On New Year's Day, 2016, Riptide co-owner Les James and general manager Alisha Liscinsky took a plunge into the icy Pacific just blocks from their bar. They and their many Sunset neighborhood patrons have started each year this way for some time — the Chronicle informs us that the original plan for what they call "the Plunge" was hatched, surprise surprise, over drinks at the bar.

But this year, something was missing. There was no traditional après-swim cocktail by the well-loved fireside at the Riptide to be had, as the bar has been undergoing heavy reconstruction following a fire that did an estimated $600,000 of damage in August.

Nonetheless, Liscinsky is thankful. “I can’t believe how amazing people have been to us,” she said from the beach. “They’ve given us temporary jobs, they’ve held benefits, plus all the calls and texts.” That's not to mention a wildly successful gofundme.com campaign to rebuild the Riptide.

Now all the hard work and support appears to be paying off. By next year's plunge — in fact as early as sometime this spring — the Riptide will return. According to San Francisco magazine, James and co-owner David Quinby have finally installed a new roof, but other elements of the Riptide, like the antiques and ephimera for which it was known, have been harder to replace.

"We lost all the original Barbary Coast pieces, and we're trying to find more of those," Quinby told the magazine. Though "the slate is wiped clean," he says they'd like "to open as the same musical chapel we were before."

One casualty of the fire was Boo, a 150-year-old taxidermy caribou head that watched over the bar as a kind of mascot. "I love mountain goats," says Quinby, who is looking for a suitable substitute for Boo. "And Les found a walrus head, so who knows what we'll end up with."

In the end, it's the demeanor of the animal they're seeking that counts. "We're looking for an animal with as peaceful an expression as Boo had," Quinby says. "She seemed to approve of the musicians who were playing—whatever was going on."

Previously: Torn Apart By Fire, The Riptide Is Fundraising To Support Employees
[Updated] Fire In Outer Sunset Closes Riptide Bar, Disrupts Muni Service