January 9, 2008
The Barleycorn to Become Duffy's
Who could forget last year's public display of hair pulling and uncontrollable sobbing surrounding the Barleycorn's closure? We almost did until we read Eater's news that the Barleycorn will - get this - turn into another Irish pub called Duffy's Irish Pub. Ta-da. Word has it, straight from Luisa Hanson's mouth according to Eater, that the still-empty space at 1415 Larkin is set to open come February '08. Although a visable lack of renovation seems to suggest otherwise.
Restaurateur Luisa Hanson purchased the building last year and, to her credit, never promised to keep the beloved Barelycorn's doors open, even after a San Francisco Board of Supervisors attempt at preservation. "Angry blogs, forums, and even a YouTube video" followed her purchase of the holy hooch space.
Eater suggests that given the "current holy martyr status of the Barleycorn, Duffy's has pretty hard act to follow ... like watching the LBJ presidency, in pub form." So true. But if the prices are cheap and the seats prove irresistibly comfy, patrons tends to leave local politics and feuds outside the door. We shall see.
Rendered image credit goes to Eater.
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Just what the neighborhood needs, a pre-fab Irish pub (probably along the lines of "O'Neils" on 3rd and Townsend.)
If it fails, then closing the J.B. was pointless.
If it succeeds then that corner will become lousy with the type of bar patrons that annoy me the most: testosterony-white guys (hawt) drinking and fighting over smarmy girls.
So much for my quiet, drunken, walks home from Polk St. bars.
was the original intent to gut the Barleycorn space and hook it up with the former Front Room space to make a gentrified (potentially chain) Italian restaurant?
p.s. Front Room pizza is down the block, but only a mere sliver of its former glory (i.e. not much room to maneuver in the space they have now).
Who wants a bar without feuds and politics?
Yeah, I thought the fun of going to a bar was drunken political arguments. If I want polite conversation, I can stay home and drink alone.
There are lots of other places to go for feuds and arguments, drunken or not. Most of them will be better choices than Duffy's.
Besides: Why reward Ms. Hanson for her behavior?
#1
O'Neils, though admittedly a bit garish and Walt Disney looking is not a corporate chain. The guy who owns it is from Ireland and has owned a modest pub in San Mateo for years. I am not sure the financial arrangement (he must have investors) but I think he is just a good business man and the few times I've met him a nice fellow.
Also he did find quite a bit of local memorabilia for the walls that I appreciate. O'Neils is a nice step up from what has been there before IMO
Please don't lump him in with that bitch Hanson
#6
Good point. Wasn't so much the owner's intent I was comparing it to.
They have good cole slaw at O'Neils actually. Heh
I just think an Irish Pub should ooze peaty soul, not be invented out of thin air. BUT I guess you gotta start somewhere.
Hopefully, the one on California and Larkin will be the good kind?
#7 "Hopefully, the one on California and Larkin will be the good kind?"
Not likely. Hanson's a business flipper. Look for the bar to open and close within a couple month span. And then she'll sell the building to some poor dupe, extort money from that guy/gal as well, and go on her merry way to her next target, to start the whole process over again.
I get so frustrated with the coverage (in the LA Times article, local stories, and so on) calling this woman an "entrepreneur" or "restaurateur." She's just a flipper who's so unpleasant people pay her to go away.