By Jennifer Maerz
It’s fine to pay $13 for a cocktail from time to time, but I’ll always love San Francisco’s dirty old dive bars the most. Although some of my favorites have fallen by the wayside (RIP to the old Owl Tree, sniff), others like Aub Zam Zam and Aunt Charlie’s live on despite the fancy cocktail culture creeping up around them. There’s nothing like a cheap, stiff drink and random conversation with your barstool neighbors to make you feel at home in this city. So when I heard about the recent launch of the Dirty Old Bar film series, I was stoked. Here are four awesome women (Ashley Arabian, Joelle Wagner, Brandy Troxler, and Nicole Salmeri) with a soft spot for the city’s older booze hubs. They’re doing something to celebrate the bartenders and regulars who give these places such color, and to remind us that thankfully gentrification isn’t pushing out all of San Francisco’s old standbys.
After watching the three bars they’ve profiled since launching this month (The Phone Booth, Brown Jug Saloon, and 500 Club), I asked Ashley from Dirty Old Bar to tell me a little more about her crew’s divey passion project.
What inspired the Dirty Old Bar series? Did you feel like SF’s dive bars are in trouble of extinction, or is this more of a general celebration of the dive?
The neighborhood dive bar is a second home to a lot of people in San Francisco. It was for me when I lived in upper Haight and would head into Murio’s Trophy Room to escape the busy city and work. I knew who would be there at the bar every time, and they always were. I got to know all the regulars and they became my friends. I adored that place. This is what DOB is all about. [Murio’s] was remodeled a couple years ago, though. It now has windows, brand new furniture, and a trendy lounge feel to it. I was heartbroken, but the bartenders weren’t. They were making three times as much money. So I don’t think dives are in trouble, because they will always be around, but not all of them. And our job is to preserve their history, tell their story, and capture the heart in a place some see as just a dark watering hole.
Aside from cheap booze, what makes for a great dirty old bar?
The regulars, many of which are complete characters and surprisingly brilliant. They may drink a lot, but I’ve met a lot of ex-lawyers, psychologists, and people that could finish a crossword in five minutes in dives. The setting — the funkier the better. Plus we love any dive with peanuts, pretzels, or goldfish.
What neighborhoods and places are on your radar?
We can’t wait to hit North Beach. The Saloon is 152 years old! Hawaii West, where the bartender will microwave you pizza bagels and let you smoke in tinfoil ashtrays. And Specs’. Man we have to shoot Specs’. We also want to discover the Sunset. We don’t know a lot of the dives out there but it’s all we hear about when people tell us where to go.
Who was your favorite regular to interview?
Rush Jones from 500 Club. He was such a funny guy and we see him everywhere now. “You can’t pick your family or where you’re from, but you can pick you friends and you can pick your bars.”
What do you think makes San Francisco’s dirty old bars different from other cities?
Sometimes you walk into a dive and you get the feeling like you aren’t supposed to be there. Some can be quite territorial. But in San Francisco, they are welcoming and accept all kinds of people. Without question. As Lynn from the Phone Booth says, “White, black, tan, straight, gay, and everything in between. Just real people.” I love that, I think that sums up what DOB is.
What’s your favorite long-gone dirty old bar?
Murio’s Trophy Room and Pop’s, which is sadly soon to close.
How often will you be publishing new episodes?
Every month we will release a new bar/new video, but hopefully more than that because it’s all we want to do!
