Before it was a center of farm-to-table, small-batch artisanal, craft-everything, San Francisco was a Gold Rush town. Specifically, a rough-and-tumble, quickly constructed city filled with miners, sailors, perverts, degenerates, prostitutes,…
“This is an old place,” declares the descriptor on the Hotel Utah’s menu. Old, indeed—especially for a young state such as California. The Utah was built in 1908, and—modern conveniences…
Opened in 1948, Vesuvio was the regular haunt of literary luminaries like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and hometown hero Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Its prestigious clientele and popular neighbor, City Lights Bookstore,…
Established in 1907, The Savoy has long prided itself being a cross-section of society: “A favorite of Hippies and Beats, Punks and Preps, Ladies and Gents.” The sprawling, Grant Street…
It’s all about the midcentury glam at Tony Nik’s, a well-appointed North Beach lounge that would make the Rat Pack feel right at home. The bar opened in 1933, immediately…
Tadich has staked its claim as the oldest restaurant in California (it has origins in an 1849 coffee stand), and its traditional, seafood-heavy menu of Gold Rush-era favorites is as…
The eccentricity of San Francisco—in all its left wing, bawdy glory—is on full display at Specs’, also known as the Adler Museum Cafe. The bar doubles as a pack rat’s…
Legendary San Francisco columnist Herb Caen once described Zam Zam as, “a place that time forgot, its curving bar filled with worshipers sitting in silent contemplation of the silver bullet…
Get in touch with your inner sailor over a cold beer (or a bracing glass of Pisco Punch) at The Old Ship Saloon, a bar that sits above the final…
