50 Bars in 50 Weeks

Well, a new year is upon us and what better way to celebrate than by ripping off someone else's idea? Last month I stumbled upon Vlad's Website. After reading thru it, I felt that his inspiration should be carried thru this year as well and I'm taking up the torch.

The goal is this: visiting 50 bars I've never been to in the next 50 weeks. Joining me on this quest are my fiance Molly and my partner-in-crime Josh. The rules are elegantly simple; it must be a bar that none of us has been to and we must have one drink in each bar. This blog will be a repository for the stories that happen along the way.

In the immortal words of Admiral Oliver Hazard Perry, "We have met the enemy and they are ours".

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