Hoping to learn more about the soul of our fine city, Heather Cummings gave herself a daunting mission: To have a drink at all 500 or so bars in San Francisco and document it online. Starting early in 2010, she dubbed her project The San Francisco Bar Experiment.

Now that she's made it to No. 83, she's at least covered her own neighborhood, the Tenderloin, thoroughly. So she's decided to turn the first chapter of this experiment into a handy guide to the 'Loin, with neighborhood photos and tips, as special cocktail recipes. However, this book, The Tenderloin Bar Experiment, which is being funded through Kickstarter, won't happen unless she reaches her $3,000 fund-raising goal in 17 days.

Who are you and what makes you qualified to write about boozing in SF?

I'm a bartender and bar lore geek. I've been living in San Francisco for ten years, working in San Francisco bars since 2007 and I have lived in the Tenderloin for about four years.

You went to every bar in the Tenderloin? Why would you do a thing like that?