Lucky Horseshoe New Name for Old Skip’s

The old Skip's sign still hangs. However, the balloons represent the grand reopening.

Reporting LIVE from the scene, I met Lisa Marie (pictured), new owner of the bar formerly known as Skip’s Tavern. The place is mid-construction, but open tonight for the Summer Solstice Stroll in Bernal Heights. Lisa Marie says there will be specialty and seasonal beers this summer. The big scoop? I already gave it up in the title: The new name of the bar will be “Lucky Horseshoe”. Can’t go wrong with good beer. Positive note to start! Opens officially Saturday, June 25. High Noon.

One of my most memorable experiences of Skip’s Tavern was on my 35th birthday. Friends of mine and I had eaten at Geranium, the old vegetarian place now occupied by the very popular ‘Moki’s’. We needed a place to keep the party going so we stumbled our loud drunk selves down to 453 Cortland. There was no band there that night, which was a good thing for our hearing. Many times you could hear the band outside of Skip’s a block away. And the music was very specifically blues rock. If you didn’t like VERY loud blues guitar whaling in your ears, well then you’d have to find a different bar.

Proprietor of the new Lucky Horseshoe (former Skip's)

Skip’s certainly added mojo to an ever increasingly gentrifying neighborhood. I remember it as a place you felt comfortable being yourself, even if that self wanted to get somewhat over inebriated. There was a certain novelty to the worn decor and the old-timer regulars were always a hoot. It had a special rugged sort of atmosphere that stood out in the bar scene on Bernal. Noone but yourself was going to tell you how loud or stupid funny you and your friends were going to be. That’s what attracted me to the place.  Adding to the mojo was the fact that several years ago some twenty-something kid bought a lotto ticket at Skip’s and WON!! (Rumor had it that it was the kid’s 21st birthday!) I believe the winnings were somewhere around 20 million bucks. So the mystique of Skip’s grew but the clientele continued to grow older.

It appears the bar will be dog friendly… Woo hoo!

I imagine the new owners know about the lucky lotto kid. They are planning to re-brand the bar as the Lucky Horseshoe. Though I am sure they are referring to the circular configuration of the bar itself and not the lotto winner. I do appreciate that you can walk around the horse-shoe shaped bar un-encumbered and order a drink from pretty much anywhere you like. It’s rare thing in the bar world. They just don’t make em that way anymore. Preserving the horse-shoe shaped bar is obviously important to the new owner, Lisa Marie. Above the bar they built an ambient oval light that matches the bar shape perfectly. They also ‘uncovered’ and lit up a mural that was painted by a bar patron in the fifties who painted it for free beer, presumably while drunk. It’s an ambient orange-ish mural with a cowboy and indian motif. I have to imagine the new owners will be following this motif throughout the bar.

Lisa Marie is super friendly and handled the busy bar with a kind smile and confident grace.

Music should be a regular thing again by August.

She is a Bernal resident, so she doesn’t have to burn fossil fuels anymore to get to her previous employ way out at the Riptide. She also seems to understand the appeal of our beloved Bernal Heights and she seems very genuinely confident in her intentions. It took her three years to wrest the bar from the previous owner hands. I am not sure how much she paid, but the fact that it was in escrow for some nine month’s couldn’t have been cheap.

Lisa Marie shaking, not stirring.Music should be a regular thing again by August.

Yesterday was the grand preview-opening of the new bar. It coincided with the first annual Summer Solstice walk on Bernal Height’s incredibly neighborhood-ly Cortland Street. The bar opening had a couple of fantastic blue grass bands that I would recommend to anyone. The first was the Kentucky Twisters. The latter was the Shedhouse. Both were terrific! Though the Lucky Horseshoe will have to reapply for their cabaret license Lisa Marie assured us that it should be issued by August.

I had a pretty tart margarita followed by a much sweeter and delicious Herradera margarita(apparently Lisa overheard me talking about the tartness of the first one and made the second one more to my liking) and my buddies had their standard beers and whiskey. The pours were very fair and the beer was cold and fresh. Lisa Marie mentioned that she plans to have specialty drinks and seasonal beers for summer that’ll be ready when they officially open.

All in all I would say that the Lucky Horseshoe will be a super friendly casual and comfortable spot to tie one on and a great ‘addition’ to Bernal Heights night life. The new ownership is friendly and forward thinking, so if you looking to get ‘lucky’ head on over the new spot at 453 Cortland. You won’t be disappointed!

Is it Easter for Skip’s?

Skip's Locals

If you never got the chance to visit the old Skip’s Tavern before it was sold and closed a couple months ago, this post is for you. Today, the new owners are previewing their bar that will be going into the space at 453 Cortland (a blog commenter over on Bernalwood noticed that “The 453 Cortland Tavern” is a sponsor of tonight’s Summer Solstice stroll on Cortland Ave. Will that name stick? Maybe we’ll find out more tonight from 6pm-9pm when the bar will be open for the first time.) Whatever the space that once was Skip’s becomes, let’s take a moment to take one last (virtual) breath of that dank air. See in our mind’s eye that wonderful horseshoe shaped bar. Listen for the blues music. And, of course, remember the awesome local patrons from all walks of life that made Skip’s so damn fun!

Skip’s Vibe

Skip’s Locals

Inexpensive Maker’s

Stacked Bar at Skip’s

Never won the Lottery

Skip’s Locals

Drinks

Skip’s Memories

I know those two!

The horseshoe bar

Let’s hope the new space continues to be legendary.

Come to Cortland for the Summer Solstice Stroll, Tuesday! (via Bernalwood)

As the excellent steward of all things Bernal Height notes on his blog, tonight on Cortland Street should be lots of fun with a planned stroll down the street with opportunities to visit and chat with local businesses, neighbors and other interested parties. The weather gods seem to appreciate this event, with one of the hottest days in recent memory on tap. Should be a warm and pleasant evening for a stroll! Bars and Bartenders correspondent(s?) will be on the scene to also document the opening of the new bar where the legendary Skip’s once stood. Come out and enjoy the beautiful night in one of San Francisco’s best neighborhoods!

In winter we wandered Cortland merrily for the Holiday Stroll. Now the days are longer and the weather is (marginally) warmer, so it's time for the 2011 Summer Solstice Stroll! Come on out tomorrow evening, Tuesday, June 21, starting at 6 pm for a neighborly walkabout on Cortland. The stroll is sponsored by  the Bernal Business Alliance and Bernal Bucks, and there will be yummy food, drinky treats, and cheerful people-watching. (Fashion tip: Per … Read More

via Bernalwood

La Linda Salinas, Ecuador

La linda #salinas #Ecuador, a photo by the_Merses on Flickr.

While most Americans have probably never heard of (much less thought about visiting) Salinas, Ecuador, I’m thinking some readers of the @mundohood blog just may have already been there. About 2 hours North of Guayaquil on Pacific Ocean, Salinas is a lovely place. It’s about 60,000 people year-round, and balloons to upwards of 150,000 during high season (December to May). We recently visited, and will get posting about the places to stay and visit as soon as possible. In the meantime, please enjoy the view.

Shhh… Please Don’t Tell

After a warm sunny day of peddling our bikes around NYC’s Governor’s Island, dancing to some pretty funky grooves and drinking beers on a warm sandy beach with a perfect view of the NYC skyline, and afterward taking an unbelievably fascinating stroll on the brand new High Line Park in Midtown, and after completing some rather tedious errands involving a very expensive and failed attempt to get a group corporate discount at Hertz rent-a-car, my date and I finally made our way to the East Village to meet some friends for drinks. Our local NYC friends had decided that we’d meet at a speak-easy called ‘PDT’.

It took some convincing for me at first because at the time the thought of hard alcohol and hot dogs made my stomach turn. We had very empty stomachs and our taste buds had been prepared for sushi and sake as that was our original plan. But our desire to socialize with good friends overcame our desire for the savory flavors of sushi and sake. The much craved spicy tuna roll and unfiltered variety of chilled sake would have to wait. And after our friend’s enthusiastic support of PDT how could we resist.  After all, they are the locals so they know the hot spots, right?

Our friends had convinced us that the place was chic and underground and impossible to get in to.  Yet somehow, luckily, at the last minute six of us were able to secure a booth that was supposed to seat maybe only four.  It must have been a slow night for the PDT.  Which was somewhat surprising when we discovered there are some 517 Yelp reviews that give PDT on average four stars (All of this in spite of the bar being named for an acronym of ‘Please Don’t Tell’), so the running joke for my date and I was that it wasn’t much of a secret at all. We joked that New Yorkers just can’t keep a secret…

For those of you who know about the speak-easy in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, which provides some amazing eye candy décor/design to go along with absolutely deliciously crafted drinks, you’ll be romanticized into believing that PDT is similar. It is not. There is interesting decor with the mosaic mirrored bathrooms and the hidden front door is quite original, but for the most part the place didn’t interest me architecturally or design wise. Even the lights over our booth looked like they had come from Home Depot.  No doubt though that you enter through a phone booth in the back of the hot dog restaurant is intriguing and amusing. But I am not sure it’s enough for me. It’s almost as if the place wouldn’t be popular at all if not for this one gimmick that gets people talking. As for the phone booth itself, if you didn’t know it was an entrance to a bar you’d think you can use it make a phone call on that old vintage phone. As did one unlucky hot dog restaurant patron who entered the booth with the intent of making a call and was understandably startled when the wall beside her opened up suddenly and there emerged some hipster dude with fresh alcohol on his breath.

After making our way through the secret phone booth door and squeezing ourselves into the seating we began perusing the 15 or so page drink menu. There was a food, or rather a ‘hot dog’ menu on the last page that actually had some interesting looking dogs. We opted for the ‘Hummer’, a delicious veggie dog smothered in onions and hummus. The waitress seemed completely oblivious to the irony when later on she returned and asked us if we wanted another ‘hummer’.  After spending way too much time reading about all the different drinks, I decided that I would have the ‘Bee’s Sip’, which was made with a shot of sake (yes, I still needed to satisfy my sake craving). It was a great choice! The most popular drink at our table ended up being the Mezcal Mule. I stuck with the Bee’s Sip for my second round too. The others had opted for a drink blended with egg whites and some serious pepper spice that I found to be downright undrinkable. It should be known that the novelty of drinking your protein with alcohol is not necessarily a good idea.

We enjoyed our drinks, dogs and conversation over some fresh tator tots with nacho type cheese dip and, as it wasn’t too loud (One of the bar rules is to not talk too loud. There are other rules I’ll discuss later), we were able to hear the music without defeaning ourselves. The music was a mix of different styles of pop but was for the most part pleasant. It was definitely not super hip music or anything. Whoever was spinning seemed to be either reliving the 80’s or perhaps discovering it for the first time.

As I mentioned, PDT has some rules to consider if you decide to go. One of which is that there is no ‘PDA’ allowed at the PDT. This doesn’t seem right to me, as you would expect an ‘underground’ place like this to be a likely choice for a first or second date between new lovers. I am quite sure the rule is often broken.  Another rule is that you aren’t allowed to use your cell phone for anything except ‘texting’. I suppose ‘sexting’ should be prohibited in the confines of their establishment as well.

Gimmicks aside, PDT was an okay place with friendly enough service but it was expensive for what you get and some of the drinks were sort of gross. BUT, please don’t tell anyone!

Stray Bar – #BernalHeights #SanFrancisco

Stray Bar #BernalHeights

This won’t be the last time I write about the Stray Bar. First of all, it’s my dog’s bar. Literally. Moxie will pull me in there every time we walk by because she knows there are treats and there may be some of her pals in there (human and canine). Also, Bernal Heights is my home neighborhood. I’ve lived in various parts of Bernal since 2000: Mission @ 30th, Coleridge @ Virgina, and now up the hill on the South side, Crescent @ Andover. It’s a neighborhood I didn’t even know about the first 5 years I lived in San Francisco and until just before I moved there, despite spending countless hedonistic days and nights rampaging through neighborhoods from the tenderloin to the Haight to SOMA and, of course, to the Mission. Now, I can safely say it’s the best neighborhood in the city: The Mission-adjacent part has Mexican bars and food, Blue Plate, Vietnamese, the Front Porch, a supermarket, and is walkable to anywhere. The part near Cortland has a village feel, two fantastic parks, lots of nooks and crannies, good restaurants, and fun bars.

A few years ago, a new bar opened up on Cortland Street (near the end of the commercial area, just before Cortland heads down hill towards Mission Street) in the location of the old Charlie’s (which I never bothered to enter, for whatever reason). The name “Stray Bar” was originally a play on words – combining “Straight” and “Gay” – for the Lesbian-owner who wanted to avoid being pegged as a “gay” or “lesbian” bar.

Much like the rightfully famous and fantastic “Wild Side West” down the street, the Stray Bar is a queer-friendly base for a neighborhood with a high percentage of lesbians. However, more accurately, it is indeed a friendly base for the neighborhood. Period.

Lounging Dog at Stray Bar

I read a couple of stories saying it has a “predominantly” gay clientele, and that may be the case, but it doesn’t feel like

Treating the Dogs at Stray Bar

it. It’s just not noticeable because the clientele are just people, after all, enjoying a beer or a drink, some party food or a bacon dog from time to time, and some occasionally raucous parties. Oh yeah, Bernal also happens to be a neighborhood with a high percentage of dogs and dog owners as well, which also makes the Stray Bar a very popular neighborhood place because the owner made it a point to get the extra insurance coverage and licensing required to make this an officially “dog-friendly” bar. That’s going above and beyond to serve the neighborhood demographic. Very cool.

With the recent closure of Skip’s (pending a reopening under new management), I’ve noticed even more customers lately, but it’s never over-crowded. My recent visit found me visiting with a new-to-me bartender at the Stray Bar – Jones.

Jones Pouring a Racer5 IPA

Turns out, Jones had been there from the start as Manager of the Stray Bar, but had recently returned from an 11 month tour as a machine-gunner in Afghanistan. Not your usual run of the mill hippie liberal the media loves to paint as the only face of San Francisco. Jones didn’t have much to say about the goings-on in Afghanistan as he is still an active member of the National Guard, but he’s a genuinely soft-spoken, interesting guy who had complete command of a ragtag group of locals cheering on the Giants and feeding treats to the various dogs around the bar. I don’t know the name of the gentleman wearing the Dublin tee-shirt or his Irish lass, but I’ve had numerous small talk chats with them both over Guiness, Racer5 IPA, Blue Moon, and dog biscuits. The Stray Bar has become a Saturday or Sunday afternoon regular for Moxie, Yina, and me after a walk and maybe brunch at one of the spots on Cortland. As a neighborhood place – Straight or Gay or Stray or Dog bar, it’s a winner.

Score Bar at Hostel Aqui – Salinas, Ecuador

Salinas is a beach town of about 60,000 permanent residents that more than doubles during the high season (December to May). On the edge of the malecon (boardwalk) is a comfortable hostal (Spanish spelling) run by American Expat William Taylor.

Score Bar at Hostal Aqui - Salinas, Ecuador

We booked the hostal based on a fair price for a clean room with A/C, wi-fi, hot water, and proximity to the beach and the malecon. Little did we know, the hostal comes with a very nice bonus – a full bar filled with a mixture of expats and locals and run by some really nice people. More bonus: awesome grilled food accompanying your crisp, cold beer, mixed drink, or vino. There’s not many things better than returning from a long day on the beach, in the water, on the buses and in taxis than to take a hot shower, walking 10 steps to a comfortable bar seat and a cold “Club” (one of the local Ecuadorian brews) or a Pilsener. Along with proprietors Will and Wendy, we met Peace Corps volunteer/part-time bartender Stephanie and Marine Biologist/weekend bartender Diana (pics below). And, who could forget the trio of four-legged friends playing and entertaining in the bar. Sole (Stephanie’s dog), Chris, and Cassie were great to have around.

Will is a master on the grill – his Fillet Mignon was awesome – perfectly cooked rare for Yina and medium rare for me. He also had an old stun gun with a fading battery, which he demonstrated as very weak (photo below, against his shoulder) when compared to his new powerful one.

As the Heat/Mavs heated up in game 3, the bar kept filling with mostly expats and a few locals (some friends of Diana). We met Kevin (traveling following a Contractor assignment in Afghanistan), Christian (studying and making sure the bartenders and patrons alike were keeping it real), and a varied assortment of others on the cusp of retirement all gathering to swap stories, drink beer, eat meat, and have a good old time.

Thanks to Stephanie, Will, Diana, Wendy and all the customers at Score Bar and Hostal Aqui. We had a great time and, mark my words, we will be back!

Visiting Medellin: Plaza Botero

Yina w a Botero sculpture, a photo by the_Merses on Flickr.

I’m gathering my notes for the neighborhood (Mundohood, if you will) we’re staying in: Parque Lleras within the Poblado district. Since this is a scouting trip, however, we’re also doing the tourist thing, and having lots of fun. This is Yina at the Plaza Botero enjoying (maybe a little too much) one of the awesome Botero sculptures. We spent a long time wandering the area near the plaza, including a worthwhile trip inside the Museo de Antioquia, buying salted mangos and watching women stuff sausage on a market street down an alley (we should’ve stopped by one of the small, lively bars for a drink), and taking lots of pictures as we went. More to come…

Barranco, Lima Peru – Part 1

Barranco was the first neighborhood in which I stayed in Lima. After seeing that LAN airlines added a non-stop to Lima from SFO, my wife, Yina, and I decided to scout Lima. Our first stop through was just 3 nights on our way to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu.

I returned, however, and spent more time exploring this very hip, Bohemian-feeling neighborhood. It’s also a short (15-20) minute walk along the coast and around the way to the most famous Lima neighborhood for visitors, Miraflores. I ended up spending about a week and a half in an apartment in Miraflores, and will write about that stay in the future.

• Where we Stayed: 3B Barranco’s Bed & Breakfast
  

  Yina in a hat from the Barranco Market

• Amazing Sandwiches: Monstruos (Basically across the street from the B&B)
• Awesome Ceviche (and so inexpensive): El Muelle
• Very cool bar: Ayahuasca
• Another good bar: Santos
• Criollo Food: El Tio Mario
• The Center of Barranco, including a nice church next to a market with stands of local goods
• Access to Metros: Estacion Balta & Estacion Boulevard
• Bar Street: Betwen Estacion Boulevard and the center (Municipalidad De Barranco)

Scott in Mask from Barranco Market

See below for my saved map of the area (click the link to visit the full map). I always love it when I can visit a place that not only has lots of good food and drink for cheap – for example, I ordered a Sopa a la Criolla, Lomo Saltado, and a Large Cristal Beer for 12 Soles (about $4) at local restaurants – but is walkable. Lima itself is sprawling and expansive, and you’ll need transportation to get from district to district. But, you’re good to go if you decide to stick around and really get to know the Barranco neighborhood (and even parts of Miraflores) as the walk is easy, interesting, and fun.

My next post will expand on our stay in Barranco and the vibe of these places (and more) and the Barranco district in general.

Map of Barranco - Places we went

Living in the World’s Neighborhood

Lots of people love to travel. I can’t get enough of it. Yet, for me it’s not that I want to simply “travel.” Wherever I go, I’m looking for an opportunity to “live there” – even if it’s only for a few days. This isn’t always possible on first visits (I call visits to new places “Scouting Trips” now). When we find a place we like, we want to spend time and blend in. We resume our life, but it’s all new and exciting. We usually don’t go to a hotel, and rarely  join a tour. We wander.

View of Herengracht, from the Sunhead B&B

For example, when my wife and I go to Amsterdam now, we stay in a canal house in the Jordaan become part of the local scene: Coffee and breakfast at a local cafe, followed by a nice walk through town in the morning. Lunch by a canal and hitting a local market in the afternoon. Chatting with the be-suited businessman ordering a spliff after a long day of work at a neighborhood Coffee Shop (no, not the Bulldog). A beer at a nondescript local pub and a game of darts with the bartender and her friend…

Just living, but with all the excitement and freshness of a new setting: people, customs, food, drinks – always hearing interesting things and learning. People around the world are compelling in so many ways. They’ve experienced things I’ve never thought about, and they look at the world with a completely different perspective. As much as I love travel with my wife, I also thoroughly enjoy traveling solo because I never have to stick to an itinerary or worry about what someone else wants to do, and I always find myself meeting amazing new people, and learning along the way.

This blog/site will start primarily as a journal of sorts for this sort of “immersion travel” (if you have a better term, I’m all ears). I’ll be posting my own entries and invite others to join me in describing where they went and stayed, where they ate, what they saw, who they met, and how they lived.

Enough talk. Let’s live.