Bar Review: The Attic

In these days of economic uncertainty and financial instability a shabby chic neighborhood bar is a solid alternative to other locales that charge you at the door and gouge you at the bar for the privilege of being part of their scene. This past Saturday the boyfriend and I were both feeling a tight pinch in the wallet area, and yet we still wanted something to do that made us feel part of the world without having to put up too much of a front. We set out after dinner and Scrabble to walk Kitty home through Noe Valley and wound up going down 24th Street to The Attic. It's not the most amazing bar in the world, but it is certainly a comforting hole in the wall.

Sitting in a back booth I said "you know, I'd hate to see what this place looks like in natural light." The interior is black walls and red lighting, with visual variety provided by years of silver marker graffiti and punk band stickers. The tables and chairs look like they were bought individually at garage sales, and I was loathe to examine the condition of the vinyl in our booth too closely. In one corner hangs a painting that appears to be a Venetian canal with the head of a Conquistador hovering over the horizon. Altogether the decor makes me think of a subterranean den of ill repute with a dash of art student whimsy.

I liked the music better the last time we were there - on this visit we we were, as now seems to be the fashion for bars and clubs across the San Francisco scene, transported back to the 70s, though this time it was more the realm of AC/DC than Sylvester, and I swear the DJ was Napolean Dynamite. I had a hard time figuring out if I was supposed to be enjoying this set of Monster Rock of the 70s un-ironically, or ironically, or un-ironically ironically, but after the second drink I gave up trying to decide and just sang along with the ones I knew as the mood struck me.

The absolute best thing about The Attic after walking past the douche bars of Noe Valley was not having to put up with drunk yuppies, who would have only made me feel even more destitute, in a bar so crowded I wouldn't even have been able to sit down, much less have a conversation. The Attic is definitely a mid-Mission hipster haunt of choice, and I saw a crowd composed of gay boys, unfortunate mustaches, girls in horn-rimmed glasses, and all the other sorts of people who, like us, were looking for a cheap sociability on a Saturday night. It wasn't the biggest scene, or the most cutting-edge, but I liked it well enough on a second trip to think it might become more of a destination in the future.

Event Review: The Strawberry Drillpress at The Attic

After catching The Dark Knight on Sunday evening (a film I highly recommend), the boyfriend and I decided to check out The Strawberry Drillpress “homo social” at The Attic, conveniently located across the street from the 24th Street BART station. We found a really cool dive bar with some ladies on the decks playing an eclectic mix of 70s R&B and psychedelic rock, and wound up staying for three drinks.

First, the bar itself is a classic dive with a long narrow bar area leading into a larger back area with tables and booths. The walls are painted black, where they’re not covered with silver and white graffiti, and the lighting was all a lovely shade of bordello red. We loved it the minute we sat down.

The crowd was a pretty good mix of hipster kids, who I assume were of the homo persuasian, boys and girls and some of those kids who you just have to guess. The three girls we saw behind the decks were all having a good time, and when we left after our third drink there was even a cute little dancefloor of about a half dozen kids shaking it to some classic R&B. It might surprise some readers to learn that I really like this stuff; I don’t like it when it’s being thrust upon me as the greatest music of all time, but I started off my musical habits listening to my Mom’s old 45s from the 50s and 60s, and when I can sit in a bar and have a drink and conversation with a little old soul in the background, it’s actually quite nice.

Although there was a moment when the boyfriend and I both felt like we had walked into a college party somewhere, I found that to be a refreshing and unpretentious change from the relentless scenesterism of a typical night out in the Castro. These were kids who just wanted to hang out and have a drink and have fun, and the spirit of that was infectious. We left only because we both had to get up and go to work in the morning; otherwise, I’d have gladly had a couple more drinks and started requesting Otis Redding.

I’m not sure if the Strawberry Drillpress makes any kind of regular appearance at The Attic, but I think I’ll check back again during the 4th Sunday in September to see if I can have another chance to shake a tailfeather.

Upcoming Event: The Strawberry Drillpress, a Homo Social Club, at The Attic, Sunday July 27

I found this cute little old-skool paper flyer at Aquarius Records on Valencia this week, and it looks like it might be fun to check out.

The Strawberry Drillpress
A Homo Social Club
Soul Funk Disco Psych
9PM - 2AM
The Attic, 3336 24th Street x Mission