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We have sad news for barflies everywhere—the bar John Barylecorn's will close this weekend after a desperate attempt at keeping it open. The bar found its recent trouble when local restaurateur Luisa Hanson purchased the building. She told the owners that she was not looking to keep the place open, hence it's fast-approaching last night.
A campaign was started to save it, complete with petitions, a Great Pub Toast, and proposed legislation from Aaron Peskin. But it was all to no avail.
In a city filled with mixed drinks and one-name clubs (where customers prefer appletinis and mojitos to brews), the Barylecorn was one of those lovely, cozy neighborhood bars that now disappear from the city. The bar was a throw back to an older era of San Francisco, one of Jack Kerouc, Herb Caen, and a time when the city was more blue-collar than hi-tech. Sadly, it will be missed.
Tonight, we'll hoist a few rounds in its honor while kicking it at Medjool's happy hour.
No, we're just joking. We've been there a few times since word came out that it was closing, and it didn't take us more than a few minutes to realize that, in fact, it was one of the nicest bars in which we've gotten smashed. And we've been in a lot of bars.
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Haha, nice Medjool jab. I think that's the most hated bar in San Francisco. Just check out Yelp for all the ire it has drawn. I despise it, and I despise very few things.
I will have to go to the Barley and pay my respects tonight. So sad. But much props to Peskin for the proposed legislation.
Your contempt is well placed, RollingJ. I wouldn't set foot in Medjool past 10pm for all the liquor in Ted Kennedy. That place is a veritable douchebag factory once the DJ starts spinning. The doucheyness is contagious; it hangs suspended in the air, mixing with the stench of Axe. I barely escaped alive a few months back.
Attendance during restaurant hours, however, is another matter. They feature excellent, (if miniscule & overpriced) tapas. Some of the best in the city.
Two years ago, Medjool was a really nice spot. Very sad. Both the quality of the food and entertainment (including guests & services) has gone down a whole lot.
As far as the Barley, I'm glad I got to spend some time in it... very cozy. Wish it was in my neighborhood.
When does the Red Room close? In other words, when should I commence throwing bricks through the windows of Academy of Fart busses?
I lived two blocks away from the Barley and always forgot it was there, despite its innate coziness. (It especially had the good fortune of not being Beerness.) And one night I swear I saw the Space Lady in an alternate guise performing.
I guess Traffic was right. John Barleycorn must die.
This is sad news. I moved to that neighborhood way back in 86. The Barleycorn, Front Room, California Pizza, Rose & Thistle were the hangouts.... The Hard Rock for the extra late night night cap when the tourists were all gone.......... The Purple Hippo (not sure if that was the exact name) on Van Ness was closing down back then.......... It's just not the same SF anymore............. (except for the homeless)
For months I have felt sorry for the Barleycorn guys. I went to their Barbeques and bought their "Save the Barleycorn" T-shirts. I was truly impressed that they got Aaron Peskin got into the mix to articulate their cause, and that these guys presented their issues at City Hall. I saw it on SFGov TV.
Yesterday, I learned another side to the story. A neighbor mentioned to me that the Barleycorn guys were enjoying the cheapest of all rents from the previous owner before Luisa Hanson bought the building. The neighbor told me that Luisa Hanson's rent increase was moderate and that she was willing to negotiate. The Barleycorn guys wanted no part of this. Business is business.
So, were they just acting out? Were Peskin and the neighbors their fools?
Per the neighbor: The Barleycorn guys finally moved out of thier rented space this past Monday and Tuesday. Luisa Hanson showed up and the Barleycorn guys screamed at her in public. Cops were called to the site to intervene and little Luisa Hansen was in tears.
The Barleycorn guys gutted the interior with malice before leaving. It looks like a bomb hit it. I'm not so sure that Luisa Hanson is the bitch they portrayed. There's always another side.
I have to correct mschool's dramatically incorrect account.
A) There is no rent control for commercial spaces. If it is true that the Barleycorn used to have a cheap rent (doubtful, after talking with the bar's owner, Larry, about this on various slow nights at the bar), it is because he/she didn't want to raise the rent, not that the building's owner was somehow "stuck" with them.
B) The "moderate rent increase" was a nice little fairytale Luisa was spreading around at Luisa's and Notte. Absolutely not true. When she bought the building, she came into the Barleycorn and informed the owner that she would under no circumstances renew the lease. She then offered to buy the Barleycorn's liquor license from Larry at a "moderate" (read: obscenely low) price. He declined the horrible offer. She then called him "stupid." I know this because many of my friends were there that night.
C) At no point was Luisa Hanson ever willing to negotiate, or even talk about a renewal. Aaron Peskin called her restaurant and left messages. Willie Brown tried to reach her. The Mayor's office tried to reach her. Reporters tried to get her comment on the issue. She never returned any of these phone calls. (And if you don't believe me, look at all the articles; the last line of most is "Luisa Hanson could not be reached for comment" (and we know they called!). Finally a friend of mine went into Luisa's and when she started chatting them up, they nicely brought up the Barleycorn, asking "So what's up with the story about the Barleycorn?" (in other words, asking in the least confrontational manner they could think of). She immediately shut up and refused to talk to them the rest of the evening.
D) As the Barleycorn's owner was removing his belongings (the furniture, the bar, the pews and the cobblestones for the fireplace that he paid for and belonged to him), Luisa showed up and started yelling at them. She then called the police to have Larry and the others helping him arrested for taking his own stuff (which she assumed were hers--despite the Save The Barleycorn group's repeated efforts to inform her to the contrary). The cops refused to intervene.
E) Whether or not Luisa was in tears, I don't know. But I'm not losing a wink of sleep over that. She's run roughshod over enough neighborhoods and enough small restaurants she's evicted in her career for me to worry about her emotional state.
Oh, and if you don't believe anything I say, check out the video of her on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4zrRXdteQ7c. She shows up at 1:27 into the video, again talking to the cops. And when Tony Antico, the head of the Save the Barleycorn group says "Can we talk about this?" she responds with a nice little gesture.
Not exactly a shrinking, crying violet.
I have no idea who the "neighbor" in question is (actually I do, but never mind) but mamcart is spot on.
Ms. Hanson never wanted to discuss a rent increase. She resorted to her decades-old tactic, which is to a) buy a property, b) refuse to renew existing commercial leases, c) offer to buy the soon-to-be homeless small business for a pittance.
If Ms. Hanson had been willing to enter into lease negotiations, this could have ended very differently. Over the last year or so she had every opportunity to do so, but refused.
The claim that the Barleycorn space was "gutted with malice" is simply not true. Mr. Ayre simply took his personal belongings with him, which in this case left bare walls. It may not be pretty in its current state, but then few vacant spaces are.
Yes, there are always two sides to an argument. But I would caution against paying too much attention to "neighbors" who have tales to tell.
PS: For added insight into Luisa Hanson's career, I recommend the San Francisco Superior Court's website, http://www.sftc.org.
Apparently, we're not the only ones who find her overall business practices worrisome:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bHvdfkQrUMQ
I stand corrected. Please enjoy this 10/17 posting on SF Eater that delves into Hanson's practices:
http://sf.eater.com/archives/2007/10/17/luisa_hanson_a_mean_nut.php
I just want to say god bye to, what I refer to as, a philosophers bar. I have been to a few bars since and you don't get the educated conversation I got at the Barleycorn. (Larry asked me once when I was coming back in from a smoke "Jim, what do you know about the Prague Defenestration?").
I was one of the carpenters on the job, removing the fixtures from the Barleycorn. I was there when Luisa called the police. We were told not to engage her. None of us spoke to her except the construction foreman and he was nothing but proffesional. Lori from the Front Room showed up and asked "What's that b*tch doing here", and a few other choice phrases, and we asked her to stop because "It wasn't helping anything".
As for her going away in tears? HA!!To the Officers face she would grab his shoulder and say "I just don't want to see him get in trouble". After the police left she walked by me and said "If this was Italy we would have the Mafia". True story.
And as for removing things in spite, it cost Larry more to remove this stuff than to just leave it there. If he would have left it there he would have been sued for leaving it. Now he is probably going to be sued for taking it. . .
So now, where there were two great neighborhood institutions we have blight.