Bars in Tenderloin

a quirky Larkin Street bar, kung-fu movies as ambiance

a cheap, friendly Geary Street bar, great inexpensive drinks

a piece of Tenderloin history, a genuine community safe space

a modern lounge in the elegant Hotel Adagio, shareable punch bowls

a hidden speakeasy inside Son & Garden, an opulent flowers-and-velvet room

a friendly Geary Street neighborhood bar, a pool table and the game on TV

a chill, dimly-lit TL hangout, beer, wine, and cocktails with top-shelf pours

a lounge with a tiny dance floor, a fireplace

two-level jazz supper club, live jazz most nights

legendary Hot Boxxx Girls drag cabaret, last classic gay dive in the TL

password-entry speakeasy, 90-minute time limit

named after wrestler Hank and boxer Ralph (1947), original phone booth

North America's 50 Best Bars list, Asian-influenced cocktails

detective agency theme inside Bourbon & Branch, Scotch flights

walk-in side of Bourbon & Branch, password is 'books'

beautifully lit second-floor hidey-hole, where 'furtive making out is tacitly accepted'

Art Deco building, Emperor Norton SF history theme

8,000-sqft rooftop, fairy lights and palms

no signage out front, second-smallest bar in SF

disguised as pawn shop, pick up gold phone outside to negotiate with 'pawn master'

immersive tiki paradise — full-room theming with thatched roofs, idols, shrunken heads, homage to mid-century Oakland's Skipper Kent's Zombie Village

consistently makes Yelp's top Tenderloin dive bar list, Ellis Street corner that hasn't been gentrified

small queer-friendly TL dive, karaoke regularly

recessed below street level — easy to walk past the door entirely, dim, leather, low ceilings — the platonic Tenderloin cocktail-bar setting