Hobson’s Choice is Closing Down

Photo from Hobson’s Choice

I got the unfortunate news yesterday that Hobson’s Choice, San Francisco’s Victorian punch house on Haight Street, is closing down after 26 years. Owner Chris Dickerson confirmed the rumor to me over text message.

Although Dickerson is not sure when the final day will be, the nail is in the coffin. And for once it’s not because the landlord raised the rent, in fact it’s the opposite. As Dickerson told me over text, “They actually lowered the rent, but like I said to you there is not the same foot traffic.”

That said, the bar is still open for the foreseeable future, so make sure you go in and support them while you can!

Dickerson mentions “like I said to you” because a month ago, on April 5th, I actually wrote a deep dive about the past, present, and possible future of Hobson’s Choice for SFGate. You can read that article right here.

When I interviewed Dickerson for the article he said that the foot traffic on Haight Street just hadn’t returned pre-pandemic levels and it was impacting his business. The make up of the neighborhood that largely supported Hobson’s Choice has changed too. He said, “A lot of service industry people lived in the neighborhood. So, they’d get off work at a restaurant at 10-ish, 11-ish, and come back to the neighborhood and hang out until close. They’re no longer here.

One of the many reasons the closure of Hobson’s Choice is sad is because it might be the only Black owned business left in the upper Haight, and it’s one of the very few Black owned bars left in San Francisco.

But for me, it’s sad for more personal reasons. Hobson’s Choice was the first bar I was ever a regular at in San Francisco. It was the summer of 2002 and I was living at Haight and Central. I was in San Francisco for a summer internship at Bill Graham Presents. I’d met a friend named Liz and she took me to Hobson’s for happy hour sometimes to hang with her brother and his friends. I was really broke so they’d often buy me a a drink or two and let me eat of their nachos. People I met there led me to some of the folks I’m still good friends with to this day, including the epic music photographer Victoria Smith. So the closing of Hobson’s Choice is yet another piece of my San Francisco that is fading away.

If you want the places you love to survive, you MUST go out and support them. They’ve been here for you, you gotta be here for them.

RIP Hobson’s Choice. Thanks for all the punch.

You can read my whole article about Hobson’s right here.