If You Smear It With Honey, They Will Come
President's Day weekend sees the first of the big bear events of the year in the Bay Area, the International Bear Rendezvous, and this year's activities start Thursday evening, February 15th. The events are not centered in the Castro -- for example, the host hotel is the Holiday Inn on Van Ness -- but even a casual observer will notice an uptick in the average BMI of Castro visitors for the next week.
So to welcome the bears I thought I'd whip up a quick "Bear Guide to the Castro." I'm not a bear myself (although I've been known to admire a bear in my time) so I can't really claim to be an expert, but here are some ideas for the ursine visitor:
No bear visit to the Castro would be complete without a pilgrimage to the Starbucks on 18th, known affectionately (or contemptuously) as "Starbears." I don't know how this place became the gathering place for the bear set, but it was bear-central even back when it was Pasqua, before that chain was snarfed up by Starbucks.
I always used to call this place "the tank top club" because the uniform of choice is jeans or cargo shorts, baseball cap, and a tank top, and the southern-facing seats out front are one of the few places in the neighborhood that you can sit in the sun and not freeze your bare shoulders off. Come to think of it, a thick mat of fur is necessary to wear a tank top in San Francisco.
For a "real" bear bar you need to go South of Market, but The Edge at 18th and Collingwood is the closest you'll find in our neighborhood. Here you can see that they are already decked out with the bear flag ready for the IBR Castro pub crawl.
Joe's Barbershop on 19th (across the street from Spike's Coffees and Tea) is not strictly for bears, but they specialize in the rough and ready masculine cuts that you usually associate with the leather or bear crowds. Their clientele certainly represent those populations well, as do most (all?) of the barbers here.
If you can't quite read the awning in my picture, the motto of the store is "just a little off the top," positioned underneath the cutely flat-topped logo. It's one of the best signs in all of the Castro, IMHO.
This is another somewhat oddball choice, but I had to include P.O. Plus on Castro because there seems to be some sort of requirement for employment here that you have facial hair. In general it's a great store with super-friendly staff, much more convenient that the USPS around the corner, but in addition if you are a bear fan there is probably at least one (and maybe more) person behind the counter that you will find to your liking.
If you get tired of the effete California cuisine which takes pains to differentiate the vegetarian menu items from the vegan ones, then head over to BullsHead on 18th which specializes in buffalo meat, as well as good ol' beef. The burgers are quite tasty, and if the menus are to be believed, buffalo meat will cure pretty much anything that ails you.
And not to generalize that all bears are obsessed with food, but I felt like I couldn't close without mentioning the Joseph Schmidt store on 16th and Sanchez. This is one of the more famous boutique chocolatiers in San Francisco (which was sadly bought by Hershey's, although it continues to operate as before), and the chocolates here are works of art. Their chocolate bowls in particular are spectacular, and would make an excellent souvenir from SF. The truffles are as big as golf balls and come in a huge variety of flavors. Outstanding.
I apologize for the lack of a "real" photo. The storefront itself is pretty unassuming and easy to miss if you are driving by, so I'll try to add a proper photo later.
Well, hopefully that is enough to occupy you between the IBR events. Welcome to SF and the Castro in particular!
Comments
However, should the Castro bring back that hunt for the 350G's, and its a weekend night, you never know then someone can collect on that cup of coffee.