We did it!

The final toast: Molly, Greg and Josh

It's been a while since I've updated the blog, but outside of cyberspace the 50 bar challange has raged on! Thru two weddings, a summer of camping trips and plans seemingly every weekend, we still managed to persevere and complete our charge. When things settle down a bit after the holidays, I'll finish the descriptions of each bar, but until then, here's the final list:

Bar #1 - Gino and Carlo
Bar #2 - Amante
Bar #3 - Magnet Lounge
Bar #4 - Grant and Green
Bar #5 - Maggie McGarry's
Bar #6 - Mojito
Bar #7 - Sake Lab Lounge
Bar #8 - Fuse
Bar #9 - The Knockout
Bar #10 - Mr. Bing's
Bar #11 - Red's Place
Bar #12 - Chelsea Place
Bar #13 - Yong San Lounge
Bar #14 - Shanghai Kelly's Saloon
Bar #15 - Royal Oak
Bar #16 - Tonic
Bar #17 - The Black Horse London Pub
Bar #18 - The Black Magic Voodoo Lounge
Bar #19 - Mercury Appetizer Bar
Bar #20 - Sutter Station
Bar #21 - House of Shields
Bar #22 - 2Lips
Bar #23 - Rich's Club 93
Bar #24 - Martuni's
Bar #25 - Octavia Lounge
Bar #26 - Arrow Bar
Bar #27 - Sugar Cafe
Bar #28 - Gestalt Haus
Bar #29 - Wild Side West
Bar #30 - 540 Club
Bar #31 - Noe's
Bar #32 - Argus Lounge
Bar #33 - Dovre Club
Bar #34 - Phone Booth
Bar #35 - 3300 Club
Bar #36 - O'Greenberg's
Bar #37 - Fireside Bar
Bar #38 - Yancy's Saloon
Bar #39 - Blackthorn Tavern
Bar #40 - The Little Shamrock
Bar #41 - Swig
Bar #42 - Olive
Bar #43 - Nite Cap
Bar #44 - 222 Club
Bar #45 - Kum Bak Club
Bar #46 - Geary Club
Bar #47 - RJ's Sports Bar
Bar #48 - The Carnelion Room
Bar #49 - Top of the Mark
Bar #50 - Harry Denton's Starlight Room
Bar #51 - White Horse Tavern

Bar #19 - Mercury Appetizer Bar

The whole crew stumbled a few doors down to the Mercury Appetizer Bar. This is another semi-chic kinda place that falls a bit short of its hipster crowd goal. The space was tastefully decorated with a modern looking bar and brick walls. Apparently they also serve food, which according to the reviews I've read on Yelp, is actually pretty good. We weren't there to eat, so we hit the bar just before the dreaded last call. Can someone tell me why, of all the places on earth, San Francisco's last call happens at 1:15am at nearly every bar? I mean, back in the midwest they're happy to take your money right up until the stroke of 2am, and sometimes even later. But in this huge, cosmopolitan, liberal hotbed they start herding everyone out the door nearly a half hour before 2am?!

Anyway, we had a great time at Mercury despite the fact that the bar itself was dead and the music was pretty boring at best. The Scots, who are nearly incomprehensible on a good day, were pretty drunk and close to impossible to understand. I'm not sure what we were talking about, and I found myself just agreeing with whatever they said because I got tired of asking them to repeat everything. After lots of hugging and drunken photos, we ended up closing the bar and that wrapped up our bar hop. Three weekends into the challange and we're already close to the midway point!

Mercury Appetizer Bar, 1434 Lombard Street

Bar #18 - The Black Magic Voodoo Lounge

We decided to head further up Van Ness to the Black Magic Voodoo Lounge. A pretty basic dive bar with a vaguely creole theme, the place was fairly empty for prime time on a Friday night. They have a smoking permit, as the bar is owner operated, which for many of the regulars perched at the bar is most likely a huge selling point.

At this point the Nolan sisters were noticeably trashed and started making friends with strangers. Missy befriended a table of Scottish guys, while Molly chatted to a few regulars at the bar. Molly told them about the 50 in 50 challange, and they advised us to check out another pub a few doors down. So, we hearded the crew out the door and brought along the Scots.


The Black Magic Voodoo Lounge, 1400 Lombard Street

Bar #17 - The Black Horse London Pub

The next stop was the Black Horse London Pub. Billed as the smallest bar in San Francisco, I can't imagine another bar beating it out. The sign outside indicates that the place is also a deli, but I didn't get any indication that they actually served food once inside. The space is about 8 feet wide by 20 feet deep, with 4 feet between the bar and the wall. It probably seats about 10, and with standing room, maybe 20 total people can fit in there at once. It's decorated like an English pub, complete with football scarfs and imported beer trays. They only served beer, but had a nice selection that were described in a very waiterly manner by the barkeep: "tonight we have an English cask ale on drought, bottles of Bombardier Brown Ale, a nice Chimey Blue, the German lager Stiegal and a wonderful hard cider".

The four of us squeezed in as far as we could go, ordered a few beers and began the game of letting people in and out. It was a pretty funny scene what with all the squeezing by going on, but everybody seemed to be having a great time and the bartender was exceptionally attentive and genuinely friendly. A few more people squeezed in after us, but the place was pretty much packed tight after that. All in all, it's a great bar (if not a civic treasure) that I'll work hard to get back to. Mary and her brother showed up as we were finishing our pints, so we decided to move on since there was no way anyone else was going to fit into the bar.


The Black Horse London Pub, 1514 Union Street

Bar #16 - Tonic

Next on the agenda was Tonic. This bar seems like it's trying for sleek and modern, but it turns out a lot more wanna-be than that. Stark grey walls, bare concrete floors and a bad mural on the back wall provide all the ambiance of the space. For some reason, they put bowls of gummi bears out on all the tables. I don't personally think that sticky, chewy, sweets go very well with alcohol, but I guess if you run a bar with no character at all, you have to do something to make yourself memorable. The drinks were ok, but overall, a totally forgettable experience.

Mary called while we were here and said that she and her brother Mike were going meet up with us, so we ordered a second round of drinks while waiting and overstayed the place. After our second round, we called Mary back and gave her the heads up that we moving on.


Tonic, 2360 Polk Street

Bar #15 - Royal Oak

I had planned on going to Cresta's 2211 Club next, but one glance in the Royal Oak and we decided we had to try it out. Another corner bar with lots of glass, the Royal Oak is a thing to behold. The interior is decked out in a garish Victorian style with antiquey couches, large wood tables and lots of plants. The lighting was really nice, with lots of backlighting and other indirect sources that give the space a warm glow.

Missy had been here once before on a more crowded night and said it was a total meat market of ghastly Marina types. But, it was early and we pretty much had the run of the place. The only odd thing about the place was a rather large, Russian-limo-driver looking guy who gave us all a stern once over when we came in, then stood awkwardly nearby looming over us for a while after we sat down. We couldn't figure out if he was a bouncer or a slightly mentally challanged regular, but he was harmless if not a bit disconcerting. Anyway, we found a nice corner couch and table, had a few overpriced cocktails and then moved on.


Royal Oak, 2201 Polk Street

Bar #14 - Shanghai Kelly's Saloon

About half way here on the bus, I came to the realization that I had forgotten my camera (all photos from here on courtesy of the internets...until I can replace them with my own). So began night number three of the bar hop. Our typical nights out generally focus on the Tenderloin and lower Polk Street. We don't often make it past Broadway, so the motivation for the night became upper Polk Street and Van Ness. I met up with Molly, Josh and Melissa for dinner first at Nick's Crispy Tacos, then we sauntered across the street to Shanghai Kelley's Saloon. This was another bar that I'd been by hundreds of times and always had a hankering to check out. Turns out the place is a pretty basic sports bar with a clear focus on Pittsburgh sports.

The space is vintage sports bar, but it does have a fair amount of small tables and plenty of windows to watch the street bustle, so it wasn't too bad. Missy said it "smells like a saloon". It had your typical San Francisco tap selection, which I'm finding is nearly always a variation of: Sierra Nevada (or Anchor Steam), Stella Artois, Guinness Stout, Widmir Hefeweisen and Fat Tire. Not that I'm complaining, I do like most of those beers, but come on, mix it up a little! Anyway, one drink and on to the next bar.


Shanghai Kelly's Saloon, 2064 Polk Street

Bar #13 - Yong San Lounge

The final bar of the evening was Yong San Lounge. I'd walked past here a bunch of times and always thought it looked like a good place to drop in. The bar used to be called the Drift Inn, and was known as the hangout for conspiracy theorist, and author of the Gemstone Files, Bruce Roberts. This guy must have been "fun" to have a drink with.

So, we shuffled in the door and the bartender, a friendly middle-aged asian woman, scuttled some of the regulars from their barstools and ushered us up to the freshly cleared seats. They had little plates of nuts and chocolates on the bar, and after a bit, she brought out fried chicken and egg rolls and placed those on little plates in front of us as well. The bar had a fairly typical beer selection, made run-of-the-mill cocktails and had an active pool table in the back. The bar decor is straight out of the 70's and little has changed inside since then. Unfortunately, the padded arm rest at the bar was torn to bits and had been 'repaired' maybe 5 years ago with about 200 rolls of reddish-pink electrical tape: sticky. I had read somewhere online that the bar was a hangout for escorts and prostitutes and surely some of the ladies there were. Nothing in your face, mind you, but women a little too dressed up in dresses a little too small.

Anyway, more of our friends showed up and we kind of took over a better part of the bar. It was a fun place to hang out, and the waitstaff was nothing but friendly and genuinely interested in keeping you there with your wallet open. It makes me think the woman running the bar is most likely the owner as well. We had a few pints here and then moved on to Nob Hill Tavern to play some pool/darts ourselves. As we've been there many times, it won't be counted in the talley, but that's where we ended the night.

Josh, Julia and Kathy

Molly, Lisa and Rick

Mark and Ryan

Yong San Lounge, 895 Bush Street

Bar #12 - Chelsea Place

The third bar of the night was Chelsea Place, where we met up with our friends Mark and Kathy. Walking in, I instantly liked the place: really dark with original wood panelling and high ceilings. It seemed like the space had been a bar for a very long time. The bartender quickly pointed out that there was a table in the back, and ushered us over to it, quite possibly the only time that I've been officially seated in a dive bar. The place was mostly empty, populated only with a few local hipsters, but it was pretty early. There was a fireplace in the back, but even on one of the coldest nights of the year, it remained unlit.

So, comfortably seated with my mug of beer, I was just starting to tell Molly how much I liked the place, when she extracted some bizzare insect from her cocktail. Apparently it wasn't big enough to warrant sending the drink back, because Molly (being the trooper that she is) drank it down anyway.



The biggest problem (other than the wildlife) that we found with this bar though was the language barrier. All three employees spoke fairly little English, which as long as it doesn't hamper the ordering of a beverage, makes no difference to me. Unfortunately, it did make a difference when it came to Kathy's lemon drop. I'm not sure what "lemon drop" translated to behind the bar, but whatever it was, it came back in a salt rimmed glass. Kathy tried to power through it, but not only was it strange, it was undrinkable as well. So much so that Kathy, who's pretty shy and doesn't like sending stuff back, asked for another drink. I don't know much about international custom, but I would imagine that if you send a drink back in another country because it sucks, you would get a replacement free of charge. Unfortunately, they came back with another cocktail for Kathy and politely said "that will be $5". Strike three, and off we went.

Chelsea Place, 641 Bush Street

Bar #11 - Red's Place

You could hear the record scratch and the music stop when the three of us walked into Red's Place. Clearly a locals bar, and by locals I mean Chinese immigrants. Once we got in and seated though, the sparse crowd lost interest and returned to smoking their cigarettes and watching the Chinese television station. The bartender was very friendly, if not a bit stunned that we were there.

The atmosphere is little more than what you'd find in a relative's basement bar; dark, unpretentious boarding on messy, but comfortable enough. They had a few countertop video game machines and a strange pinball machine that the locals were crowded around. The most interesting thing about the place might be the bathroom. Located down in the basement, accessing it involved navigating a narrow stair, ducking under a low ceiling, then climbing an uneven step and ramp to get to the toilet. Not really what I'd call acessible.

Red's Place, 672 Jackson Street

Bar #10 - Mr. Bing's

After slices of Pizza, Molly, Josh and I decided to start the night off on the edge of North Beach, and work our way back down towards the Tenderloin. I'd had my eye on Mr. Bings for a while, frankly because it has such a damn catchy name. The place always seemed to be a locals joint to me, with older men slumped over half full glasses of cheap whiskey every time I peeked through the windows. It certainly had all of that ambiance in reality, but the 6:30 friday night crowd was a bit more racuous than that.

The space inside is pretty tight, and hasn't been redone since it opened 40 some years ago. There is basically a large triangular bar, with enough room between the bar and the walls for a stool and small aisle. It was packed when we arrived, which only takes about 20 people. The service was good, and being right on Columbus, it was nice to be able to look out the large windows and watch the goings-on. Overall, it was a pretty typical dive, but I would stop in again for a drink if it wasn't crowded.

Mr. Bing's Cocktail Lounge, 201 Columbus Avenue

Bar #9 - The Knockout

We got rallied into a Sunday night dinner out, so we decided to knockout (get it?!?) another bar from the list. Finally, a bar that I would come back to! They have lots of good beer on tap and the best name ever for a cocktail (of which Molly could not get enough): the "Absolut Manberry". After reading the name, everything else said sounded dirty for the next 20 minutes. Try it and see!

The bar itself is a great space decorated with album covers, photos of Chicagoland gangsters and miscellanious car parts. They have one of those coin operated photo booths, which we should have used to take some group pictures but didn't. The bar was dimly lit, had plenty of seating and had great music on. It might be a bit more crowded on weekends, but it was comfortably dead on Sunday. While there, we found out that another friend of ours, Tim, does sushi catering there on Wednesdays (plug, plug, check it out).

Suzanne, Mary, Josh and Molly at the Front Porch afterwards

The Knockout, 3223 Mission Street

Bar #8 - Fuse

50 bars in 50 weeks? What about 50 bars in one week?! We really got to way more bars than I would ever have imagined for the first night. And the fact that I'm alive and typing the next morning (well, afternoon) is really quite amazing to me.

The final (sort of) bar for the evening was Fuse, directly across the street from the Sake Lab. From the outside, the bar seemed like it would be some kind of hipster hangout, but inside it was the clearly the seediest place we'd been in. I literally had to wade thru the bathroom! Everyone was trashed at this point; Molly was slurring her speech and pushed her mostly full cosmo over my way, Paul was beginning to look green and Melissa started the 'who wants to share a cab' dialog. Josh and I seemed to be holding up the best, but I was winding down too. Anway, there was nothing interesting about this place. It had the character of a bar in a spring break city, just there to make a buck without creating any waves.

Molly, Melissa and Paul decided to head out, but Josh and I were in the middle of a conversation, so we decided we'd head next door to the Crow Bar for one last pint. As we've been to the Crow Bar tons of times, we can't count it as bar #9, but I for one was ready to go someplace familiar with a decent jukebox. North Beach was turning into the regular 1:00am 'police state' as we staggered down to our final destination. There were paddywagons all over the place, cops on motorcycles, cops on the corners, cops in parked cop cars. I would have taken a few photos, but a friend of ours got taken to the drunk tank once for less, so we got off the sidewalk and into the bar quickly before we got caught up in something. We had one last drink and closed the place down.

8 new bars on the first night! It looks like 50 will be a piece of cake!

Last ones standing

Fuse, 493 Broadway

Bar #7 - Sake Lab Lounge

That we would even step foot in this place is a testament to how dead it was in North Beach. The 6+ drinks in everybody at that point probably had a little to do with our lack of reluctance as well. The bouncers were out front trying to entice people to come in, and after negotiating a no-cover entry, in we went. Basically this place is a low budget dance club masquerading as high style. The crappy house music was blasting, but we were literally the only 5 people in the bar, so it was tolerable. The space was covered wall, floor and ceiling with metallic silver surfaces and blue lighting. It was decked out with 60's style plastic furniture, plenty of poorly executed ball chain curtains and glowing red table lamps. After we decided that we'd never be coming back here, we ran around like fools taking photos of ourselves. It was really a liberating feeling to make the realization that we truly didn't care what the tools that work there thought! Around 11pm, the regular crowd started shuffling in and dancing, so we finished up our drinks and slid out the door.

Melissa and Josh modding out

Molly and Josh having an h2h

Sake Lab Lounge, 498 Broadway

Bar #6 - Mojito

So, we went two storefronts down and into Mojito. A big open space with high ceilings and no clear theme, Mojito has a bit of a 'graphiti artist', 'street' feeling to it. Maybe it was just the clientele? Anyway, the place was pretty full and a band was setting up there as well. We got some drinks and headed to an unoccupied corner, which happened to be right along the front wall. We were all pretty much lit-up by now, and Paul decided that he liked the indoor vegetation so much that he'd make a seat of it. We were sitting right in the front window, and everybody passing by kept putting their faces up to the window to see what was going on inside. Paul amused himself by waving and tuanting the passersby, and I amused myself by telling Paul to quit.

Paul and his vegan chair

The band finally started to play, and at first I didn't really know what to think. Not really rap, not really hip-hop, but a funky sound with a nice groove. There were three kids rapping, backed by a drummer, a sax and a bass player. I guess maybe the crowd was all there to see them? Not bad really, and they fit right in with the vibe of the place. But, we had started to grow roots so I shuffled everyone out the door. On the way out Paul tried to jump on the doorman's bike, and was swiftly dealt a stern reprimand.

Josh holding court

Mojito, 1337 Grant Avenue

Bar #5 - Maggie McGarry's

With our goal of 4 bars for the night met, we decide to push on. At that point everyone had moved into the 'I don't give a damn' portion of the buzz, and we were all having a pretty good time. Having lived in the city for almost 8 years, I remember coming to this bar when it was the Lost and Found. That bar is gone now, and in its place is another faux Irish pub (why do people like faux Irish pubs so much?). Clean and new, but having the ethnic authenticity of a wienerschnitzel franchise, there aren't a lot of pros to this place. One of them is that since the pub spans two store fronts, there is a bar on each side of the building sitting about 15 feet apart. Access to beer is always a plus.

The place was actually pretty full, and I wasn't minding it too much, but then the band came on. I've always wanted to be in a band, but last night reminded me of what happens when bands go wrong. God, it was horrible! Crappy blues-meets-pub rock trash with some rediculous woman trying to be Janis Joplin. Get me out of here! We slammed our drinks and piled out the door.

Josh, Melissa, Molly and Paul

Maggie McGarry's, 1353 Grant Avenue

Bar #4 - Grant and Green

Greg, Melissa, Paul and Josh

So now that we've got a few drinks in the Irishman, we pulled him into Grant and Green as we passed by it. The place was only half full at the most, but seemed crowded after Magnet. Layout wise, it's a pretty tight bar separated into two rooms. The far side had a small stage with a blues type band that was setting up. I'm not sure why Paul hated this bar so much when he was there before, because it is simply a dirty hole-in-wall pub with no character other than the patrons. The place seemed like it could be pretty raucous on a good night, but it was just plain ordinary tonight. We didn't stay long enough for the band to start, and quickly slipped on to the next bar.

Grant and Green, 1371 Grant Avenue

Bar #3 - Magnet Lounge

Onward! With the buzz going, we rolled out of Amante and headed up the block to Grant Avenue. After a 10 minute discussion about why Paul didn't want to go into Grant and Green, we decided we'd go catty-corner (where the hell does that phrase come from anyway? It's amazing that anyone can learn English) to Magnet. The bar here is really small, and it would be a crowded nightmare if we weren't the only 5 people in the bar. At this point, I'm beginning to think that it's not just that it's early that no one is out, it truly looks like it'll be a slow night in North Beach (yay!).

Anyway, the bar is narrow and deep and has a really nice loft with a low ceiling, art gallery and dj table. The wall behind the bar was lined with uplit decanters full of interesting looking, fruit infused vodkas. There was only one other customer at the end of the bar, who seemed to be there solely to flirt with the cute, 20-something bartender. It seemed rude for the 5 of us to not sit at the bar, so we joined in the conversation with the bartender and her suitor for a bit. The drinks were good, the space was well lit and it was generally a pleasant place to be. It would probably be a little more fun if it were hopping, but it would also probably not be a bar that we would go to if it were packed.

Magnet Lounge, 1402 Grant Avenue

Bar #2 - Amante

So, after Gino's we walked a few doors down to Amante. The place looked really swank, but as it was only 7pm, it was empty and we decided they wouldn't kick us out for having gym shoes on. The room had a really 'New York chic' thing going on; high ceilings, paintings on the walls, upholstered benches and nice chairs. It had clean bathrooms and good drinks. I really liked this bar, but probably because there wasn't anyone that normally inhabits it present.

(Man my head is throbbing, I feel a bit queezy and of all days, the management decides to re-tar the roof on a Saturday!?)

Amante, 570 Green Street

Bar #1 - Gino and Carlo

Well, Molly and Josh just couldn't wait to get the evening started, so they went for a pint at Specs right after work. Afterwards, we all met up at Golden Boy pizza for a slice. Joining us for the first night of debauchery were Molly's sister Melissa and our token Irishman, Paul. Always bring along an Irishman on a pub crawl, it's good luck.

Gino and Carlo's was right next door to the pizza joint, so it seemed like a logical place to start. The bar really reminded me of a blue collar Italian place in a midwestern steel town...in a good way. The place was pretty full of 50-year-old neighborhood types, and had a good vibe from the start. We did get some looks when we first walked in (as we were the youngest people in there by 20 years easily), but once they decided we weren't gonna be obnoxious, they turned back to their conversations and left us to ours. The atmosphere was cozy, with low lighting, quiet music (the Soprano's theme was playing when we walked in) and plenty of tables to sit at. There were a few pool tables in the back and the locals were lined up to play. The walls were decorated with advertisements for sock hops and bad paintings of Italian hillside towns. All and all, nothing special, but a nice slice of North Beach without any pretensions.

Gino and Carlo, 548 Green Street

Tonite is the Night!

Well, it is upon us, the first night of the challange! I suppose I should have three square meals today before beginning, huh? The plan is to have some dinner first, then hit some bars in North Beach. We've been to tons of bars up there, and I can't say that most of them (aside from Specs and Crow Bar of course) are really the kind of place that we'd hang out at. But, in the spirit of adventure, and because it's the closest area to Molly & Josh's work, North Beach it is!