San Francisco and what to do in it

"East Bay:

Thalassa (Dwight & Shattuck) Large scale bar with tons of hourly tables and one coin operated table on the outside patio area. Surprisingly good jukebox, big chairs and booths. Friday nights are all UC Berkeley kids, good or bad depending on your view, but everything is spread out enough that you won't be constantly running into people. Local hero quotient- n/a (hourly tables)

The Mallard (San Pablo & Solano, roughly) Smaller two story bar, upstairs has hourly tables and a nice ambiance, downstairs is more like your local pub with coin tables. Great jukebox as well, several of my friends work there. Local hero quotient- n/a (hourly tables)

The Mel-o-Dee (San Pablo in the shopping center just past Solano) Great old man bar, pool table gets put away around 9pm on Saturday nights for Kareoke. Other than yourself the youngest whipper snapper in the bar will be around 55-60. A Lookout! favorite it's the secret spot for hipsters in one night I was in the same room as members of Green Day, The Donnas, Bratmobile and Bikini Kill. Please note the velvet wall paper while you're there, and the drink specials are a good alternative to all of the fruity, slushy crap you get elsewhere. Local hero quotient- low

The Hut (College Ave near Rockridge Bart) Good old fashioned college/skater semi dive bar, good food options in the neighborhood. 3 tables, two small, one large. Local hero quotient- moderate but beatable

The Ruby Room (14th St and Jackson Downtown Oakland) Good and smokey, lots of KALX DJs spin there on the weekends, hipsters, but it's in Oakland so they aren't the SF style hipsters, much cooler. Local hero quotient- moderate to high, but they're not that good so you can play for awhile.


San Francisco:

The Pig and Whistle (Geary near Divisadero) Good for daytime/happy hour pool, lots of Irish and English blokes about after their Saturday Futbol matches adds interest. Local hero quotient- low unless you catch a renegade Irishman, then you're doomed.

The Big Pool Hall Next Door to the Pig and Whistle a favorite haunt of local teens and such, really interesting crowd, be prepared to be the only "gwai lo". Friday night's it'll take you forever to get a table, but it's worth it just to people watch, put your name on the list and have a beer at the Pig and Whistle. Local hero quotient- n/a (hourly tables)

Kennedy's (Columbus across from Bimbo's) Pretty much the perfect spot, and Irish pub with cheap, really good, Indian food, $2 Beamish and Guinness all the time. You'll pretty much drink and eat yourself silly until you can't get up the the pool table. Local hero quotient- low, everyone is usually too drunk to step up.

Casanova: (16th & Valencia) only one table, but it's a good place to hang out and wait for your turn. DJs on the weekends, good jukebox otherwise. Local hero quotient- moderate, but mostly bridge and tunnel guys that had tables in their frat hall.


Others:

The Uptown (17th & Capp, SF) great dive bar for playing, cool crowd, but on occasion you'll get destroyed by a toothless Mexican who lives in the neighborhood. Waste of a dollar if you and a friend are just trying to hang out and have a fun time.

The Albion and Kilowatt (16th and Mission, SF) good but always crowded and full of random punkers with Napoleon complexes looking to vent their angst with our government on you at pool. The only saving grace is that there is a well dressed 60 year old black man that hangs out there and is virtually unbeatable, great entertainment watching him destroy tough guys, hammered me down in my peak of pool playing performance by shooting in all but one ball off of the break, I got one shot and then it was over.

Zeitgeist (14th & ?) [gygax! notes: Duboce] Huge patio, good food and great crowd, perfect for sunny Sunday afternoons because on nice days the pool table is pretty much ignored."

the ruby room is a crap bar these days (or was the last time I went there). it was fun the first year it opened but rapidly declined. Their table isn't great and there are always a dozen people trying to use it.

BUT, the Mallard is in fact excellent. The Uptown has an okay table in a dedicated pool room and has the extra benefit of being half a block from the studio where I record so i've actually used it. The Makeout Room's table is sloped and too close to the wall even though I love the bar.

was this the relocation? i seem to remember seeing shows in downtown oakland at a "ruby room" in the early 90s... circular bar, a few blocks from what was known then as "needle park".

@d@ml asked me for billiards advice.

there is someplace on 1st or 2nd that will give you horrible indigestion and make you hurl, if you're lucky.

El Metate in the Mission (Bryant and, what, 21st? 22nd?) is a fine newish addition to the list, though I wouldn't say "best".

But Alex OTM about the Al Pastor...

and like i said before i'm gonna see Hollertronix tomorrow night at Milk for 5$. if any of y'all are interested, hit me up.

Saturday:
The Mile High Club, Oakland
The Lovemakers
Secret Synthi
Pink Grenade

My friend Leslie is the super-hott bassist in Pink Grenade (she also posted on ILM once!). Tell her I sent you!

I keep hearing a lot about The Lovemakers! and one of them is like, British. And I don't live very from The Mile High Club and have always wanted to go...

I only have a European camera and need an NTSC cam to dump some footage onto my laptop.

(i've tried posting this message at least 5 times and it keeps doing nothing, arrrghgh1!)