Marina Bus Stop Saloon (1901 Union Street) With its pool table, patio, and ample seating, it's the place to go if you want to feel like a local in the Haight. The Gold Cane is a reliable neighborhood favorite, where drinks are always so cheap that no happy hour special is necessary. Haight-Ashbury The Gold Cane (1569 Haight Street) Since renovated, the bar still preserves the memory of the ship. It was later towed to the current location, which was once a beach. The oldest bar in San Francisco (Elixir will have something to say about that), Old Ship Saloon is a bar made out of a ship's hull that ran aground during a storm off of Alcatraz. Website Embarcadero Old Ship Saloon (298 Pacific Avenue) In the 90's, Dogpatch was added to the bar, making it the first one to incorporate the name of the neighborhood into the business name. After Prohibition, the bar quickly started serving alcohol again. Originally the site of a revival saloon, Dogpatch Saloon became a "soft" drink store when Prohibition was passed. Website Dogpatch Dogpatch Saloon (2496 Third Street) Today it is a music venue that has hosted performers ranging from Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie to Van Morrison, the Grateful Dead, Arcade Fire, and Patti Smith. Sitting on the border of Civic Center and Nob Hill, the Great American Music Hall opened in 1907 as a restaurant and a bordello. Website Civic Center Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell Street) Although the original owners have passed, the bar is still owned and operated by the family. Known as the "Cheers" of Chinatown, Red's Place was the site of the annual firecracker tradition when the Chinese New Year Parade would march by. Website Chinatown Red's Place (672 Jackson Street) Cafe du Nord plans to reopen in the fall of 2014. In 2013, the lease changed hands and has been undergoing renovations. For more than 100 years, Cafe Du Nord has maintained its intimate mood of a speakeasy with rich, dark colors of red and black. The bar itself has one of the two music venues in the space (the other being the Swedish American Hall). Located in an area where the Swedish community once thrived, Cafe du Nord occupies the basement of the San Francisco Swedish Society. Website Cafe du Nord (2174 Market Street) Sitting at the intersection of Castro and Market Streets, Twin Peaks stands as a gateway into the neighborhood.
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The bar is the first known gay bar to feature full length open plate glass windows, openly revealing the identities of their patrons. Website Castro Twin Peaks Tavern (401 Castro Street)Īn emblem of the gay community, Twin Peaks was designated an historical bar in 2013. A bar that welcomed Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin back in the day, welcomes everyone who walks through their doors. Out of the destruction, came one of the city's best outdoor patios, which still exists today.
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This lesbian-friendly bar was named after the Barbara Stanwyck film, "Walk on the Wild Side." In the 1970s, this bar was vandalized when broken toilets and sinks were thrown through the windows and landed in the backyard. Bernal Heights Wild Side West (424 Cortland Avenue) Here are the oldest, most awesome bars in the city that you should visit the next time you're in town.
They preserve our city, cultural identity and make some damn good drinks.
And, we love our bars with a sense of tradition. We like our architecture Victorian and our Manhattans stirred, not shaken. We even have an organization that chronicles the city, SF Heritage, who's Legacy Project marks historic places in the city. In a city that is steeped in new technology as we are, we are still traditionalists at heart.