What is it? Follow flower-draped fire escapes and orange brick into a tiny alley on Columbus Avenue, just across from City Lights Bookstore. Then enter one of the greatest dive bars in the world since 1968.
Why we love it: Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe is easy to miss—but impossible to forget. Part nautical dive bar hangout honoring SF’s long seafaring history and part museum oddity collection (think strange treasures like a stuffed mongoose, a petrified marine mammal’s penis or a New Guinea bone calendar), this North Beach legend has drawn in crusty sailors and poets, eclectic locals and tourists for more than half a century—and it shows.
Under walls and ceilings covered with hilarious tchotchkes, a mix of cheap stiff drinks, an all-ages crowd, storytelling locals and longtime bartenders (unionized with benefits and retirement) ensure this is the kind of dive bar that deserves a place in books and movies. Whether a beer or a Negroni, like any great dive, it’s not so much about the drinks but the eccentricities and atmosphere. And Specs has this in spades.
Founded by Richard “Specs” Simmons, known for his glasses and fiercely independent vision, thank God that Specs is now a designated San Francisco legacy business, run by Simmons’s daughter and granddaughter.
Time Out tip: True to North Beach and Specs’ Beats and bohemian roots, the bar hosts nightly live music and readings, from poetry to live jazz and bossa nova.
Address: 12 William Saroyan Pl, San Francisco, 94133
Opening hours: Sun–Wed 4pm–1am, Thu–Sat 4pm–2am
Expect to pay: No menu but average drinks are $8–$12