by Patrick Heig - 324 Reviews - 95 List
Surveys say San Francisco is the most popular city for singles in the country. Studies also show that we're the third hardest-drinking city (hooray?). For our Ultimate Single Guide, it seemed appropriate to combine the two things we apparently do best--drink and be single--for a list of hot hookup hooch-spots broken down by neighborhood.
Updated: June 05, 2009
There's something about this little alleyway bar--great design, cheap drinks, right crowd--that makes it a safe bet anytime. There's always at least person in the room you would like to shack up with, even if it's just the bartender.
Unlike the cheesy clubs it shares the 11th Street strip with, DNA actually books good music and has an upper mezzanine and back room and bar that can be fertile hunting grounds.
Whether it's a Wednesday night happy hour or a Saturday night blowout, 111's got one of the best crowds around, and the two rooms--each with their own bars and DJs--give you a great excuse to go for the proverbial "lap."
This Spanish Colonial-style spot allows the fellas to smoke their stogies and has a pool table and live music, and the ladies love the open-air courtyard on hot nights. Come early to get a prime spot outside and let them come to you.
Try this spot after work, when young professionals loosen up with cocktails and plates of Italian food. The place is usually packed and even erupts into block parties on occasion; plenty to choose from.
Girls looking for guys (not so much vice versa--foosball, pool and cheap beer mean tons of dudes here) could do worse than this resuscitated dive, which is full but mellow on weekdays and a raging zoo of post-college partiers Thursdays through Saturdays.
Half-off tasty pizzas and $3 beers get the bar packed early during happy hour. For some reason, there are always a few lookers here, plus it's well-lit enough to see your options clearly and quiet enough make your case without screaming into their eardrums.
A decent dance floor, nightly DJs and drink specials mean this art bar gets a mixed crowd of friendly, local mid-20s singles even on off-nights, like Tuesday when shots of Jameson and tall boys of Bud are $3.
If you're looking for a cocky young banker-type or a not-as-young woman determined to land one, come here at after work. Plus, they've got excellent cocktails and a big outdoor patio with view of the bridge.
The waterfront outpost of this SF institution is always chock full of young pretty things in the early evening, fresh off work, swigging martinis and digging each other.
Any given night at this upscale wine bar promises an attractive, well-dressed crowd vying for seats at the U-shaped bar and sharing lounge seats with freshly made friends.
Smack dab on one of the shadiest blocks in the Tenderloin--and, therefore, the world--this gay disco pickup bar has got to be one of the easiest places in the city for the M4M crowd to score a date and can be a lot of fun.
Hookup central here, especially on Thursday nights, when it's not uncommon to see a horizontal makeout session going on in one of the black leather booths, which are also equipped with phones that can be used to order a drink or talk to a babe in the next booth over.
A hot, sweaty dance floor, a cramped bar and don't-touch-anything bathrooms somehow add up to a notorious hookup spot and not the kind where you get to know each other very well first. Pair-offs usually start around last call.
If you're a girl who likes girls or just one who doesn't like boys, you'll want to stop in here, where the latter aren't welcome and the women--both the butch and the fem--are often gorgeous.
San Franciscans of a certain stratum--and those who love them--patronize this classic SF bar; dress like you have money but you're not trying to show it for highest chances of success.
Dark, swanky and full or nooks for heavy petting, this bar is ground zero for the half of the Marina who like to dress it up a bit. If you meet someone, bring her/him to the back room where it's quieter and you can "talk."
The Marina's hottest bar is actually this restaurant, where flirty Abercrombie and Fitch types crowd the bar at night and drink all day in the beautiful backyard on the weekends. This place is an absolute goldmine.
The Vintage 415 boys sure know how to create a scene, and there's a lively one here almost every night. Get one of the high tables by the window, and use it as a home base--the bar is so cramped and crowded, that cutie will be relieved to find a place she can put her drink down.