The Historic West Portal Bar Where Deep Thinkers Go to Drink

Tucked away in the quiet West Portal neighborhood in San Francisco, right at the end of the MUNI's subway tunnels, lies a historic bar called Philosopher's Club. Run by twin brothers Josh and Justin Fritsch, the bar is not only a dependable dive, but a pillar of the neighborhood's growing community.

Josh had been working at the bar 18 years when, in 2023, the owners approached him. 

He recalls them asking "Hey, we were thinking about getting out, would you be interested in taking over?" They encouraged him to find a partner, and made some suggestions, but he already knew who he would ask.

"We had talked about it a little bit before," Josh said, "the two of us daydreaming about owning a bar, and (so) I asked him…. I called him and told him, 'Hey the Donahues and the Sullivans want to sell me the bar, I really want you to move home and do this with me. I don't want to do this with anybody else.'"

Justin continued, "And I said 'I got a guy on the other line, let me call you back.'" 

They both laughed. Justin was on board immediately, having worked in the restaurant business in San Diego and Dallas.

"Our dad was a bartender at the Hilton Hotel in Union Square back in the seventies… We’d go into work with him all the time and see all the moving pieces from behind the scenes. (We) both credit these experiences with what drew us to the industry in the first place."

The bar is best known for the large mural on the ceiling, depicting 29 "philosophers" of all spheres, from John Lennon, to Martin Luther King Jr., to Plato. 

So– what came first, the mural or the name? 

The bar has been called Philosopher's Club since 1960. This name was adapted from its previous name, Philosopher's Inn, the inspiration for which is unknown. The longevity of its current iteration makes Philosopher's Club one of the longest running West Side bars under the same name, according to Josh. 

The mural came in 2010, courtesy of Deborah Lawder Sullivan, an artist and former co-owner of the bar. 

Long before there was a mural, the hole in the ceiling housed a skylight. Legend has it that the skylight was replaced because burglars broke in through the glass to rob the bar in the 1970s, though this could not be corroborated. Between then and 2010, the space was tiled over. 

Josh and Justin claimed the mural took three years to complete, with over a year of that time in preparation. In reality, it took half that time, with six months of preparation and a year of painting.

"I love their (story). Selfless artist doing it for free," Sullivan joked, "But the reason I was doing it was because we were partners and owned the bar for 20 years. I kept staring up at that space going 'I really should do a mural for that space.'"

On how she chose the various "philosophers," she elaborated, "I wanted to include different diversities… And I really wanted to get women in there– those famous philosophers are all men. So, I did research on different philosophers… It's an open-ended term. The word 'philosophy' means quest for knowledge, so you're not pigeon holed…. Some were authors, mythologists… people who brought new ideas to mankind."

(The above mural depicts: Lao Tzu, Angelo de George, Alice Waters, Lewis Carroll, Alice Walker, Jacob Needleman, Friedrich Nietzsche, Zarathustra, Plato, Socrates, Hippocrates, Heraclitus, Confucius, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Mother Jones, Sitting Bull, Joseph Campbell, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Rainier Maria Rilke, Jean-Paul Sartre, George Gurdjieff, Wassily Kandinsky, Simone de Beauvoir, Anais Nin, Charles Darwin.) 

Josh and Justin agree that their favorite depiction is Angelo de George, the owner who bought the bar in 1960, shown alongside a neon martini glass, a reference to the glowing marquee in front of the building. Josh pushed for the inclusion of Noam Chomsky and Tupac Shakur, but they were ultimately not included.

The bar has more than just interesting lore– it uses its position to give back.

"One of the things we've tried to do since we've taken over is (do) things that benefit the community," they said. "We've done a chilli cook off two years now. We raised money for the music program at the West Portal Elementary School. That was last year… (and) got the program 18 new ukuleles. This year… we helped them rebuild (the garden program)." 

They recently hosted a trivia night for $50 per team, and the proceeds went to Playmates Cooperative Preschool in the Sunset. 

"We do a vinyl market," Justin added. "We're both big music fans, we both collect vinyl, and so (during the markets) there's like 15 thousand vinyl records in here. There are multiple vendors who we have relationships with," including Shelby Ash from West Portal's The Music Store.

"Most of the time the vendors have to pay to get in. We don't charge. Just show up, bring your stuff... It's like our way of providing a space for them to continue the music love."

They will be hosting a holiday market, toy drive and raffle on Saturday, December 13th. All of the proceeds go to the San Francisco Firefighters Toy Program. Vendors are welcome to contact them through their Instagram (@sf.philosophersclub) with inquiries.