A story about a longtime neighborhood queer bar closing during Pride Month isn't great. But in the case of Upper Haight bar Trax — one of the last of the small neighborhood bars catering to a queer clientele that were once scattered across the city, outside of the "gayborhoods" of Castro, Polk, and SoMa — it is closing and changing hands, but the new ownership wants to honor its legacy.
We noted some big Haight Street bar news this morning with the very unresolved situation with the sale of Toronado, a transaction that may be marred by premature over-promises made before any real deal was in place. But there’s an apparently much smoother bar change-of-ownership happening a mile up the hill in the Upper Haight, and one that may leave regular patrons feeling okay about things.
Haight and Masonic queer bar Trax has closed, but it will reopen as Mary's on Haight, with a nod to the gay use of "Mary" as a moniker, as well as to the owners' Irish mothers.
"A heartfelt thank you to everyone who called Trax home over the years,” the bar said in a Monday Instagram post announcing their closure. “Laughing, crying, yelling, dancing, singing, revelry, and debauchery found its way inside these walls and sometimes spilling back out onto the streets of the Haight. Special thanks to our owner Mark who kept this little bar that could and did provide a safe space for the community throughout the years. The Trax spirit can never quite be replicated but a little piece lives on in all of you. Be kind. Be safe. Xoxo”
Trax is apparently now already permanently closed. But SFGate reports that a new ownership team is taking the reins, and will reopen the bar as Mary’s on Haight, with their sights set on reopening in time for Pride Weekend. And it will still be a queer-friendly bar, or as the bar bills itself, “Haight Ashbury’s straight-friendly gay dive bar.”
“One of the main things we really want to let people know is that we’re not trying to change it, just keep it the same as it is,” new co-owner Maria Haught told SFGate.
SFGate describes the new ownership group as “a pair of married couples, including Irish immigrants who met working at Johnny Foley’s Irish House in downtown San Francisco around 20 years ago." They’ll take over for previous owner Mark Wilson (440 Castro), whose lease had expired during the pandemic, and had been month-to-month ever since.
So we’ll hope the new Mary’s on Haight is open by Pride Weekend, though that is not currently a certainty. But it does seem like this is a much more amicable transfer of ownership, not unlike what we’re seeing at The Cinch on Polk Street.
Related: Historic Polk Street Gay Bar The Cinch Gets New Owner Who Vows Not to Change Much [SFist]
Image: John N via Yelp
