Walking San Francisco

Knock down some pins while enjoying a brew and a burger at the Mission Bowling Club.

PARKING: Street parking can be difficult to find day or night. There is off-street parking at the corner of 18th and Valencia Sts.

As the sun goes down on the Mission District, the neighborhood’s vibrant murals fade into the shadows and irresistible artificial light splashes out onto sidewalks from the barrooms. This is one of the city’s very best nightlife zones. The entertainment options are varied and of high quality, with a healthy mix of dives, supper clubs, and live-music venues. This tour selects several scattered spots, and you’ll no doubt want to whittle it down a bit to avoid passing out somewhere. A lot of ground is covered, and some of the streets are a bit dodgy at night. Use good sense while walking down dark blocks. You might also want to break a cardinal rule of walking tours and call on a taxi or ride share to bridge the gaps now and then.

Walk Description

If you’re starting out in late afternoon or early evening head to

Zeitgeist, where bikers and heavily tatted rockers hang out, at the corner of Valencia Street and Duboce Avenue. The draw here is the outdoor beer garden—actually nothing more than a graveled lot with picnic tables and a freeway ramp looming above it. Yet somehow, in the twilight on a warmish evening, this is one of the best places to be in San Francisco. You needn’t be a local or a biker or have any street cred to fit in here. You can grab a greasy burger and similar fare from a window next to the pool table. Bring a deck of cards, and make yourself at home.

Before you get too comfortable, though, head down Valencia Street several blocks to the

Elbo Room, between 17th and 18th Streets. If you’re short on time or you’d rather not walk too far, this is a great place to start your journey. The bar has been operating in some capacity or other since the end of Prohibition, but it’s been a Mission District mainstay since the early 1990s. If you can snare a stool at the sexy, curvaceous bar, then you deserve a suave cocktail of some kind. When things get cranking here—9 or 10 p.m., usually—it can be difficult to get anywhere near a bartender or server. Bands (rock, Latin, miscellaneous) and DJs work the room upstairs. Have an early drink, return to 17th Street, turn right, and mosey on.

Next stop is the

Uptown, at 17th and Capp Streets. This is one of the city’s great dives. It doesn’t look particularly welcoming from the outside (extra points for that), and the location isn’t great (more extra points), but step in and you’ll have a hard time leaving. The old Formica booths and cool lighting are almost too perfect, but the place is real, very low-key, and more of a local hangout than most of the Mission’s hipster joints. Play some pinball or shoot some pool before moving on.

Down a block and across the street, the

Mission Bowling Club offers six bowling lanes, a full bar, and one of the best upscale burgers the Mission has to offer. Lanes are usually reserved in advance, but you might get lucky if you show up early. Otherwise, check out the retro bowling art, grab a beer at the bar, and head back out. A little farther down, on the desolate corner of 17th and Folsom Streets, is the unassuming

Rite Spot Cafe. From the outside the bar appears to have been closed for years—it’s a great look. But inside you’ll find a sleepy, candlelit, self-described dive that feels a little like stepping back in time. Truthfully, it’s a supper club, with a long bar, a rickety piano, a mess of tables and barely enough space for the band, making for an intimate experience. The calendar is eclectic, offering everything from top-notch soul and blues to trivia and comedy nights. As for the food, try the chicken cacciatore sandwich slathered in melted cheese and mayonnaise.

A classic supper club, the Rite Spot hosts everything from live jazz to trivia nights.

From the Rite Spot, follow 17th Street to Alabama Street and turn right. When you hit 20th, turn left to duck into the former warehouse that now houses one of the city’s best cocktail bars,

Trick Dog. The clever novelty menus change every six months (they’ve been everything from in-flight safety cards to a book of paint swatches), but there’s nothing gimmicky about their award-winning cocktails. As you head back the way you came on 20th, you’ll come upon the

Atlas Cafe, which has been holding down this corner since 1996. The Atlas is a low-key, slightly arty coffee shop with an upbeat vibe. You can order beer, pizzas, and tasty sandwiches here. The only drawback is the place closes at 10 p.m. If it’s a Thursday night around 8 p.m., definitely make this stop, since that’s when the Atlas features live bluegrass music. On Saturday afternoons, from 4 to 6 p.m., it’s ragtime.

Continue on 20th Street to Mission Street. The next couple of blocks have enough bars for a full weekend bender. Just north on Mission, off 20th, you can’t miss

Bruno’s bold, lit-up sign. It opened in the 1940s as a clubby Italian American restaurant with sleek lines, mood lighting, and plush Naugahyde booths. In the 1990s the place benefited from renewed interest in mid-20th-century swank and highball culture. An intimate jazz room was added. After a 2006 remodel, Bruno’s is still a classy place for cocktails, but the musicians have been replaced by DJs, and they’re open to the public only on Friday and Saturday (other nights are reserved for events).

Turning around and heading south to the next block of Mission, between 20th and 21st Streets, one of the Mission’s finest dives,

Doc’s Clock, moved a block from its original haunt after a landlord dispute. They did, however, keep their iconic sign—walk across the street for a good look, as it’s a real beauty that promises good times within. The new venue is little changed, and they still plan interesting events, such as Doggie Happy Hour (bring your pooch), Barbie Mutilation Night (!), and film screenings by local filmmakers. No cover.

A block farther and across the street, you’ll see a line on the sidewalk for folks clamoring to hit the rare rooftop bar at

El Techo, above the restaurant Lolinda. If you can score a spot, you’ll find Latin American street food, amazing views, and heat lamps and wind breaks (it is San Francisco, after all).

When you get to 22nd, turn left to hit

Urban Putt, an artful indoor take on minigolf housed in an abandoned mortuary. The course is steampunk-zany, featuring local landmarks like painted Victorians shaking in an “earthquake” and an “underwater” hole, among others. A full bar and tasty eats in the adjoining restaurant round out the experience.

After a few holes in one, head back the way you came to hit the

Make-Out Room, just off the corner of 22nd, an idiosyncratic watering hole that’s been a neighborhood stalwart for more than a decade now. With dim lighting and an assemblage of Formica tables scattered over a concrete floor, it’s nothing fancy, but disco balls and hanging streamers add a certain amount of festivity. Many nights after 8 p.m. it features live bands—everything from cowpunk to indie rock—and charges a cover.

If the music scene at the Make-Out doesn’t steam your glasses, head up the block on 22nd Street to the down-to-earth

Latin American Club for quirky art, pool tables, and a friendly mass of tourists and locals alike. Beware the pint-glass margaritas—they can be deadly.

Our final spot is the

Lone Palm, awash in old-school charm. Martinis, tea lights, and small tables draped with white linen invite whispered conversation, but this place still manages to feel a bit like a back-alley joint. Even better: free bar snacks on every table. Enough said.

Free snacks, stiff martinis, and candlelit tables make the Lone Palm a perennial favorite.