Pop's

Taking 'Shot and a Beer' to a Whole New Level

Pop's Bar Used to Have a Gun Range

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

This month’s episode of Dirty Old Bar took a look at Pop’s, the 24th Street stalwart that was recently purchased by the owner of Madrone. And oh the things we learned.

“This bar has been around since God was a baby,” patron “John” told the folks behind DOB. “I’m talking the ’80s and ’90s.”

Sarcasm aside, he went on to detail how Pop’s used to be a Folsom Prison bar where cops and ex-cons used to hang out—and how they setup bales of hay in the back to practice their shot.

Give the whole episode a watch: it’s a great look back at one of the neighborhood’s most choice holes before renovations hit.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

One More "One Less" Sticker

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Cyclists have long had a grip of “one less” stickers to adorn their bikes with—everything from the “One Less Car” classic to the post-hip “One Less Fixie.”  Now Lil Tuffy has made a crop of “One Less Techbus” stickers for some top tube levity in these boomtown times.

You can score some for yourself Sunday afternoon at Pop's (noon-5pm), and Tuffy plans to drop a few off at Bender's.  Word is they're going fast, but he's accepting donations so he can print another run of them.

Madrone Art Bar Guy Takes Over Pop's Bar

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Madrone and Pop's bathrooms: kindred spirits.

As we reported a few weeks back, Pop's, the beloved 24th Street dive bar, had been sold to new owners.  There was plenty of doom and disgust associated with the news, including our own fears that it might find itself morphed into another forgettable cocktail bar.  But, fortunately, it appears things might end up okay.

According to Mission Mission, Pop's has been bought by Michael Krouse of Madrone Art Bar, and he plans to keep the name and “AUTHENTICITY.”

“It’s going to be a place where everyone is welcome and everyone feels at home,” Krouse told the glorified Instagram account.  “Any bar that has lasted 67 years has earned the right to continue and thrive. I can’t wait to push it forward with integrity.”

He also outlined his vision for what makes a “good bar”:

A good bar to me is all about AUTHENTICITY. I came to San Francisco because I wanted to be in a place that was unique to everywhere else. I expect the same things from the places I eat and drink at. That’s what makes them special. It can be divey or fancy as long as it’s authentic. And when it’s done right it becomes alive with energy, and you feel that energy the moment you walk in the room. Great bars can and will stand the test of time, they are not trendy, they move beyond what is artificial and become a fabric of the place and time that they exist in.

Krouse didn't lay down any details on what authenticity really means, or if the cheap drinks and barfy smell will remain.  We'll update with answers to our follow-up questions when we get 'em.

UPDATE 11:45am: Michael Krouse followed-up with us with more info.

UA: Are you planning any major renovations?

MK: The structural elements will remain in tact. There will be remodeling, and there will be changes to the look and feel. Much of that is still to be determined. However one of the main reasons for buying is POPS is that it has years of character already built in, and I feel thats important to maintain.

UA: Do you expect to morph it into another art bar, or are you thinking about keeping it more of the dive it is?

MK: It will not be called an Art Bar, it will however have a strong element of art and artifact that is relevant to POP'S History and that of a bar that has been in San Francisco for 67 years.

UA: Any plans for the drink menu? Prices?

MK: Its is still being flushed out, however there will be something for everyone, and at all price levels. Cheep beer for those who want it and cocktails for the folks who like mixed drinks.

[Photo by JJBBLLKK]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

In Anticipated Rememberance of Pop's

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Broke-Ass Stuart wrote a nice piece for 7x7 celebrating the bar that is Pop's, which we discovered last week is in the process of being sold:

After drinking for awhile my girlfriend at the time, Tia, and I squeezed into the photo booth apparently so we could have visual proof of our drunkenness. Inside she found a wallet with an immense amount of cash, something like $800 or $1,000. We looked at the driver’s license and luckily found the guy was still in the bar so we were happy to give him his wallet back with all the money in it. “Thanks so much, ” he sighed with the kind of relief one gets from finding out they just unknowingly dodged tragedy, “that’s for all my rent and bills for the month.” And then he gratefully bought us each a drink.

Pop’s is like that; it’s full of people that may be rough around the edges, and if you’ve been in the Mission long enough, chances are you’re gonna run into someone there you don’t like or who doesn’t like you. But at it’s heart, amongst the tags and the grime, and the dive bar smell, is a community of people who, when they find your richly laden wallet, give it back to you, fully intact. They do so because they hope you’d do the same for them, and because, when they belly up to the bar, they know they are sitting next to someone who also loves this neighborhood, one which they are struggling desperately to stay in and one they unwittingly helped change.

Read on.

[7x7 | Photo by Jeremy Brooks]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Pop's Bar on the Chopping Block

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

It's been a cruel year for 24th Street's venerable crop dives, with Polk Gulch's Playland buying up Jack's Club and Zoe's replacing El Mexicano.  Now, Pop's Bar joins the list.  Reader “MoFoPlz” fills us in:

Pop's at 24th & York is in the process of being sold. The two current owners, Malia (owner of Thee Parkside) & Harmony, have accepted an offer and it's making it's way through the SF system. You'll have to follow up with them for details other than the rumor was it went for 250K+. Let's hope not to the douche who claims everything 'local' or some other dick who wants to clean it up and rebrand it for the Marina crowd.

We reached out to bar staff, but haven't been given a confirmation either way (and nothing has popped up on the bar's ABC license, so it hasn't made it that far yet).

The identity of the buyer (or buyers) isn't clear, but with the Mission's “hyper gentrification” looming over 24th Street, and Pop's being a place of $2 tallcans and $5 bloodies that start pouring at noon, we'd imagine the new owners would look to make the cocktail glass atop the sign a bit more prominent.

[Photo by Jeremy Brooks]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

SF Fire Dept. Now Using Jaws of Life to Reclaim Bikes From Bike Thieves

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Pop's describes the situation that forced the San Francisco Fire Department to come out to the 24th Street bar and free a bike:

A bike thief will lock up your bike with his own lock, then come back later and cut your lock off. Here SFFD used the jaws of life to cut off the thief's lock. Make sure you have some way to prove your bike is yours!

Great, now we have this to worry about?

[Photo by Clint Woods]

Independence Day is Also Tricycle Racing Day

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Pop's yearly tradition is back again, this time for their 10th anniversary race.  Here's the details:

Thursday is the Tenth Annual Tricycle Races at Pop's.

We open at noon and will be getting the BBQ going shortly thereafter. $2 PBRs all day.

Registration for the race opens at 1pm. Costume required. Race at 5pm.

We've attempted to race this race ourselves in years past, but the registration was always filled up by the time we got there, so be sure to get there early.  (And with the loot for this year's fastest rider of children's transportation being a one-of-a-kind Chrome Citizen Bag designed by bar manager/famed artist Lil Tuffy, you can expect the competition to be fierce.)

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

The History of SF Bars Through Vintage Matchbooks

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

We're big fans of aging bar memorabilia here at Uptown Almanac.  And while we've explored many digital ways to look back, there are still a few resources that have slipped past us.  One of those is this thorough and well-preserved archive of 500+ matchbooks from years past.  Tuffy, Pop's bar manager, fills us in on the find:

Pop's 10 year anniversary is coming up and I was trying to find some old pics and I came across a Flickr set of old SF matchbooks. Pretty cool to go through. I don't know the exact dates of most of these, but they probably range from the 40's-60's.  Here are some other interesting ones I found:

  • I found a matchbook for 2830 24th for a bar called “Dante's Inferno” — that was most recently the World Pioneer Video.
  • There used to be a bar at 2830 24th between Bryant and Florida called the Green Lantern -  26oz beer $0.10!

  • A little further up in Noe on 24th—The Dubliner used to be the Valley Cavern (Sidenote: the Google Map for that address is pretty good!)

Tuffy's finds sure are choice.  Here are a few more:

A matchbook for the long-defunct San Francisco Baseball Club outside of Seals' Stadium and another for the almost equally long-defunct La Rondalla.

Art & Charlie's previously occupied what is now Latin American Club, and Blue Bird Cafe was either at the site of El Trebol or in the row of buildings that burned down in the 60's, making the US Bank Building's parking lot.

You should already be plenty aware of these two bars…

Bernal Club at the foot of Bernal's south slope advised patrons to “have fun while you're still in the pink” and a waffle house in SOMA would turn you into a starved horse, apparently.


Finally, a bunch of fancy (fancy!) places sprung to have art printed right on the matches themselves.

Anyway, take a look at the entire collection yourself.  And should you want to celebrate Pop's 10 year anniversary, swing by 24th and York on March 23rd for “free beer and stuff” (including, we're sure, Pop's newest matchbooks).

(Thanks, Tuffy!) [All Scans by ussiwojima]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

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