Noe Valley Pub Crawl

by Mary Coe

Honey, put the fertility drug, BabyGap kids to bed and chain up the two pedigree
dogs, 'cause we're going drinking in Noe Valley tonight. If you don't
live in Noe Valley, you may think this newly chi-chi, family-oriented
neighborhood is dead at night and you wouldn't be far from wrong, but you
would be wrong. Truth is, thanks to its working class Irish roots, you can
get just as drunk on 24th Street as on any other street in town. Of course
the demise of the Cork Œn Bottle a few years ago, where the drunks would
hang out the window at 7 in the morning, spilling whisky all over your
latte, has put a hole in the bar scene, but we've survived. Now you won¹t be
dancing all night to those funky DJ tunes or be in a crowd of beautiful
people sipping cosmos, but then again, you won't be elbowed by tourists,
insulted by college boys or be made to feel inadequantly hip by any
Manic-Panic-dyed, platform-wearing, really skinny fashion victims either
(oh, sorry about that bit of venom, are my teeth showing?) So, let's drink
on.

My long time favorite in Noe Valley is the Rat and Raven, on 24th Street
between Noe and Castro. The crowd has changed a bit over the years,
especially since the pool table was moved to the back and long tables were
added in front. Most of the patrons are younger, better looking and, since
I'm older now, more annoying than they once were, but in the early evening
or on weekend afternoons you'll still find neighborhood folks sipping at the
bar. The Rat also has a motley beer garden out back that's the best place in
town to get a drink and a sunburn, weather permitting. My favorite time for
the Rat is Saturday afternoons, my favorite place is by the pool table. It¹s
dark enough back there to be a bar, but there's a window to daylight so you
don¹t feel like a complete cretin. With no competition on the pool table,
crappy players (like me) can play out their 45 minute games in peace. And
there's also a decent juke box.

Second runner up is the Dubliner. Still a true Irish bar, staffed mainly by
gen-u-wine accented bartenders, it draws a cross section of Irish and
neighborhood regulars; it's not unusual to see signs up for bus trips to Bay
Meadows or satellite-broadcast soccer games. It's a pretty well lit bar with
the smoking law lazily enforced; plenty of seats are available at the bar on
one side, sort of semi bar on the other and a couple of booths in the back.
Food can be ordered in from the 24th Street Cafe a few doors down. For the
me, the main draw of the Dubliner are the three televisions that are always
tuned into sports, sometimes the same, sometimes a three game multicast It's
a good place to watch cable-only games for the TV-challenged. The Dubliner
blows it out every year for St. Patrick's Day and if you must go out on then
this is as good a place as any, though I think its charms are better
appreciated on regular old day. The Dubliner is on 24th Street between
Church and Vicksburg.

A few doors down from the Rat and Raven you'll find Rover¹s Inn. Though it
offers the sports tuned tellies, a pool table, and St. Patrick's Day
festivities, it's never been a favorite of mine. Maybe it's all the green; I
don't know. It seems to draw a good crowd, so check it out for your self.

Another less than favorite spot is Kennedy's Pub on Church and 25th,
recently re-named from Jack's, of the Jack's Taps empire. As a life-long
lover of bars, I've noticed that some bars are great places to hang out in
while others seem like simply a place to get a fix­to get drunk and get out.
Sort of socially acceptable methadone clinics. It reminds me of Van Gogh's
Absinthe Bar. Is this really a place you want to hang out in? Not to be too
harsh, but Kennedy¹s has that get drunk-get out ambience.

The last spot on our tour is The Peaks, on Castro between 24th and Jersey.
First of all, you've got to love the name. Second of all, it has double
Dutch doors; that is, double doors which also have the horizontal split of
Dutch doors. The number of opening possibilities boggles the mind. Third, it
has a sister pub, the Royal Arms in Pewsey, England. And it has a pool
table. All of which make it worth a visit.

Cheers!

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