Arts and CultureBoozeClosing of a venueSan Francisco

The Hemlock Tavern is Permanently Closing

The Bay's best newsletter for underground events & news

Word just came in that another long time favorite SF dive bar is closing forever. Not only that, the entire building is being torn down.

BAS reader Tyler Harbaugh sent me a tweet that came from the Hemlock Tavern’s instagram account. As you can see below, there is no ambiguity. The Hemlock Tavern is closing forever in October. You’ll be able to tell what a bummer this is by reading my ode to the Hemlock Tavern right here.

HEMLOCK SOLD, WILL CLOSE IN EARLY OCTOBER, BUILDING TO BE DEMOLISHED AND REPLACED BY CONDOS. The Hemlock Tavern and its liquor license have recently been sold to the same real estate developers that purchased our property back in 2015. The new owners of the Hemlock Tavern will be moving forward with their plans to demolish the building (1145 Polk St., which includes Hemlock at 1131 Polk St.) and construct a 54-unit mixed-use condominium building in its place. The Hemlock Tavern, in its current physical and metaphysical configurations, will cease to exist after the first week of October 2018. We will be operating as usual and featuring a full schedule of live music from now through Sept. 30th, 2018. The new owners of the Hemlock Tavern have not yet announced their plans for what will become of the business following the construction of the new building. We would like to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to all of our patrons, supporters, and the approximately 15,000 local/national/international bands and music acts that performed over 5,000 shows in our back room since October 2001. Running a live music venue was always a labor of love and we’re proud to have contributed to the cultural life of San Francisco and the Bay Area. It was a great run.

A post shared by Hemlock Tavern (@hemlocktavernsf) on

Previous post

Moviepass Misery Continues as they Refuse to Let Customers Leave

Next post

Trad’r Sam is my 2nd Favorite Tiki Bar in the World


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.