VENUE REVIEW: Why I Love Hotel Utah in San Francisco, and you will too!

Well with 400 reviews on Yelp, I still have to add my two cents! I have a love of dive bars. For me, 'dive bar', is a term of endearment; in fact, the divier the better. But, what is a dive bar? You know those swanky clubs with the velvet loops? Doormen dressed in zoot suits and little umbrellas and trinkets adrift in your vibrantly colored, overpriced cocktails? The ones with names like, Brass Monkey, Dry White Mother or Satan's Whiskers? Well, you won't find any of these things at a dive bar. Good dive bars aren't chic or elegant; they aren't showy or ostentatious. Handwritten signs adorn their walls, beer stains their carpets, cigarette burns ring their bar and the bathroom key will usually be attached to a car battery; one that you will have to lug down the alley to a uni-sex, single, closet sized stall. Yes, a good dive bar ain't necessarily pretty, but they have a certain pedigree that the posh clubs rarely attain; great bartenders, cheap drinks and good conversation. They've been marinating in their own olives for too long to remember. If you don't find these things appealing, then dive bars aren't for you.

For the lover of live indie music and great bang for your drinking buck, Hotel Utah is the bee's knees; which is a strange saying meaning the best. This is one of our favorite dive bars. Located at the corner of 4th & Bryant, an area in transition that got lost somewhere on the slide of gentrification. This bar is worth riding the rails of the crazy train, aka, any bus that goes to this area And yes gentrification is a loaded word, a euphemism at best; like calling porn, adult entertainment and prisons correctional facilities. But the location is part of the reason Hotel Utah works so well. The area itself is perhaps 1000 square feet of usable space; and this is one establishment that capitalizes on every inch of that space. There is a long wooden bar, from end to end, with enough room for patrons to line up--one deep. No matter the day of week, there is a line leading from that one deep, out the door and snaking around the block. The drinks are good, the bartenders great. What sets this bar apart from others is that it has a 'listening room', where live music is performed. As a guest, you grab your food and brew at the lively bar, but once you enter the 'listening room' and pull the tattered curtain behind you, the whole vibe changes and you listen to musicians presenting their art and selling their songs. On the occasions we have come here--(and there have been many)-there has been no table service in this area, which is a great thing. The audience is quiet, respectful and engaged during the performance; an unwritten code that is enforced by common courtesy. The 'listening room', is dimly lit and curtained. Walls plastered in stickers from performers past, present and future, reminds me of a surf shack or skateboarders shop. In the bar there is a picture of a smiling dog and a bust of King Tut with antlers. There is also a small upstairs section, perched nearly on top of the mini stage. This is a great place, like a tree house, carved in the semblance of a ship hull! It's also about the same size, which is not very big. Note: It's very un-cool to chat while sitting in this section, because the sound pours right on the heads of the performers. The 'sound guy', dreadlocks dangling down his back, performs double duty as cook, busser, dishwasher and bar back. He is a demon of multi-tasking, and seems to actually care about every part of the bar. Awesome fries, burgers and sandwiches, soups and salads, and great comfort dishes to absorb the alcohol; a place replete with old stories and a history colored with thieves, gambling and murder; live music seven nights a week, Hotel Utah is a place not to be missed.

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