I often drive by 519 Fourth St., San Rafael (near Grand Ave) and can't for the life of me remember the name of the club that use to be there in the 70's. The building has a mural painted on it but appears to be vacant.
Anybody remember a little hole in the wall in the seventies called Knightsbridge in San Rafael close to the miracle mile?.....it's now Precision Haircuts.
Positively Fourth St. near Fourth and Lincoln in San Rafael is still there...now called the Fourth St. Tavern.......and there used to be another fern bar at the corner of Fourth and Lincoln called Frogmorton's Folly back in the seventies....it's now some kind of Latino store and Taquiria.
Back in the seventies before Uncle Charlie's in Corte Madera became Uncle Charlie's it was called Zelda's ...My girlfriend and I went in there by accident once until we realized it was a gay disco....it was pretty hilarious.:)
Agatha's Pub on Bridgeway in Sausalito in the seventies....now it's Angelino's Restaurant and of course Smitty's on Caledonia St. is still there.
Oh, the Black Oak. I spent most of the early 80s in that place, with Mac, Phil, Mikey, Neal, and the gang. I remember watching the 49ers win the first superbowl there. That's about all I want to remember! The rest of it is too embarrassing. Those were some wild times. I was in a haze those years. Sobered up in 1987, thank goodness!
There was a place called " The Scoreboard " across from Heller's. Their sign had the picture of a dartboard on it. For some reason though; I think it might have been named something else prior to that. (Memory isn't what it used to be )
There was a bar called the Remedy Lounge that was on 4th and irwin next to a lot where they sold ski boats in the early 70's. Also a bar down just past Lincoln called positively 4th street i think. hope this helped.
Does anyone remember the name of the bar that was on 4th near Lincoln in San Rafael? I believe it was across the street from the baby store (Heller's?). It's since been torn down. I remember going there to see Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders play there in the mid-70's. You could only fit about 50 people in the place. There wasn't even a stage. The band played on the dance floor. I remember there was a couch in the there and my friends and I dragged it over in front of the band and watched the show from a few feet away.
Wow, what a blast from the past . . . the Black Oak Saloon. I don't think I ever had such great times in my adolescent years as I had there. It was a place where everyone new you. Had my 21st birthday announced there the night before. I did not even remember that until l I began writing this post. Cannot believe we made it home so many times back to Corte Madera without getting pulled over by Larkspurs finest. Please share more memories if you were one to frequent the Black Oak in the early 80's as well.
Thanks for steering me striaght on this one. I was always told it was Phil Green who owned the Black Oak. He was a San Rafael cop also, and went on to become Twin Cities chief. I always thought it was odd that a cop owned a bar in the city with one of the highest DUI rates in the state.
The Black Oak Saloon was absolutely nutty. For a long time, every Thursday nite was deemed "Tequila Nite", and all cocktails containing it were $.69. And they weren't skimpy, either! There would be a long line outside the door of people waiting to get in. If you left, you couldn't get right back in, you'd have to go to the back of the line and wait.
Socially responable? You betcha! If a barkeep thought maybe you were a little too hammered to drive, (Ha Ha Ha) He might direct you to the Breath-a-lizer machine, which was back with the PacMan and air hockey games. You'd drop a quarter in the slot, and a little plastic straw would pop out. Blow into the straw, and if the silly machine determined that you over the limit, it would make some loud noise or other. The barkeep would hear this, and take action: he'd reward you with a FREE DRINK!!! Amen, Brother! Party Down!
Remember when the Black Oak Saloon would let anyone over the age of 18 in to dance and do whatever on Thursday and Saturday nights. I would go there with a bunch of friends who were all over 21 on Thursday nights (We beleaved all weekends should be 3 days not just 2). If you were in the under 21 group and you played it right, you would leave there @ closeing really loaded and hope you were not the DD for that night. Because our favorite men in blue would be waiting for you just before the apartments on the right side (I think the name was the skylark. During the 80's our little Twin Cities police Dept. would always have more drunk driving arrests by the end of the month than the whole Marin office of the CHP. (per the Twin Cities Times)
San Francisco Housing Coalition bought the property at the old fireside, it is supposed to become originally 200 low-income units for families. Now it's down to 50, I think. There was some very nasty treatment on their behalf towards the people who had been living there for at leasta year, some were there more than 3+ yrs. The property is basically sinking due to the underground tunnels built back in prohibition days, and a natural fissure that formed during 1987's Loma Prieta Earthquake, turning the southside of the parking lot into a huge quicksand sink whole basically. Truth is that whole area is sinking and they may never get anything real significant constructed there. There was more than one gay bar in Marin, Who could forget B J's, corner of so. Lincoln and Irwin streets in San Rafael, which lter became the place where Pete's 881 Club moved to. Then there was aunt rubies over by Ping's in San Rafael, now a latin disco type place, and on Bridgeway in Sausalito, there was on the corner down by where Horizons' rest. is.
I remember the location well Phil. Do you remember when you had a little shop farther north on Woodland and threw a 4th of July party ? Someone shot off a bottle rocket and set the grass hill across the street on fire. I believe you ran up the hill and put it out before the fire dept. got there.
I remember the Houndstooth, living just around the corner we would walk past it every day to and from school. Like your mother, ours would also tell us to stay away, which made the place seem all the more inviting. One day coming home from 5th grade at Laurel Dell, about four of us dared each other to run inside, not really knowing what "gay" was we really didn't know what to expect. I can't remember who went in first, but I do remember it being dark. Probably knowing what we were up to, the bald bartender offered each of us a Coke and just laughed, we must have looked freaked out. After that the place didn't hold its mystery anymore.
I dont see anything mentioned about the one and only gay bar in San Rafael? The Houndstooth Inn, at 10 Woodland Ave. It was opened in the early 70s and only lasted a few short years but became infamous during that time. As a young kid, Ill never forget my mom telling me to stay away from that place. Then in 1984 I bought the building and had my business there for 15 years until retiring. My mom would only shake her head when she came by. When the old time cops would come by, they would tell me stories about the many fights and alike they responded to there.
Many customers told me they had only one drink and left (sure they did) and one customer told me he was driving around the corner too fast and his car plowed through the building while customers were inside.
I did some work for the Grateful Dead and Ram Rod the manager told me that they used to practice in that building before they became the Dead. I learned the building was one to the original train stations and was moved twice. It was also a church, a Moose club, community center, and body shop.
These watering holes go back a few years and probabley a few years before I was old enough to enjoy them. Starting with San Rafael ther was the Club Madern, Pago Pago, Black Magic, Hoagys, Barrel House, Funny Farm, Jolley Rodger,was located behind Barneys shoe store on Francisco Blvd. Disco Wreck,this place had the rear halves of cars made into booths around the dance floor, the Villa Inn lounge was called the Tree House because of the palm tree that they built around, was in the middle of the bar. Then there was Reds Tavern at 2nd & Bst. across from the Flatiron unfortuatly it was torn down by mistake? the building was an historical building that was not supposed to be touched but developers did it anyway, opps! Typical for Marin. Most of the bars above were located on 4th St. Then there was the Puerto Suelo Club at the top of the Puerto Suelo hill in the Tarrent Building, I used to go there with my dad, he would sit me up on the bar and let me play with the dice, he would have a beer or two then we would head home down in Scabo, try getting away with that these days, there was no age law then or they didn't enforce it,mayge no ABC then.Then there was the Chyrstal Room in the Northgate Mall before it was enclosed. The liquor license was moved to T&T's on 4th St. Then there was the Town Club in Novato along with Joes X Roads this was a classic , the front parking area was paved with beer bottle caps, the best!! Then there was Marins one and only topless joints, as they were refered to back then, not gentlemans clubs. It was called the Cockpit probably because it was right outside of Hamilton air base. The building is still there it used to house Pinkys Pizza. Needless to say it didn't have a long life there, the county was pretty conservated about those issues. Thats about all I can think of now, thats probably enough lol.
How about the Rose Bowl Chateau in Larkspur ? It was across Magnolia from the Peso, and as a teen I remember hanging around downtown Larkspur after school let out, you would see the patrons walk back & forth between the Rose Bowl & Peso quite often, not sure when it closed , but I'm thinking early to mid 70's.
The Bar at Country Club Lanes (Do people still go there)
I used to go to a bar at The Villa Inn on Lincoln Ave. 30 years ago and I just drove by and it said "open" Could it be still there ?
On the strip of Miracle Mile that is in the center divider by United Market was a bar next to the Chevron Station which is gone. Anyone know the name ? Amazing Grace Music is at the end now.
The Brothers in Mill Valley on Locust. The Black Oak on Magnolia in Larkspur. Uncle Charlies in Corte Madera. Elwoods in Stinson Beach. I remember drinking in there one night when I was 13 , and I looked over to the end of the packed bar and saw my dad , drinking also. He never said a word to me about it. That place used to rock. That place in Stinson Beach where the Water District is now , I think it was The Red Barn. The guy Turk used to live above it, he used to work at the Palate in M.V. I remember seeing some good bands play there. The Muir Beach Tavern , where John John started hiring great bands to play there , like the Charlatains , Creedence Clearwater , Clover , Flying Circus and a bunch more. I read in my history of Mill Valley book that there were at least 13 bars lining East Blithdale until prohabition time when Mill Valley became a " Dry Town ". Those bars were also brothels. The Office on Throckmorton in Mill Valley. A guy could call his wife and say " Honey I won't be home for dinner fer I'll be at the office , and not be lying.
