Bad News for MLB fans from Bay Area: Lefty O'Doul's closing

[disarcina]

Anyone who's a true baseball fan and has attended a Giants (or, perhaps the A's) game either at Candlestick back in the day or at AT&T or just been to SF - have been to the iconic baseball bar & deli - Lefty O' Doul's on Geary Street named after the late MLB player and more importantly former PCL San Francisco Seals guy, Lefty O'Doul. I am certain almost every regular poster here has at one time in his or her life made their way to the bar at Lefty's and perhaps had one of their great corned beef sandwiches (I mean, the food is OK, but it tastes a lot better at Lefty's)  Sports on TV constantly and lots of old time great memorabilia and photos on the walls.

Well, put SF Gate Lefty O'Doul's in your search engine and read today's SF Chronicle story about LEFTY O' DOUL's closing on February 3 -- apparently the owner of the restaurant/ bar is in dispute with the landlord (the folks who own the property and the adjoining Handelry Hotel) over the lease terms.......

The impending closing of Lefty's comes as a real punch in the gut to many of us who have loved the place over the years and love going there every time we're up in the City, usually for a ballgame.

[Lou]

This sucks

[mrwicked]

It's a mess. Word is they aren't going to close it, just renovate it. Or move it. Depends on who you ask.

Basically you have two sides that both claim ownership. They have been fighting for years, it was a big deal when they had to move the Gold Dust Lounge.

For Lefty's, the property owner says they are just going to shut it down for a bit to renovate, and it'll open back up in a couple months.

The manager says he owns it and they are going to move it (like they did with Gold Dust).

Grab your popcorn! Classic SF adventure.

It's a great spot though, it was the first place my buddies and I went to celebrate after we locked down our first SF apartment lease. 

Go after an A's or Giants game and you'll always run into visiting players. Great food and drinks and people.

I love that someone stole the arm off the Lefty O'Doul statue, took it around the world sending back photos.. and then returned it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128673242

Anyways, as for the current dispute:

http://sf.eater.com/2017/1/13/14266322/lefty-odouls-closing-relocation-san-francisco

http://sfist.com/2017/01/12/lefty_odouls_may_be_closing_and_rel.php

http://sfist.com/2017/01/13/lefty_odouls_not_moving_psych.php

 

[disarcina]

mrwicked - thanks for the report/ post.

if you're up in the Bay Area then you are familiar with the stories now circulating that this is another lease negotiation ploy/ show down like they had a number of years ago -- I cannot remember how long ago it was -- anywhere from 10 to 20 years ago -- but there was an impending closure of Lefty's that was going to occur New Year's Eve of whatever year it was,

A friend and I made a pilgrimage there fearing that it would be last drink at Lefty's bar and last meal from the deli --- this would have been about the second week of December or so -- we talked to the long time staff and bartender there at the time and they were all adjusting to the news that this was IT and Lefty's would be no more -- we inquired about the memorabilia and photos on the walls and were told a quasi-public auction was going to be held to sell the stuff off (it was 'quasi-public' because the way it was described it was not going to be through an auction house outfit but just 'hey show up and bid / have cash on the barrel head' type of thing -all sales final !) (this was perhaps 20 years ago - different world now)  anyway, we went there had our 'last O'Doul's Supper' and left down-trodden..........New Year's Eve that year came and went, Lefty's stayed open right where it was -- False Alarm is some respects -- but not really, because it took some sort of last minute agreement to keep Lefty's going -- reading between the lines now that could happen again before Feb.3rd. Also reading between the lines - the tug of war over the bar and the contents of bar (all the memorabilia and photos) probably stems from the 'bail out' lease agreement that saved the place 10 to 20 years ago..........hard to say.

Just will be a real sad day for many if the place actually closes.

trying to figure out what's worse -- the place closing or the place shutting down for remodeling while the Handelry Hotel folks turn Lefty's into a high end, pricey place that drives out the current crowd of primarily sports fan low life's (term used in the endearingly sense).    If so, it would sort of mirror the change in the crowd demographic from Candlestick (die hard baseball fans devoted to the Giants) to AT & T (more of a corporate crowd attending a company sponsored event).  Although , don't read me wrong on this -- AT& T Park is one of the best ballparks in MLB to watch a game, IMO.

 

[mrwicked]

Yeah, I hate when great old places like this leave. So I really hope they figure out a way to keep it around.

I love dive bars. There is no shortage of fancy, upscale places in this town. They are everywhere. But good old fashioned dive bars are becoming harder and harder to find.

It's tough. SF is in a tight spot right now. So much money flying around, hard to keep some things as is while still evolving. I've heard folks worried it will turn into another Monte Carlo - driving out all the locals and turning into just another spot for crazy expensive real estate, shopping and restaurants for the rich.

I don't see that happening anytime soon. But who knows. The town is so small that it's not like NYC where it's massive.

You can walk two hours here and go through 30 distinct neighborhoods. So any changes affect most everyone.

AT&T park is great though, but agreed it's definitely more of an upscale vibe. Candlestick was a POS but agreed it was all die-hards. To had to be die hard to go there, the place was a frozen, windy sh*t hole. And I loved it!

[Angel Dog and Beer]

Coool spot, hope it stays around. Ill never forget taking my 2 year old daughter there for mac n cheese and me a couple beers while mommy shopped. Good place with a lot of history. 

[disarcina]

yeah, Lefty's about the only affordable place in The City --

and has been for years.

I know this because years ago (perhaps 30 or more) when I was still in school (and broke, that should go without having to say it) and in The City for some interviews -- I struggled to find an affordable place to park (I found it on the street, FREE, but had to hike a ways to get where I needed to); I went to my appointments, finished up those and hadn't eaten so was looking for a place when I stumbled across Lefty's -- a corned beef sandwich complete with sauerkraut and cole slaw topped off with a beer at a VERY REASONABLE price and that started my life long affection for the place........now, I'm not a 'big city' guy so I knew those interviews in SF were not going anywhere and walking back from them I was thinking 'this place isn't for me, I can't work here, live here (and this was SF 30 plus years ago !!) when I ran across Lefty's and finally thought I had found one place there where I felt at home.

I like VISITING the City and have made many stops in at Lefty's over the years -- hate to see the place close or even be changed into an upscale place. But like Mr. Wicked notes, the Dive Bars are disappearing fast and SF real estate isn't cheap so that whole genre of bars may be going by the wayside -- its tough to see a way of life disappear........

[Amazing Larry]

I always hit up Lefty's when I'm around Union Square. Hopefully it stays. 

[Tank]

@mrwicked keeps inviting me to go with him to lefty's, but every time i'm up there he bails on me.

i'm still not convinced mrwicked is a real person. he just might be our version of the Hal9000.

[DowningRules]

Love that place. I remember my dad taking me and my brothers there when we were young kids. He talked up the place and, having seen Lefty play, told us how great a player he was. We didn't know who he was and thought, "whatever," but all the clippings and other evidence in the joint told otherwise. Perhaps the saddest part of the restaurant's closing is that one of the few remaining links to the glory days of the Pacific Coast League legend will be gone. The PCL which the Angels had a huge role in should have a more notable role in California history.

[Troll Daddy]

This pissed off the Raiders!

 

[disarcina]

now the latest is that the operator of Lefty's -- a individual named Bovis who is in a legal tussle with the Handlrey folks, has removed all the photos and memorabilia off the walls of Lefty's --reports say the place has an eerie empty feel after years of walls jam-packed with old baseball photos and other mementos.....it's the start of the end of an era........Lefty's as we all know it is gone, and the current location is scheduled to be shut down Feb. 3......whether it re-opens as Lefty's is up in the air.

[Adam]

Damn. I got my first handy from wicked in the mens room at Lefty's

[Lou]

19 hours ago, Adam said:

Damn. I got my first handy from wicked in the mens room at Lefty's

hey, so did I !