BoozeSan Francisco

Spec’s Might Be the Best Bar in the World

Updated: Jul 19, 2010 11:06
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I honestly believe that Spec’s might be the best bar in the world.  I know it’s pretty heavy thing to say, but I’ve been drunk in a lot of places, and if Spec’s isn’t the best bar in the world, it certainly is in the running.  I got drunk there with my buddy Ken last night and I really wanted to write a whole thing today about why it’s the best bar in the world, but I’m too hung over, so instead I’m just gonna cut and paste the write up I did about it in my SF book and show you this picture:

As evidenced by the news clippings next to the entrance, much has been written about Specs. From what I gather, Specs Simmons (named for his spectacles) bought the bar with the money he made from the 60’s folk single 'œRidin’ the MTA' and decorated the bar with things he gathered during his travels as a merchant marine. How much of this is true, I don’t know. There are as many rumors about Specs as there are articles written about it. Simply put, Specs feels like a Tom Waits song. There’s crazy shit all over the walls, like photos of post fire/earthquake S.F., 500 year old Hindu art, and a an actual dead cobra and groundhog posed to look like they are fighting each other. The drinks are strong, the well vodka is bad'what else could you possibly want from a dive bar?

Specs Twelve Adler Museum Café (Specs)
12 Adler St. (Right next to 250 Columbus) @ Broadway
[North Beach]

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Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Broke-Ass Stuart - Editor In Cheap

Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, is a travel writer, poet, TV host, activist, and general shit-stirrer. His website BrokeAssStuart.com is one of the most influential arts & culture sites in the San Francisco Bay Area and his freelance writing has been featured in Lonely Planet, Conde Nast Traveler, The Bold Italic, Geek.com and too many other outlets to remember. His weekly column, Broke-Ass City, appears every other Thursday in the San Francisco Examiner. Stuart’s writing has been translated into four languages. In 2011 Stuart created and hosted the travel show Young, Broke, and Beautiful on IFC and in 2015 he ran for Mayor of San Francisco and got nearly 20k votes.

He's been called "an Underground legend": SF Chronicle, "an SF cult hero":SF Bay Guardian, and "the chief of cheap": Time Out New York.