Best Bars in North Beach

An alley cocktail bar the travel press found and has not ruined. The bartenders write a seasonal menu and there are no bad seats.

An apothecary-themed bar on Columbus with tinctures, bitters, and historical recipes built behind the bar. A nerd's cocktail room.

A restored 1907 saloon with a back-bar Gibson and a player piano. The classics here are built the old way.

A family-run lounge open since 1933, narrow and warm, pouring clean classics at prices the newer rooms cannot match.

A Columbus Avenue landmark with red booths, an espresso-spiked house cup, and a long Hollywood and political history.

The Beat bar next to City Lights, still pulling poets, tourists, and regulars to its cluttered upstairs balcony.

A cluttered union-and-sailor dive down an alley off Columbus, walls thick with decades of seafaring junk. Cash and patience help.

A 1942 corner bar that has outlasted every trend on Green Street. A pool table, strong pours, and lifelong regulars.

The oldest bar in the city, a blues room since the Gold Rush era with live music nightly and no pretense at all.

The historic Green Street theater, now home to a long-running acrobatic show and an intimate bar before the curtain.

A supper-club jazz room on Powell with nightly sets and a proper cocktail list. Book for the late show.