Late Night 2-4-1 @ Harvey’s

People watching, greasy spoons, sass, and celebrity Bloody Marys. Photo from Franco Folini photostream.

Yours truly used to actually work at Harvey’s, and even then I was kind of embarrassed to say so.  The place is over-priced and serves pretty crappy food.  That, and although I know its named in honour of Mr. Milk, one can’t help but feel its more using the name to sell bad hamburgers. Harvey apparently loved the place though (well, rather he loved the Elephant Walk before it) so who knows.

I kind of wish that it still was the Elephant Walk too, but that’s mostly because that movie is a camp confection, I’m a local history nerd and a sucker for tropical themed bars.

On the plus side though, the restaurant is pretty good at employing drink gimmicks that work in one’s favour, which is probably how its lasted as long as it has in a neighbourhood that can never seem to keep businesses that make it past a year.

One of the newer selling points is the late night happy hour.  Everything is two for one, which makes the place worth it and the bartenders are usually pretty generous with their pours anyway.

It never is very busy at that time, which allows it to act as a sheltered cove from the hurricane that is Castro Street on the weekend. You can double-fist some cocktails, gaze at the pictures of Harvey and Sylvester and make your plan of attack before rejoining the fray.

Harvey’s
Late Night Happy Hour
Friday & Saturday 10:30 p.m.- close
500 Castro Street (@ Eighteenth)
[Castro/ Eureka Valley]
SF
415.431.HARV