Comstock Saloon has been a bar at 155 Columbus Avenue since 1907, which in San Francisco terms means it survived the aftermath of the earthquake, Prohibition, and every subsequent attempt by the city to become something else. It also closes two days a week, which is the modern part.
Two hours of happy hour, five days a week. The other two days it is dark.
The schedule, including the gaps
Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday, 4.00pm to midnight. Friday, 12.00pm to midnight. Closed Monday and Sunday.
Two closed days is unusual for a bar of this profile and it is the thing most likely to waste a trip. A Sunday afternoon in North Beach is exactly when someone decides to look for an old saloon, and this one will not be open.
Friday is the outlier in the other direction — a noon open, four hours earlier than any other day. If you want this room in daylight, Friday is the only way to get it.
The happy hour
Happy hour runs Tuesday to Saturday, 4pm to 6pm. Two hours, five days.
On most days that window opens with the bar itself, so the deal covers the first two hours of trading. On Friday, with the noon open, there are four hours of full-price service before the discount starts — which makes the Friday 4pm bell the single busiest moment of the week here.
Arrive before four on a Friday and you are sitting in an almost empty historic saloon waiting for the price to drop, which is a more pleasant way to spend twenty minutes than queueing at ten past.
Live music every night
The saloon has live music nightly, which is the thing that separates it from other historic bars in the neighbourhood. It is not a concert venue — the music is part of the room rather than the reason for it — but it means the atmosphere after dark is consistently different from the atmosphere at five.
That gives you two distinct visits again. The 4pm to 6pm stretch is a quiet, well-lit historic bar with cheap drinks. After eight it is a saloon with a band in it.
If you are coming for a specific fixture or event rather than for the room, call ahead. A bar with nightly live music has a programme that may or may not accommodate a screen, and it is worth establishing that before you arrive with five people.
What to drink
This is a classic cocktail bar in a room that predates most of the cocktails it serves properly. Order accordingly — a Manhattan, a Sazerac, something with whiskey and bitters that suits a carved wooden bar.
There is food, and a saloon menu in a room like this is more substantial than bar snacks. Eating during the happy hour is the efficient way to run the early evening.
North Beach around it
Columbus Avenue is the spine of North Beach and 155 puts you at the Financial District end of it, which is a good starting point rather than a destination. Walking north up Columbus takes you through the whole neighbourhood.
City Lights Bookstore is a couple of minutes away and free to browse; Washington Square Park is a short walk further; Coit Tower sits above on Telegraph Hill and the walk up costs nothing. On a Friday, with the noon opening, that whole sequence fits either side of an afternoon drink.
Parking is difficult. Walk in from the Financial District or take transit — the 8, 10, 12 and 30 all serve the area.
What a pre-Prohibition bar actually served
A saloon that has been on the same site since 1907 sits either side of the most disruptive event in American drinking history, and the menu at a bar like this is usually a deliberate reconstruction of what came before it.
Pre-Prohibition cocktails are generally shorter, less sweet and more bitter than what replaced them. The style leans on genever and rye rather than vodka, on vermouth used generously rather than as a rinse, and on bitters as a structural ingredient rather than a garnish.
The Martinez, the Sazerac, the Manhattan and the Pisco Punch — the last of which is San Francisco's own contribution — are the reference points. If a bar of this vintage has a Pisco Punch on the list, it is worth ordering purely as local history.
The other thing that changed is measures. Historic recipes are often stronger and smaller than the modern versions, which is worth knowing before ordering three.
Practical notes
Comstock Saloon, 155 Columbus Avenue, North Beach, San Francisco. Tuesday–Thursday and Saturday 4.00pm–midnight; Friday 12.00pm–midnight; closed Monday and Sunday. Happy hour Tuesday–Saturday, 4pm–6pm. A bar on this site since 1907, with live music nightly. Friday's noon opening is the only daytime service of the week. Call ahead if you are coming as a group for a specific event. City Lights, Washington Square Park and Coit Tower are all a short walk. Parking is difficult; walk or take transit. Hours change — confirm before you go.
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Please drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.
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Ask Karpo first
Want to check it is not one of the two dark days before you walk over? Ask Karpo for Comstock Saloon's hours today, whether the happy hour is running, and who is playing tonight if you are staying past eight.
