Breaking news today on the Mission booze scene: Hard French DJ and Harvey Milk Club prez Tom Temprano announces that he's opening a new bar next door to El Rio called Virgil's Sea Room (3152 Mission Street). He shared the news with Uptown Almanac and explains that it won't be a dance bar so much as a mellow neighborhood bar with Guiness on tap, and karaoke nights.
Temprano says it was a "magical fit" because he lives just a couple blocks away. [Update: Also, he writes in to note that he's opening the bar with two partners, Lila Thirkield, who owns the Lexington Club, and Gillian Fitzgerald, who was a bartender at Nickies in the Lower Haight. Cocktails, he says, "will run the gamut from a reimagined Sazerac to a Mojito," and there'll be no shame in ordering a vodka soda. Also, the design for Virgil's will be by David Marks.]
Karaoke was kind of a tradition at the space, formerly known as Nap's 3, and like next-door El Rio it has a back patio, though that will stay closed for a bit until it can be improved. Virgil's Sea Room will hopefully open shortly, after a bit of repair and remodeling is done to the front portion of the bar. Look for an announcement via their Facebook page.
Temprano founded the monthly daytime soul music party Hard French in 2009 along with DJ Brown Amy and promoters Devon Devine, Tina Faggotina, Jorge P., and Amos G. Hard French has gone on to become somewhat of a city institution, making appearances at events like Pride and their now annual post-Folsom party, Deviants, co-hosted with Honey Soundsystem. Also, the lines to get in are consistently quite long.
But fear not, Hard French won't be moving next door. Though we'd wager that Temprano probably has a few things up his sleeve for the new venue down the road.
Previously: The Glorious, Elaborate, Almodovar-Inspired Trailer for the Hard French Winter Ball
