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

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ACROSS CALIFORNIA — From its beaches to its deserts and mountains, from its lakes and forests to its small towns and big cities, there’s just so much to see in California! And we got to thinking: Why not share the photos we receive, and see elsewhere, with you?

Thanks to several Patch readers who’ve been very busy lately with their cameras, we’re able to share the below photos taken across the state. Take a look at this week’s “California In Photos” for glimpses of daily life and scenery up the coast in Northern California and down the coast in Southern California.

It’s Your State, It’s Your Shot!

It’s your turn, photographers. Whether you’re an amateur, a professional, an Instagrammer or just the one who always has their phone or camera ready so as not to miss that perfect shot, we’re excited to view and share your work. If you have an awesome photo of nature, breathtaking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch, we’d love to feature it here on Patch.

We’re looking for high-resolution images that reflect the beauty that is California and that show off your unique talents. Share your best photos with Patch and your work could be featured in your community as well as in this weekly collection of California in pictures. Email your submissions to autumn.johnson@patch.com. Be sure to include your name, the city, location of the photo and date.

Did you miss our most recent “California In Photos?” It is worth another look:

The post San Francisco At Sundown | Lion Dance For Additional Luck: CA In Photographs appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

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The post Barber in S.F. Sundown District to retire after 6 a long time – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

“Practically perfect in every way.” When the audience hears that, we know exactly who that means: the wise, magical nanny who flies in on an umbrella and meets the hearts of everyone she meets.

It is also an accurate description of the excellent production that is now enchanting audiences at the Sunset Playhouse. And just in case you think you are too big for your bitches to see Mary Poppins, think again. There were many “big kids” in the audience without the little ones in tow. And they are all the smarter – and delighted – for it.

Director Nate C. Adams did an incredible job with the talented, multi-faceted 36-person cast, taking the latest Broadway musical adaptation and making it work wonderfully in the Sunset room, and doing some engineering marvels in the meantime. Mary Poppins flies! And very well, based on the screams of joy from all the children at the last Sunday matinee.

We all know the story of Mary and those villainous Banks kids, Jane and Michael, their stern, aloof father George, their worried mother Winifred, and the wonderful mix of characters like Bert the chimney sweep. The latest adaptation includes some new songs and characters, as well as many familiar tunes from the popular classic Julie Andrews / Dick Van Dyke. There’s Miss Andrew, George Banks’ nanny, who ends up terrorizing the family. Mary comes back to the rescue.

There are so many good performances and dance numbers during the performance that it’s a challenge to list them all here. But Brianna Rose Lipor recreates Mary Poppins beautifully, from her soaring chant to her detailed recreation of the Mary we know and love. It’s a pleasure to watch Eric Welsh from start to finish when he and Bert show a lot of the fancy footwork of choreographer Ashley Patin, especially in the chimney sweep dance-off “Step In Time”. Brant Allen (Mr. Banks), Carrie A. Gray (Mrs. Banks) Ella Rose Kleefisch (Jane) and Casey Westphal (Michael) impress both individually and as a family unit, which requires intervention from Mary Poppins.

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One of the additional numbers on the show sums up the fun of seeing this Mary Poppins production. “Anything can happen” and it does, especially when the very special nanny flies in. Then the real fun begins.

Until November 4th at the Sunset Playhouse, 790 Wall Street, Elm Grove. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit www.SunsetPlayhouse.com

The post ‘Mary Poppins’ Continues to Delight at Sundown Playhouse appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The Sunset District could get a 100 percent affordable housing project of up to 100 units, many of which are family-oriented – the first of its kind in the neighborhood, according to supervisor Gordon Mar.

Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation plans to build a low-income housing estate at 2550 Irving St. near 26th Avenue, one block from Golden Gate Park.

The mayor’s office for housing and community development has raised $ 15 million from the voter-approved affordable housing bond of 2019, spokesman Max Barnes said Monday.

“It is the first affordable housing project specifically for families,” said Mar, who represents the region. “This is exactly the kind of housing we need at sunset to ensure that low-income families can live in our neighborhood.”

The Irving Street project will begin construction on what is now the Police Credit Union site in 2023 and could reach seven floors. The costs have not yet been determined as the project is still in an early stage of development.

MOHCD will release funds pending a budget from TNDC, project approval from a municipal loan committee, and final approval from the supervisory board.

The project promises commercial space, parking spaces for cars and bicycles, and offices on the ground floor. The units will be a mix of studios and up to three bedrooms.

“Creating more affordable housing across San Francisco is at the heart of our COVID-19 recovery strategy. We are excited to work with TNDC to bring much-needed sustainable affordable housing to sunset,” said Eric Shaw, director of MOHCD, in a Explanation . “We are continuing to expand our pipeline and focus on equitable investments to meet the housing needs of residents across the city.”

MOHCD announced on Friday that it has selected nonprofit property developer Tenderloin after deciding in 2019 to acquire locations in Districts 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 for affordable housing.

Community meetings hosted by TNDC and Mar will begin in January to determine the bedroom mix of the units and get feedback on design and affordability.

“TNDC is grateful and humble to help more families stay housed and thrive by bringing affordable housing to a neighborhood with high-performing public schools and access to resources like grocery stores and public transportation,” said Donald S. Falk, CEO of TNDC. “With our community-based approach, we look forward to working with the Sunset neighborhood, MOHCD, and a number of partners to further address the San Francisco housing crisis and keep the city alive.”

Another affordable housing project in the Sunset District dedicated to educators is underway at the Francis Scott Key Annex at 1360 43rd Avenue. Construction of more than 100 family-sized residential units will be completed in 2023.

Mar’s office hopes to make affordable neighborhood housing projects less infrequent by facilitating the creation of a nonprofit Westside property developer with the help of TNDC and Mission Economic Development Agency.

An initiative called Sunset Forward, which involves the planning department and local organizations, engages District 4 residents through focus groups and surveys to prioritize housing, transportation, businesses, and services.

“That was one of the challenges in developing affordable housing on the West Side, the lack of a not-for-profit housing association focused on our neighborhoods,” said Mar. “I’m just really excited about this project and looking forward to doing it with community To drive contributions. “

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The post Reasonably priced housing challenge deliberate for Sundown District households – The San Francisco Examiner appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.