#BLAMEZUCKERBERG

Phone Booth Bans Only Remaining Reason to Go to Phone Booth

Well, that’s it.  An end of an era.  The neighborhood’s last tolerable bar that empowered us to puff our way through intoxication has banned the very act.

We’re sure this news isn’t a big deal to many of you, our health-conscious readers of pristine lung capacity.  But we welcomed the bar’s casual “fuck you” to the law.  Besides, where else could we make-out with girls we have an increased chance of outliving?

Now what’s left of the place?  Pool, cheap drinks, a great jukebox, and that east coast dive feel ever so lacking in SF?  Balderdash.  Cigarettes were the blackened glue that held the joint together.  And now?  Nothing.

[Photo by Ledjee L.]

Comments (31)

Honestly, if you’re determined to smoke, please step into a lake. If I wanted my clothes to absorb strangers’ odors I’d rub them on the inside of an office microwave.

I take it that you don’t receive lap dances, then, while taking your lunch break down at your local strip club…..no?

What a pussy. Grow some balls.

said the cowardly misogynist who can’t stop sucking on the tobacco industry’s collective dick

Are equating sucking dick with being cowardly? Why do you hate gay men?

equating misogyny with cowardice. straight men are meh but gay men are fabulous

I actually do not smoke, but I also don’t complain about my clothing reeking of cigarette smoke after a night out.

Maybe you should start, then you won’t reek.

you can always stay home. As a non smoker, I’ve lived with many smokers and had a long drinking career in smoky bars before the smoking ban was even a point of discussion. I always considered the smoke to be par for the course and it never really bothered me beyond my boss knowing where I was the night before by the smell of my jacket, but that’s just me.

Says the guy that wants to rename Cesar Chavez to Mark Zuckerberg Ave. We’re on to you…

I like that one.

Stay in your bubble and let the rest of us interact with strangers.

I’m laughing because that totally WAS the only reason to go to Phone Booth! However, I wonder if they’re actually enforcing that rule, or if they just put up the signs because the SFDPH gave them a warning or something?

I’ve seen the bartenders enforce the rule.

I will go to The Phone Booth more than once every seven months now.

Is Summer’s Place the last smoking bar in the city?

That’s a good question, we need a list of bars in SF that still allow smoking.

that’s a terrible idea. pretty sure they won’t allow smoking for long once that list is published. If you know, you know.

Why not? If they’ve gone to the trouble of jumping through loopholes to allow smoking, you’d assume they want smokers as customers.

c’mon man, seriously? the loophole exists because it’s on the downlow and those who want to smoke in bars know how to find them. same reason that drug dealers don’t buy ad space or need to.

You do realize that drug dealing isn’t legal, right? Doesn’t seem like a particularly good comparison.

are you really that obtuse? or is this some ongoing performance art piece, that is years away from the final unveil?

If you don’t understand the difference between a bar where people legally smoke and a person who sells illegal drugs on the black market, I’m afraid there’s not much I can do to help you.

The only “loophole” to jump through is to be an owner - operated establishment. Then smoking is okay. The law was written to protect employees.

Lordy Jesus, you do comment on everything, everywhere and always. Wow.

How would you know this?

… It’s Zuckerbergs fault.

While I’m sorry for the smokers who like the place, I’d go there a lot more often if it were smoke-free. You see, it’s the closest bar to my house, and the only reason I don’t go there very often is that I don’t prefer really smoky bars. Smoke aside, I’ve always thought of the Phone Booth as one of the best little dives in the Mission - maybe THE best. I may just have to swing by later tonight…

Are cigarettes even bad for you? Yeah right. The science is still out on that one.

Oh man, that’s great news! I used to go there all the time in the 90s when EVERYWHERE was full of smoke, but once I had the option to not come home smelling like shit, I did so. Now that the Phone Booth has cleaned up their act they might finally be worth going back to.