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 Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco is about to play host to a new pop-up that aims to bring a taste of Eastern Europe to the Mission District. Asja Sever, an experienced industry pro, was born in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb; she and her family were among those forced from their home country in the 1990s due to the Homeland War, the extended conflict which took a huge toll on the citizens of Croatia and caused a reported 500,000 displaced people. Her family eventually found their way to Philadelphia, and at 13 years old Sever began working in the restaurant industry. Now, after diving into wine and working at high-end restaurants like Rich Table, she’s launching her own pop-up, Yugobar, to pay homage to her European roots. “I’ve been living between both worlds,” Sever says.

Guests can expect five to seven shareable small plates of traditional Croatian food, ranging from $10 to $30 each. All will be made using Sever’s grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s recipes, which were passed down verbally, Sever says, as her eldest family members never learned to read or write. Plates will include olives, charcuterie boards, and a squid ink risotto that severely expects to be a menu staple. “If you’re a Croatian person, you judge the quality of the risotto by how black it turns your teeth,” Sever says. “It’s supposed to be really inky, and has that wonderful umami.”

A list of 15 Croatian wines will be available by the glass. Sever is a familiar wine buyer and seller in the Bay Area, working for Alluvial Wines before running her own operation distributing wines from Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary through her business Itty Bitty Viti.

She can’t share many details on Yugobar just yet, but she knows it will be a weekly pop-up in the Mission District at one of a few places she’s considering. She’s running the project alongside a few friends and fellow service industry folks and hopes to make it sustainable for all involved. “It’s really about where we can do it for about a year or two,” Sever says. “The goal is not to become brick and mortar. That seems like a money pit.” Rather, part of her intention is to pay her friends high hourly wages for their work and to equitably distribute tips — two commitments that make sense as restaurants like Good Good Culture Club and Che Fico (amongst others) look to provide workers with higher pay and better working conditions.

The first pop-up is planned for October. Potentially, half of the seats will be walk-in and half will be available for reservation. Ultimately, Sever would love to see folks from the South Bay, where she says there’s a larger Croatian population, attend the events. “I’ve gotten so many messages from Croatian people already,” Sever says. “They’re excited because no one’s ever done it. I’ve been dreaming of this for years. I’m stoked.”

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The post Yogbar: Say Dobrodošli to a New Croatian Wine Bar Pop-Up Coming to San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

It’s been a lifetime (ok, fine, almost four years) since Eater SF shared news about the upcoming boutique hotel the LINE, which signed a lease for its first Bay Area outpost back in 2018. Now we finally have more details to share about what to expect in terms of the food and drink options. The trendy 236-room hotel, designed by Handel Architects, will include four food and beverage outlets in total: a ground-floor restaurant called Tenderheart, a rooftop bar and restaurant dubbed Rise Over Run, a more classic hotel bar called Dark Bar, and , lastly, an outpost of Los Angeles’ highly Instagrammable Alfred Coffee.

Executive chef Joe Hou is heading up the kitchens at both Tenderheart and Rise Over Run and brings some San Francisco kitchen cred to the endeavor. According to a press release, Hou, a former pastry chef, worked at Per Se and Nomad in New York City before heading out west, where he joined the team at Michelin-starred Angler. His resume also includes time in the kitchens of Palo Alto’s Bird Dog and the more recently opened Le Fantastique in San Francisco. The press release promises “thoughtful, sophisticated flavors” and menus built on seasonal produce, though details remain scarce about what exactly to expect on the menu at either restaurant.

Chef Joe Hou and beverage consultant Danny Louie. Anna Alexia Basile

Tenderheart, an all-day restaurant that will take over an indoor-outdoor space accessible by both Turk and Market streets, will serve “Northern California cuisine through a multi-cultural lens,” the press release says. While Rise Over Run, that rooftop bar and restaurant perched atop the 12-story building, will boast panoramic views of the city and serve “canapes and shareable plates,” the company brags. Presumably because of the city’s unpredictably chilly weather, the rooftop will have a solarium in addition to a terrace, so customers can take in the sights without having to actually be exposed to the fog.

On the beverage end of things, the company tapped local bar vet Danny Louie of Chinese-American cocktail company Gāmsāān. Louie spearheaded the cocktail program at Mister Jui’s, as well as Chino and Alembic. The lobby-floor Dark Bar is where he’ll mix “unique takes on quintessential cocktails embellished by unexpected bar snacks,” per the release.

But last, coffee: Yes, Los Angeles-based Alfred Coffee, famous for its “But First, Coffee” neon signs, will open its first Northern California outpost inside the hotel. In addition to the usual selection of coffee drinks and tea, there will be some grab-and-go food options available too. All the food and beverage outlets and the hotel itself are expected to open to the public on September 30.

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The post New Restaurant and Rooftop Bar to Open at San Francisco’s Upcoming the LINE Resort in Mid-Market appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

It’s not only the tech giants that are shedding Bay Area office space.

The State Bar of California plans to sell its 250,000-square-foot San Francisco headquarters at 180 Howard St. as the organization transitions to a hybrid work model, as first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.

Employees will be able to work from home three days a week, according to a spokesperson, and the agency will seek space elsewhere in the Bay Area.

The arm of the California Supreme Court that licenses and regulates attorneys purchased the 13-story building in 1995 for $22.5 million, but no sale price has yet been released.

While the news is important when thinking about the future of San Francisco office space, the agency had reportedly been considering selling the building since 2014 and the pandemic sped up its plans. Office occupancy is currently just 35.5% of 2019 levels, data from real estate services firm JLL shared with the Business Times showed.

The organization also told the Business Times they struggled to lease out floors within the building and there were maintenance expenses it wouldn’t be able to handle due to the “way the agency is funded,” spokesperson Teresa Ruano said.

The State Bar did not return SFGATE’s request for comment.

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Scrolling through Instagram on a recent Tuesday, Kevin Diedrich said one image caused him to pause. His award-winning bar, Pacific Cocktail Haven, appeared just as it used to on-screen. It had been a year since an early morning fire triggered by electrical issues forced the celebrated watering hole to temporarily close.

“Last week was our one-year anniversary on Feb. 22,” Diedrich told SFGATE in early March. “It showed up in my Instagram feed … and it was tough. There was so much blood, sweat and tears that went into that place.”

Last February, Diedrich was stirred awake around 3 am by the firm buzz of an incoming call. On the other line, a loyal PCH customer frantically cried, “Kev! Kevin! Your bar is on fire. You’ve got to get down here.” It’s a call Diedrich will never forget as he described the difficult moment to SFGATE after the fire was extinguished. Diedrich then grabbed his belongings and sped to his bar, just a few blocks away from his home , and was confronted with every business owner’s worst nightmare.

Thick, black smoke billowed from the structure as fire crews actively worked to get the blaze under control. By 4 am, the fire was out but it was far too late for the Lower Nob Hill bar that endured severe structural damage. The fire also destroyed all the existing bar equipment, including funky glassware gifted to the bar by customers and Diedrich’s personal collection of rare liquor bottles amassed at conventions or on his travels abroad over the past 10 years.

Owner Kevin Diedrich poses with his signature Thrilla in Manila cocktail at the new location of the Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

“The equipment wasn’t really a concern because that can always be replaced,” Diedrich said. “We had a nice collection of mugs that people would bring from their travels and we would put them up on the beam. Those are things we can’t replace. I think the liquor was the hardest thing for me because they don’t make a lot of these bottles any more. But, at the end of the day, it’s just alcohol and no one was hurt.”

Five years of business had vanished in a moment, but Diedrich, an eternal optimist, wouldn’t let the fire crush his fighting spirit. Nearly a year after the incident, Diedrich, along with business partners Andy Chun and Jan Wiginton, looks forward to reopening the bar March 16 — just three doors down from its original home.

PCH will shift from the bar’s former moody atmosphere at its previous location and welcome guests into a new bright and warm space at 550 Sutter St. Dozens of lights suspended from the ceiling will illuminate exposed brick and a sundry of tropical plants positioned throughout the space. It’s a look Diedrich describes as “subtly tropical” but “not over the top.”

The new interior location for Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

The larger PCH will also offer more wiggle room to comfortably host about 100 customers at max capacity where it can avoid the bottleneck issue often experienced at the former building. But among the greatest features PCH will gain, especially at the two-year pandemic mark, is a gated courtyard positioned by the storefront that Diedrich said is a “game-changer.”

“The biggest thing that attracted us to the building was having this gated courtyard in front of the sidewalk,” he said. “That’s something to be very excited about.”

Securing a new home for PCH was a combination of perseverance, good luck and a connection with the landlord at the new site. The latter came during the pandemic, when PCH was allowed to use the courtyard to seat customers for outdoor service, in addition to the four parklets PCH already owned.

A live plant wall along the exterior seating at the new location for Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

After the fire, Diedrich lost 100% of his equipment and inventory, which resulted in about $430,000 of total losses. He said his insurance only covered $230,000. It was yet another blow for Diedrich, but with the help of a friend, PCH was able to raise an additional $53,000 of donations on GoFundMe that helped pay for staff wages. The stress of it all had Diedrich and his team weighing their options, even entertaining the ugly idea of ​​calling it quits. But he was resolute. Remaining closed wasn’t an option.

“I’m just the type of person who just doesn’t back down on a fight,” Diedrich said. “PCH was my first bar — my baby. So, I said, ‘Let’s buckle down and see what we can do.’”

Determined to stay within Lower Nob Hill, Diedrich and the team reached out to the landlord at 550 Sutter St. to ask about setting up a bar and eventually struck a deal that will bring PCH, which was dubbed the “Best American Cocktail Bar” in the 2020 Spirited Awards, back.

A photograph of the old location of Pacific Cocktail Haven was on the wall of the new location in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

“We had looked at other spaces around the city, but they just didn’t speak to me personally,” Diedrich said. “So, it just happened to work out and we were very fortunate to stay on the block. Our main goal was to stay in this neighborhood.”

PCH’s return comes two years after San Francisco announced shelter-in-place orders on March 16, 2020, and in the aftermath of pandemic closures that shuttered dozens of San Francisco bars and restaurants within the last year alone.

When PCH opened in 2016, it was surrounded by neighboring businesses such as Hopwater, Summer Place, Hogwash and Liholiho Yacht Club. Each has experienced temporary or permanent closures.

Drinks line the shelves behind the bar behind the new location for Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

While there is some concern on Diedrich’s part regarding the empty storefronts nearby, he also said he believes the timing is right. If his other bar, Kona’s Street Market in SoMa, is any indicator, people are coming back.

“Business has been picking up the last week, so that’s definitely a good sign,” he said about Kona’s Street Market. “People are out and about and getting comfortable.”

Diedrich admits that, in many ways, reopening PCH feels like he’s debuting a different bar. That sentiment comes in part from the new space, but also due to a fresh set of bartenders and staff. During the pandemic, many of his veteran bartenders either shifted to different roles within hospitality or left the industry altogether. It resulted in 95% new talent at PCH, with the exception of bar manager Francis Stansky, who’s stayed on board since day one.

Owner Kevin Diedrich pours one of his signature Thrilla in Manila cocktails at Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

Stansky and Diedrich are leading the charge with intense training that focuses on teaching the staff how to fashion the bar’s famous drinks, among other aspects of running the business efficiently. For now, PCH plans to maintain its existing Rolodex of cocktails inspired by bold Asian flavors, so guests new and old can taste standbys like the miso old-fashioned, Thrilla in Manila and Kung Fu Pandan, among other classic bar staples. Eventually, PCH plans to add more creative libations down the road.

It’s been a roller coaster of a year for Diedrich who kept the momentum going with PCH pop-ups and road tours to Fresno and Las Vegas to keep the brand alive. With Wednesday’s reopening, Diedrich said he and his staff are ready for PCH 2.0.

The exterior sign for the new location for Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

“We opened PCH in 2016 with not a whole lot of money … so there’s definitely like a lot of memories of how hard we fought to get the bar open,” he said. “[But] I’ve never been a negative person, so we’re trying to find the positive, not dwell on things, and push forward. I’m surrounded by a lot of awesome people that keep you going… and we’ve built something awesome and special.”

Pacific Cocktail Haven opens March 16 and is now at 550 Sutter St. For now, the bar will operate from Wednesday to Saturday from 5 pm to 12 am

The interior of the new location for Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco on Mar. 11, 2022. The bar is reopening in a new location after being closed for more than a year following a destructive fire in February 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

The post Award-winning San Francisco bar PCH reopens after fireplace appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

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In Act one of “The Nutcracker”, a cozy and familiar world is turned upside down. Toys come to life. Angels, mice and soldiers swarm in the living room. A tree grows right through the ceiling.

Much like Mr. and Mrs. Stahlbaum’s house on Christmas night, the world of the performing arts changed in 2020. Well-established ways of working were turned upside down. And dance, perhaps the most “personal” of all the arts, had to figure out how to move in this unknown new zone. As with Clara and her prince, it takes courage, grace and teamwork to get to the other side.

This Christmas season, a new “Nutcracker” will grace the stage at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, and that’s a fitting synchronicity. Despite all odds, Tulsa Ballet is making a hard-won gift to a city in dire need of magic.

When the company celebrated the 50th anniversary of “The Nutcracker” in Tulsa in 2019, a revision of the production created by the Artistic Director was already planned Marcello Angelini in 2003.

“This version, set in Paris in the 1920s, was built to last 10 years; We never expected her to hold 17, ”says Angelini. “The backdrops faded and torn, costumes tore everywhere. Instead of spending a fortune on the renovation, we decided to change it. “

The new version returns to a more traditional version of ballet and is designed to be accessible to a wide audience.

“Tulsa has come a long way in nearly two decades,” he says. “We are much more diverse than ever before; We are much more connected and integrated with the rest of the world through social media. In 2003 we wanted to take our audience on a magical journey to a distant place, on the magic carpet of dance. We don’t need to do that today; that’s what the internet is for.

“Today we can afford to return to tradition because as a community we move forward with verve and conviction,” he continues. “We will continue to push the cultural boundaries of our community – just not with ‘TheNutcracker’no longer.”

But “traditional” doesn’t mean old hat. Determined to create a “nutcracker” that will appeal to today’s audiences and reach the next generation, Angelini has provided $ 1.5 million in funding and an international creative team.

“It was crucial that the driving forces behind it were people who knew the community, knew what works and what doesn’t, and who are committed to the success of the company through the success of the show,” he says. The audience will see choreographies from Tulsa favorites Ma Bent and Val Caniparoli, first-class multimedia projections and animations by Shawn Boyle and set design by Tracy Grant Mr (whose constantly changing sets for TB’s “Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind the Music” are still a topic of conversation).

In close cooperation with the technical team, the choreographers forged a dance story that would introduce the audience to the familiar story in a sonorous manner. “We all have high goals,” says Caniparoli, who has made versions of the ballet for four different companies. However, thanks to dynamic collaborations, this has driven him into new creative territory, he says.

He is closely associated with the San Francisco Ballet, which premiered the nation’s first complete “Nutcracker” in 1944 – “This traditional version is in my DNA,” he says – and a longstanding artistic connection with Cong, who is his resident choreographer at TB . followed. (Cong played in almost every work Caniparoli created here in Tulsa.)

“Val understands the ‘nutcracker’ recipe that works so well in the US and is a natural storyteller,” says Angelini. “His party scene is absolutely heartwarming. And Ma is a master at creating dynamic, exciting dances. His Mirlitons dance is fast, complex, structured and breathtaking to look at. I love the mix of the traditional and the new. ”The popular dance of the Mirlitons movement in“ The Nutcracker ”begins with playful flutes.

Over generations and worldwide (and of course via Zoom) the dancers developed their visions parallel to those that were developed on the technical side. “It takes constant communication,” says Caniparoli. “We all have to be on the same wavelength and everyone contributes. It’s all for one goal. “

Production started before the pandemic broke out, commissioned as seamstresses and set designers at the Royal New Zealand Ballet with the production of 1,400 items of clothing and accessories as well as elaborate movement scenes for the Tulsa show. Constant disruptions in staff, supply chains and shipping made the genesis of this “nutcracker” almost as thrilling and thrilling as the ballet itself. (In October, the costumes for the show were still on the way and got stuck on a cargo ship in South America.)

In both process and execution, Tulsa Ballet’s new Nutcracker promises an exciting journey of adventure, perseverance and joy – one that connects the past and the future in a collaborative present.

The post Shifting the bar | About City appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

By Dave Pehling

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – The San Francisco music scene lost one of its hardest-working and beloved champions last month when punk promoter Scott Rogers (aka Scott Alcoholocaust) died after an intense 18 month battle with metastatic prostate cancer.

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Rogers was an essential cornerstone of the live music scene in the Bay Area for a quarter of a century, tirelessly promoting punk and metal concerts at venues on both sides of the bay – often organizing multiple events on the same night – under his pseudonym (Alcoholocaust Gifts) and presented his banner for deep loading.

In 1988, Rogers moved from Nevada City to San Francisco, rushed into booking concerts in 1995, and devoured enough money to support himself in the first few months of a passionate project that didn’t make him much financial gain, but the promoter made a wealthy man in terms of friends, admirers, and good times in the decades that followed.

Rogers was diagnosed with cancer in February last year, just a month before the COVID-19 pandemic would close all venues where he would put on shows, effectively cutting off his livelihood. A GoFundMe campaign quickly raised tens of thousands of dollars, and eventually raised over $ 140,000 from friends, fans, and supporters who were desperate to put on Rogers’ benefit concerts but couldn’t.

While promoting shows at dozens of San Francisco and East Bay venues over the years, Rogers has probably spent more time knockouting in San Francisco’s Mission District than anywhere outside of his own home over the past decade. Fittingly, the dive bar and live venue will host a series of tribute concerts in memory of Rogers and his great service for punk and metal fans in the Bay Area.

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Starting on Tuesday evening with a show in the SF noise pop outfit Pardoner, the concert series includes a number of bands that have performed regularly at Alcoholocaust / Depth Charge, including the twangy Swamp Garage punk crew Whatglades, the artistic, edgy trio Rip Room (both on Wednesday) and hectic, disturbed local punk outfits Warp, Grosero and Bruja (all on Thursday).

Friday night things turn towards metal with chugging Oakland headbangers Moses accompanied by SF mud veterans Hazzard’s Cure, up-and-coming punk / metal crew Glowing Brain and corrosive Oakland crust metal band AnsiA.

While the plan called for friends of Rogers to gather at El Rio across the street for a memorial service on Saturday lunchtime, followed by a procession back to the knockout for more live music, organizers prompted concerns about the spread of COVID-19 to be canceled these plans. Instead, there will be an informal meeting at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Further details can be found on Facebook.

Sunday closes the series of tribute shows with rock en espanol punks Deseos Primitivos from Oakland, the goofy pop punk band Whoosie What’s It’s and the song stylings by Spike Slawson (Me First & the Gimmie Gimmies, Swingin ‘Udders ) away. Unfortunately the gypsy jazz band King City had to cancel. Please visit the Knockout website for more information.

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Scott Alcohol Ocaust Remembrance Week
Tuesday-Sunday, 20.-25. July, times vary; $ 7 (Saturday afternoon show free)
The knockout

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Maggie McGarry’s isn’t a sports bar, says the co-owner.

This may be new to you if you’ve visited North Beach. And it was new to me when I spoke to Mick Graham, who repeated his attitude throughout our conversation.

“We’re all over the map,” he told me. “We are a chameleon bar. We have soccer during the day [Editor’s note: soccer] and then on the weekends professional and university sports. At night it changes to music. So we have a bit of everything. I don’t know what we are, but we are something. “

On this Tuesday at the end of September, I have to admit that it definitely feels like I’m in a sports bar.

Members of the San Francisco Manchester City Blues watch a Champions League game at Maggie McGarry’s in San Francisco on September 28, 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

The San Francisco Manchester City Blues, a fan club, cheer inside, necks to the televisions hanging over the bar for their beloved Manchester City Football Club (Graham’s favorite team). Another contingent of football fans, the Bay Area Gooners, apparently also support their football club Arsenal at Maggie McGarry’s through thick and thin.

Football memorabilia adorn the walls, including a frame of the “three footballers” exiled from Maggie McGarry’s field (likely without her knowledge) for previous infractions: Roy Keane, Thierry Henry and Stephen Ireland. And Graham has also become a huge local sports fan since moving to the US in 1989, supporting both the 49ers and the Giants.

A poster in the back of the bar shows the three footballers who are not welcome at Maggie McGarry’s in San Francisco on September 28, 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

“When I came here in 1989, I was actually an A fan. I didn’t know any other way, ”he says. “After that I actually defected because I thought Jose Canseco and Ricky Henderson were a little too bold for me.”

So what is there? What’s wrong with Maggie McGarry’s, who has been a fixture on North Beach for more than a decade?

It turned out that the square on Grant Ave. 1353, along the busy stretch between Green Street and Vallejo Street, always had a hard-to-pinpoint backstory that Graham pampers me with the parklet he jokingly calls the Veranda. His combed back gray hair hugs the nape of his neck and reaches down to the collar of his shirt, the first distinguishable characteristic of him until his thick Irish accent takes center stage.

Mick Graham, co-owner of Maggie McGarry’s, pours himself a pint behind the bar on September 28, 2021 in San Francisco.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

“Back in order, it was Miss Smith’s Tea Room, a lesbian bar, then it became the Coffee Gallery and then the Lost and Found Saloon, a dingy pub,” says Graham.

Miss Smith’s Tea Room was in the heart of North Beach from 1954 to 1960, when North Beach preceded the Polk Gulch area as one of the first neighborhoods in San Francisco to have a small cohort of bars and restaurants as safe places for LGBTQ people. Community has been set up. The tea room belonged to Connie Smith, a former waitress at the Artists Club (another LGBTQ-friendly bar on 345 Pacific Avenue) and was in an essay titled, according to Dick Boyd. known as a “lesbian pick-up point” “In front of the Castro: North Beach, a gay mecca.”

A mural painted on the wall by Maggie McGarry shows former musicians who performed in previous incarnations at the location in San Francisco on September 28, 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

In the 1960s, the Coffee Gallery emerged, a well-known meeting place for “romantic visionaries, distant poets and drinking locals”, according to Bill Morgan in his book “The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour”. With a stage behind two mammoth doors that reach almost to the ceiling, the Coffee Gallery also served as a music venue for the early songs and performances of Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, and The Great Society.

On the backstage wall of Maggie McGarry’s in San Francisco hangs a poster for the Coffee Gallery, which was once a store on September 28, 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

On this subject, Graham has a fond memory of Thanksgiving in 2019. A man walked into Maggie McGarry’s and mentioned that he had played at that place about 30 years ago, then at the Coffee Gallery. The man turned out to be George Thorogood, best known for his song “Bad to the Bone”.

“He drove here from San Diego and there was an S-t band on stage [that night]”Says Graham. “But they said, ‘George, you have to play, you have to play.’ So he got up and sang two songs, brought down the house, and they paid him two beers. “

On the left, musician George Thorogood poses on stage with Maggie McGarry’s co-owner Mick Graham. Thorogood played in the bar in the past when it was called Coffee Gallery. On the right is a signed autograph that Thorogood gave Graham after visiting the bar.

Courtesy Mick Graham

After Thorogood told Graham his story, Graham politely asked for an autograph. “[Thorogood] said: “30 years ago my friend told me that one day I would go to this bar again when I was famous and someone asked me for my autograph. And you just did it. ‘”

In 1980 the Coffee Gallery was transformed into the Lost and Found Saloon. That endeavor took about 25 years, and Graham said that in his time “hunting ladies” he would even go to the bar himself. In early 2006, Graham and four other career bartenders took the plunge and signed their first bar lease. On July 26, 2006, Graham and his wife Màirèad – who previously worked in Irish pubs like Terry’s Lodge and Molly Malone’s – officially gave pints to pints At Maggie McGarry’s, renamed after Màirèad himself (Maggie is a nickname).

In the meanwhile 14 years, Maggie McGarry’s has earned a reputation as an all-rounder – with a focus on its sports offer. Cover music is the order of the day on Friday and Saturday evenings. On Thursdays there are original acts playing under the spirits of the music kings. Some evenings they even let plebs on the sacred stage when they do karaoke – the kind of karaoke where if you’re too good you say to sing somewhere else. Every other night there will likely be a sporting event on the screen, with fans in team uniform screaming about mistakes by the referees or advantageous moves by their opponent.

Customers sit at the bar at Maggie McGarry’s in San Francisco on September 28, 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

During the front end of the pandemic, Maggie McGarry offered none of this. It closed for seven months and was even closed a couple of times for violations of individual health authorities that Graham failed to elaborate on, aside from being wrong. “They were right. We tried to follow the line. Everyone had a year,” said Graham. “We had our run-ins with them [the health department] and the mayor, but they’re all just doing their job. I don’t want to have been a politician or a health department in the middle of it all. Because you are damned if you do, you are damned if you don’t. No matter what you do, you were wrong. “

But things are starting to develop, thanks largely to the San Francisco Giants. Graham says the Giants’ unexpectedly successful season was “a kick in the head” that should get more fans to watch Maggie McGarry. He’s not sure if it will hit the “sheer chaos” level of 2010s fandom, but he’s still hopeful – in large part because he’s a converted Giants fan himself.

The parklet was built for customers outside of Maggie McGarry’s on Grant Avenue in San Francisco on September 28, 2021.

Douglas Zimmerman / SFGATE

Which brings us back to where we started: Can a bar that relies on the Giants and that regularly hosts soccer games really get away with not being considered a sports bar? Does demarcation matter at all?

No, probably not. Maggie McGarry’s lives from changing its colors depending on the time of day, month or year. It includes the local soccer fan clubs flocking to watch their teams, the regulars just having fun people-watching over a pint, and the sweaty, dissolute youngsters turning away from Tupelo Dance across the street to the Tope Lounge. Graham only cares where they end their night: Maggie McGarry’s, possibly the best sports bar in North Beach.

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Aside from the cars and the occasional passers-by, Market Street was quiet on a Thursday night. The same cannot be said of The Mint, a karaoke institution founded in 1993.

Avril Lavigne, The Cranberries, Bing Crosby – here the playlist is scattered, dictated by the whims and whistles of the guests. The constants are strong drinks, high energy, and a diverse crowd ranging from 20 to eighty year olds.

The Mint (1942 Market St.) reopened for the first time since the pandemic shutdown began on June 17th. And the regular guests are happy that she is back. A lot of the people we spoke to have been coming to this humble karaoke bar for 10, 20, almost 30 years. Some regulars stop by at least twice a week.

SFGATE reporter Amanda Bartlett fills out her Song Request Card at The Mint.

Patricia Chang / Special for SFGATE

“It reminds me of ‘Cheers’,” said regular Tony Maddox. “We all know each other, we all feel comfortable singing around each other. It’s a second family, a second home. ”

Not much has reportedly changed since the pandemic forced The Mint to close its doors in March 2020. Before the pandemic, easily more than 100 people filled the bar every Saturday evening, many came with stomachs full of sake and unlimited sushi from Sushi to Joy next door. Regulars cheered newcomers and sweaty dance battles broke out. At some point, the DJ usually jumped on stage to take the mic for his own solo.

SFGATE reporter Michelle Robertson gets help from the DJ and the crowd at The Mint.

Patricia Chang / Special for SFGATE

What has changed above all is that you no longer have to leaf through a laminated, alcohol-soaked songbook – instead, the participants scan a QR code that leads them to a digital song directory. But other than a plastic partition around the bar and disposable microphone covers, everything else seemed normal (as normal as a place like The Mint can be).

It’s just after 6 p.m. and the opening chords of George Michael’s power ballad “A Different Corner” penetrate the back of the room. Maddox strolls to the stage and positions himself in front of a colorful backdrop. Behind him is the silhouette of an animated character reminiscent of a 2005 iPod commercial, and he offers a few twists of his own while humming in a rich vibrato, then receives applause when he returns to his seat.

The enthusiastic audience at The Mint.

Patricia Chang / Special for SFGATE

Another woman who wears a flannel and has her long gray hair tied in a ponytail surprises us when she brings out Bruno Mars ‘”Uptown Funk”, followed shortly by Britney Spears’ “Toxic”. It’s a pretty humble audience at this point of no more than 20 people or so, but almost all of them scream to dance next to her and put their fingers against the ceiling to underline their lyrics. “Free Britney!” she screams and her new found fans scream excitedly in response. Then a stocky, older man takes her place and warns his fourth Frank Sinatra song of the evening.

All bets are closed at The Mint: you can sing whatever you want (with the exception of “Hey Jude,” such a regular) and take on a whole new role, if only for a few minutes. Many of the people who take the stage probably haven’t sung loudly in over a year – at least beyond the confines of homes or cars.

SFGATE reporter Madeline Wells appears on The Mint.

Patricia Chang / Special for SFGATE

But the community is so closely connected that long-time guests feel at home even after a long absence, even if they have moved outside of the Bay Area. Bradley Sweet, for example, was visiting from Reno. The mint was one of his first stops when he returned to town, and although it was his first visit in four years, he was instantly recognized. “No matter how long you’ve been away, when you’ve been here and met people, they’ll still remember you. It’s like you haven’t left, ”says Sweet.

The exterior of The Mint.

Patricia Chang / Special for SFGATE

For singers like Sweet, Maddox and many more, karaoke isn’t just a passive form of after-hours entertainment. In a way, it can be a cathartic release from the caged day-to-day life to which we have adapted during the pandemic. After a solemn year marked by loss and tragedy, we all need something ridiculous and ridiculous to help us let go and let off some steam. For many people, this something is the common consolation and the common exit to belt out Christina Aguilera hits at The Mint at the top of your throat.

“I’ve been coming here for 20 years. Why am i coming here? I have absolutely no idea, ”Maddox mused. “It’s the best place.”

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