Pop’s Bar has been a fixture of the Mission for as long as it was legal to drink (and secretly since it wasn’t legal). Carl Joseph Saxsenmeier, who everyone called “Pops,” was a bootlegger and ran a “clubhouse” during Prohibition. When Prohibition ended in the early ’30s he opened Pop’s Bar. It has changed ownership virtually every decade since Saxsenmeier opened the bar on 24th Street, but it remained in continuous operation for 80 years, until it was sold in 2013 to Michael Krouse and Tom Tierney, and closed for remodel.
I’ve lived on the same block as Pop’s since the last owners, Malia Spanyol and Harmony Urmstrom, bought it in 2003. Naturally I was nervous when they put the bar up for sale. What would become of the local dive? Would it be made over with reclaimed wood, Edison bulbs, and a “mixologist” behind the bar?! Would the new feel of the spot be totally out of touch with the hood?
Last week the side door was ajar as I walked home. My curiosity forced me to walk in and steal a peek at what was going on inside. I was greeted warmly by the new owners and a fantastically restored interior. I was surprised and relieved to see that the new design takes its cue from Pop’s long, rich past but keeps the last incarnation’s best elements.
The bar has kept the old sticker covered tables, pink and black Marmoleum tile floor, and kitschy aqua exterior.
A new wooden bar imagines what the original 1930s bar would have looked like.
The gold logo and motto in the windows were resurrected from a 1940s original Pop’s matchbook.
The walls are filled with iconic images of pop culture and local legends throughout time — many in frames that bear old Pop’s graffiti.
You can play “Where’s Waldo?” and hunt for Andy Warhol among historic figures on the new foil wallpaper.
The 1970s neon sign has been restored and glows anew!
New and old patrons alike are invited to see the restored Pop’s for themselves at its grand reopening this coming Thursday, September 18.
