Still cool (thanks to Sean Penn)
One of San Francisco’s greatest gossip columnists was Herb Caen, and among his favorite haunts was Tosca, a dimly lit North Beach bar on Columbus Avenue across the street from City Lights Books, just past Broadway.
On March 24, 1987, Caen wrote, “At midnight yesterday, Rudi Nureyev, the grand master of the ballet, was holding court at a corner booth in the Tosca Cafe, a place that doesn’t serve food. When he said he wanted a hamburger but didn’t want to go out, owner Jeannette Etheredge imported chef Willy Bishop from Capp’s Corner to turn out a batch in Tosca’s closet of a kitchen.”
Info
Address 242 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94133, www.toscacafesf.com, +1 415.986.9651 | Public Transport Bus: 10, 12 (Pacific Ave & Kearny St stop); 41 (Columbus Ave & Broadway St stop) | Hours Mon–Sun 5pm–2am| Tip Try the house "cappuccino," a bourbon-based cocktail with chocolate and milk.
Tosca opened in 1919 and for years held a reputation as a dive bar frequented by the Beats and literati. By the eighties, celebrity sightings of all kinds were the norm, but Tosca never lost its loyalty to its locals. It was noted for its all-opera jukebox, its worn red fake leather seats, its 1920s espresso machine, its famous back room for pool and pols, and the pervasive charm of Ms. Etheredge—a welcoming and surprising character. Her circle of friends included, among others, Johnny Depp, Hunter S. Thompson, Sam Shepard, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Bono was even inspired by North Beach Tosca to open his own short-lived Tosca restaurant in Dublin in the early 1990s.
In 2013, Ms. Etheredge owed $100,000 in back rent to the landlord and was served with an eviction notice. Sean Penn, a longtime customer, brokered a deal for two New York restaurateurs—chef April Bloomfield and her partner Ken Friedman—to buy the place. Today, Tosca has a kitchen and is listed as one of Bon Apetit’s top ten new restaurants in America.
The original old murals lit up over the bar still take you back to the ancient ruins of Rome and the Castel Sant’Angelo. The hazy orange patina on the ceilings, left over from years of smoke-filled days and nights, is a reminder of Tosca’s storied past.
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