Cameron were among those who ate the chowder.

Paxton told Entertainment Weekly that he rarely ate the on-set catering, but decided to share a quick meal with Cameron. He said that the effects of the laced chowder became apparent after about 15 minutes. “Some people were laughing, some people were crying, some people were throwing up,” he said. Paxton said that both he and Cameron eventually jumped in a van heading to a nearby hospital. “One minute I felt okay,” he said. “The next minute I felt so goddamn anxious I wanted to breathe in a paper bag. Cameron was feeling the same way.”

Despite Paxton telling the media that Cameron accompanied him to the hospital, Cameron later said that he was able to avoid getting medical attention. So, who laced the chowder? Investigators were actually never able to figure out what exactly happened. Some thought that an angry chef was at fault, while others believed that someone laced the meal in order to get revenge on Cameron, who was allegedly a tough director to work for.

3.

The world’s oldest living bird is a Laysan albatross named Wisdom, who is at least 70 years old. Wisdom was first identified and tagged in 1956. She returns to the same nest every year on Midway Atoll in Hawaii, home to the largest colony of albatrosses, to deliver her chicks. Biologists estimate that Wisdom has delivered between 30 and 36 chicks in her lifetime, including one most recently in 2021.

4.

While you probably already knew the basics of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination in Dallas, I dug up some surprising details from the tragedy that might not be as widely known. First Lady Jackie Kennedy normally did not travel with the president for political trips but decided to accompany him on his visit to Texas. CBS was the first TV station to break in with the news, just 10 minutes after Kennedy had been shot. After that, all three networks — CBS, NBC, and ABC — aired nothing but coverage of the assassination for four straight days. It became the longest uninterrupted news event until the TV coverage of 9/11.

After Kennedy was shot, Jackie refused to change out of the pink suit she had been wearing. “I want them to see what they have done to Jack,” she allegedly told Lady Bird Johnson. The blood-stained suit has never been cleaned and is in the National Archives. It will not be seen by the public until 2103, as part of the Kennedy family’s wishes. Although Jackie refused to part with the suit, she reportedly did remove her wedding band and put it on her husband’s finger so it could be buried with him. However, she later asked an aide to get it back for her.

Kennedy’s death was the first presidential assassination since the creation of the Secret Service. Secret Service members allegedly fought with Dallas police over who would retain possession of the president’s casket. The Secret Service ended up with the casket, which was on board Air Force One when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president. This also marked the first and only time a US President had been sworn in by a woman. Although the assassination was all over the news, there was one person who had no idea that the president had been killed. The New York Times reported that the Kennedy family decided not to tell Mary Josephine Fitzgerald, Kennedy’s 98-year-old grandmother, about her grandson’s death.

5.

Queen Elizabeth II refused to let uncomfortable shoes ruin her day. Instead, Angela Kelly, the Queen’s stylist, would purportedly first wear the Queen’s shoes to break them in. The breaking-in period involved some very specific rules: Kelly was required to wear a pair of beige ankle socks and was only allowed to walk on carpet while preparing the shoes. “The Queen has very little time to herself and not time to wear in her own shoes, and as we share the same shoe size it makes the most sense this way,” Kelly wrote in her book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.

6.

If you think you’re into astrology, I’m pretty sure Grace Kelly has you beat! On Saturday, November 15, 1969, Kelly, the American actor who later became the Princess of Monaco, threw the “Scorpion Ball,” a Scorpio-only bash. The Scorpion Ball served as Kelly’s 40th birthday party, and the guest list was comprised of only Scorpios or plus-ones who were married to Scorpios. Notable attendees included actors Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor was only allowed to come to the party because her then-husband, Richard Burton, was a Scorpio.

Kelly also strictly enforced a red and black dress code, colors that have both been associated with the Scorpio star sign. The party’s decorations included portraits of famous Scorpios from history, including Edgar Allen Poe and Marie Antoinette. This wasn’t the first time Kelly’s penchant for astrology came to light. During her acting days, Kelly was photographed on movie sets with Carroll Righter, an astrologist and horoscope writer. Kelly was even mentioned in Righter’s obituary as one of his notable clients when he died in 1988.

7.

Elements of Yoda were modeled off Albert Einstein. Stuart Freeborn, a special effects artist who worked as a makeup supervisor on Star Wars, took inspiration for the beloved character after spotting an Albert Einstein poster in an office. “The wrinkles around Einstein’s eyes somehow got worked into the Yoda design,” special effects artist Nick Maley said. “Over the course of this evolutionary process, Yoda slowly changed from a comparatively spritely, tall, skinny, grasshopper kind of character into the old wise-spirited gnome that we all know today.” Freeborn also reportedly took inspiration from his own face when designing Yoda’s other traits.

8.

Every November, the White House holds a presidential turkey pardon to spare a live turkey from becoming a family’s Thanksgiving dinner. So, how did this tradition start? In 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s son Tad allegedly got upset when he learned that the live turkey his family was going to eat for Christmas dinner was going to be killed. Lincoln reportedly spared the turkey’s life to appease his son. From that point, people around the country began sending turkeys to the White House in hopes of it becoming the bird that would end up on the First Family’s Thanksgiving table.

Many incorrectly attribute Harry S. Truman as the president who held the first official pardon. While the National Turkey Federation sent Truman a Thanksgiving turkey in 1947, Truman allegedly ended up eating the bird instead of sparing its life. In 1963, John F. Kennedy received a turkey with a sign reading, “Good eating, Mr. President!” around its neck. Upon receiving the bird, Kennedy reportedly said, “We’ll just let this one grow,” and sent the bird to a farm. The Los Angeles Times called Kennedy’s gesture a “presidential pardon.”

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush made the pardon official by assuring animal activists, who showed up at the White House to protest the event, that the bird would not be eaten. Since then, there has been a presidential turkey pardon held every year. The pardoned turkeys are selected by the National Turkey Federation. After the ceremony, they are sent to a farm or a veterinary college to live out the rest of their days. Sadly, the turkeys rarely live longer than a few months after their pardon, as turkeys bred for consumption have much shorter life expectancies than wild turkeys.

9.

In 1900, thousands of spectators lined up to watch the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between Stanford and the University of California, known as “The Big Game.” Many fans, most of whom were children, decided to climb onto the roof of a glassblowing factory overlooking the field to take in the game after the stands were full. James Davis, the factory’s superintendent, was allegedly aware of the potential for people to climb on the roof and had reportedly been given six free tickets to the game so long as he kept people off of the roof. Soon, over 400 spectators had climbed onto the roof.

Factory workers tried to get the fans off of the roof and later recalled that the police refused to help them. About twenty minutes into the game, the roof collapsed, creating a loud crash that could be heard from the field. One spectator in the stands allegedly called out that the crash was a planned distraction, and the game continued on. Meanwhile, dozens of people had fallen through the roof, with some of them tragically landing on the factory’s burning furnace. Over 20 people were killed during the crash, while dozens more were injured. Most of the victims were children. This remains the deadliest disaster ever at a sporting event.

10.

Turkey wasn’t always the Thanksgiving food of choice in the White House. In 1926, president Calvin Coolidge received a raccoon that he and his family planned to eat for Thanksgiving dinner. When Coolidge saw the raccoon, he allegedly became smitten with it and decided that he was going to keep it as a pet. Others say that Coolidge had never eaten raccoon before, and was a little wary of trying it for the first time for Thanksgiving dinner, which is why he ultimately spared the animal’s life.

The Coolidges, who were known to be huge animal lovers, became enamored by the raccoon, which they named Rebecca. Members of the White House staff said that Rebecca was a “regular Houdini” who often escaped from her cage. The Coolidges even built a wooden house in a tree for Rebecca, located just outside of Coolidge’s office window. In 1927, Rebecca was sent away after allegedly biting Coolidge’s arm, but returned weeks later. In 1928, the family got another pet raccoon, named Reuben. Soon, Rebecca started escaping from the White House grounds and was eventually donated to the National Zoo.

11.

Roses are one of the oldest living plants in the world. Archeologists have found rose fossils that date back 35 million years. Meanwhile, the world’s oldest living rose clocks in at over 1,000 years old. The rose can be found growing on a wall in the Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany, and even survived a bomb during World War II.

12.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a holiday staple. The parade first started in 1924 and was held to promote the department store ahead of the Christmas season. It became a hit, drawing a crowd of nearly 250,000 people, so Macy’s decided to make it an annual event. By 1927, the parade began incorporating balloons, with a rendering of Felix The Cat being the first-ever Macy’s balloon. The issue? Macy’s had no idea what to do with the helium-filled balloon once the parade was over. They decided to let it float into the air, where it eventually popped.

The next year, Macy’s decided to once again allow the balloons to float up into the air but added a new twist. The company added release valves to the five balloons, which meant that the helium would slowly leak out over the course of a week or so. They stitched a return address to the balloons and told customers that if they found a piece of the balloon, they could bring it into Macy’s for a $100 reward. Three of the balloons landed in Long Island, one drifted into the East River, and the final one was never found. Macy’s continued with the balloon release method until 1932, when a piece of one of the balloons wrapped around a plane’s wing.

13.

I personally could not imagine anyone but Julie Andrews playing Mary Poppins, and turns out, Walt Disney couldn’t either. After Disney saw Andrews on Broadway in Camelot, he knew he wanted her to play the iconic role of Mary Poppins. When he first offered Andrews the role, she turned it down because she was pregnant. Disney decided to hold production on the film until Andrews was ready.

14.

The iconic TV dinner actually originated due to a surplus of Thanksgiving turkey! In 1953, Gerry Thomas, a Swanson salesman, noticed that the company had over 260 tons of frozen turkey left over after Thanksgiving. The turkeys were kept in refrigerated railroad cars, which only worked when the trains were in motion. This allegedly sent Swanson executives in a “tailspin,” as they had to keep the trains moving at all times while trying to figure out what to do with the surplus of turkeys.

Thomas had the idea to put the turkey in partitioned aluminum trays with stuffing and vegetables to create a frozen meal that families could reheat. While the technology existed to create frozen dinners, their planned release to the public had been scrapped during World War II. 1954 marked the first year of full production for the TV dinners. Swanson ended up selling 10 million trays, and soon, companies like Banquet Foods and Morton Frozen Foods rolled out their own spin on the TV dinner.

15.

Just two months before NASA launched Apollo 11 into space to reach the moon, the crew of the Apollo 10 performed a dress rehearsal, going through all of the steps required of reaching the moon without actually landing. There is a theory that NASA purposely under-fueled the Apollo 10 spacecraft to ensure that the crew didn’t actually try to land on the moon. “Don’t give those guys an opportunity to land, ‘cause they might!” Eugene A. Cernan, the flight’s lunar module pilot joked. The Apollo 10 crew successfully performed the dress rehearsal, paving the way for the historic moon landing just a few months later.

16.

If you’ve ever wondered why Thanksgiving is now always held on the fourth Thursday of November, blame it on Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Prior to the 1940s, Thanksgiving had always been celebrated on the final Thursday of November. In 1939, it fell on November 30. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt felt that the relatively late Thanksgiving would shorten the Christmas shopping season too much, and decided to move the holiday up a week to Thursday, November 23.

When Roosevelt announced the proposed date change in August 1939, people weren’t quite sure how to feel. The president was accused of “shattering another precedent,” received criticism for altering a “sacred” date, and was even compared to Adolf Hitler for the change. The NFL was also angry with Roosevelt, as his proposal messed up their already planned schedule. Many governors refused to celebrate the new Thanksgiving. Charles D. White, the mayor of Atlantic City, declared November 23 would be “Franksgiving.” Only 23 of the 48 states ended up celebrating the holiday on November 23. In 1941, Congress officially ruled that Thanksgiving would always be held on the fourth Thursday of November.

17.

No one is quite sure how the idea that black cats are bad luck originated. In fact, in Great Britain and Japan, black cats are believed to be symbols of good luck! There is evidence that people began linking black cats to the Devil during the Middle Ages. During the plague, people killed black cats, which turned out to be a bad idea, as the cats often killed the rodents that were spreading the disease. In later years, black cats became linked to witches.

18.

On November 25, 1976, the Band performed The Last Waltz, their farewell concert that would later be made into a concert film by Martin Scorsese. The issue? The show landed on Thanksgiving Day. Despite the fact that the show landed on a holiday, the Band ended up selling over 5,400 tickets to the show. Included in the $25 ticket price was an entire Thanksgiving dinner for anyone who showed up to the concert before show time. They even hired a staff of 300 people to serve the meal. Talk about dinner and a show, right?

According to memoirs by several members of the Band, the meal included “220 turkeys (with 500 extra drumsticks), 90 gallons of gravy, 2,000 pounds of peeled yams, 40 crates of lettuce, 18 cases of cranberries, a special dressing (made of 70 bunches of parsley, 5 quarts of garlic, 10 quarts of sage, 100 pounds of butter, 500 pounds of celery, 500 pounds of onions and 350 pounds of croutons), 1000 pounds of potatoes, 400 gallons of cider, 400 pounds of pumpkin pie, a stew made from six crates of vegetables and 300 pounds of Nova Scotia salmon.” Bob Dylan allegedly brought the salmon from New York all the way to the show in San Francisco.

19.

Despite being regarded as one of the most intelligent people of his time, Benjamin Franklin’s formal schooling ended at just 10 years old. Franklin learned how to read at a young age and reportedly spent one year at grammar school. He then had a private tutor for a year before his formal education came to an end. By the time Franklin was 12, he had embarked on a printing apprenticeship under his older brother, where he eventually taught himself how to write.

20.

And finally, Maya Lin was the Yale architecture student who created the winning design for the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, DC. Lin’s parents had both fled China during the Communist takeover in the 1940s and met once they moved to America. They raised Lin and her brother in Athens, Ohio, where they both worked as professors at Ohio University. Lin eventually headed to Yale to study architecture. She designed a blueprint for the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial as part of a class project. Lin eventually decided to submit her project to the design competition, where it beat out 1,200 other entries. She was just 21 years old.

Lin’s design was seen as untraditional and received major backlash when it was announced. At the dedication ceremony for the memorial in 1982, Lin’s name was never even mentioned due to the controversy. She eventually returned to Yale as a graduate student. After graduating, Lin went on to create more large-scale art and architectural work including the Langston Hughes Library for the Children’s Defense Fund in Clinton, Tennessee, the federal courthouse in New York City, and a Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2016, Barack Obama awarded Lin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

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