Since you’re riding history, why not eat and drink it too?
Riding cable cars can make you hungry. And thirsty too! San Francisco is a global culinary capital, of course, with an endless array of watering holes and chow palaces to satisfy every palate and pocketbook (well, almost – San Francisco isn’t inexpensive). Here, we focus on some of the most historic restaurants and bars within a couple of blocks of a cable car line.
Note: No one paid anything for placement in this or any section of this nonprofit-created celebratory site. They’re personal favorites of fourth-generation San Franciscan Rick Laubscher, president of the nonprofit Market Street Railway, which is helping organize the celebrations of 150 Years of Cable Cars.
Financial District
Sam’s Grill and Seafood Restaurant – One of the City’s oldest eating houses, dating to 1867, it is old-school to its core, with private booths, tables, and a great bar. Fresh seafood a specialty. At 374 Bush Street near Kearny, two blocks from the California Street cable line.
Tadich Grill – Claims to be the oldest restaurant in California, established in 1849. A classic seafood place that usually requires a wait to get in. But the bar will help you pass the time. 240 California Street, right on the California cable line.
Schroeder’s is a Bavarian-style beer hall with a typical German menu. 240 Front Street, one-half block north of the California cable line. Originally opened in 1893, when San Francisco was bursting at the seams with German immigrants, it’s one of the few German restaurants left.
Union Square
John’s Grill – Since 1908, they’ve served up classic dishes and libations. Dashiell Hammett dined here; his literary creation Sam Spade liked the lamb chops, but there’s a broad-based menu here. Gathering place for the City’s politicos. Just a block from the Powell Street cable car turntable at 63 Ellis Street.
Sears Fine Food – Famous for its breakfasts (particularly the Swedish pancakes), Sears also serves lunch and dinner at 439 Powell, between Post and Sutter. It’s been there since 1938.
Chinatown
Far East Café – Just off the California cable line at 631 Grant Avenue, this San Francisco Legacy Business is one of the last of the old-time banquet halls, operating since 1920 and serving a full range of Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood dishes and dim sum. There are dozens of family-owned restaurants in Chinatown; if you see locals dining inside, it’s hard to go wrong.
LiPo Cocktail Lounge and Buddha Lounge – These two dive bars, across the street from each other on Grant Avenue at Washington Street are time warps, flashing you back to the 1940s or earlier with their interior décor and memorabilia and retro neon signage. No food, just some very stiff drinks. Great to couple with a nighttime ride on the Cal line. And you’re just a block from the route of the very first cable car line, on Clay Street.
Nob Hill
Top of the Mark – The City’s first view bar opened atop the historic Hotel Mark Hopkins in 1939, served countless service members heading to and from World War II, and remains beloved by San Franciscans. Stunning views, with full bar and light appetizers. Before the 1906 earthquake and fire devastated Nob Hill, it was home to mansions of “The Big Four” railroad nabobs, some of whom built California Street cable car line, in 1878. The hotel stands at the site of the Hopkins mansion.
Tonga Room – The shell of the venerable Fairmont Hotel, across California Street from the Mark Hopkins, survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. In 1929, an indoor swimming pool was built but didn’t get much use, so, in 1945, a Hollywood set designer transformed the pool into a South Sea lagoon (sort of) and a Polynesian-themed food and drink menu took the stage, no doubt fueled by tales of GI’s returning from the Pacific Theater of World War II. Threatened in 2008, local fans spoke up, loudly, and today, this pioneering tiki bar is still there, still kitchy, and now indisputably iconic. Where the California and Powell lines cross.
Polk Gulch
Swan Oyster Depot – An 18-seat counter; long lines outside. And worth the wait. Fantastic raw-bar fare and seafood just north of the California Street cable line at 1517 Polk Street. Swan has been at this location since 1912. The stools and marble counter are original. Anthony Bourdain ate here every single time he was in San Francisco. No reservations, no website, cash only, closes at 5:30 pm: a throwback in so many ways. Check out other dining places, shops, and bars at this end of the California line as well.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Eagle Café – Opened in 1928, the Eagle was a typical San Francisco waterfront dive that was saved from extinction 50 years later, when Warren Simmons, who built the Pier 39 complex, picked up the little building and landed the Eagle on the second floor, near the F-line Pier 39 stop. No pretension here, just the same kind of comfort food as always.
Scoma’s - Many of the Wharf’s decades-old restaurants have shuttered of late, but the family-run Scoma’s has endured at the foot of Leavenworth Street since 1965, equidistant between the terminals of the two Powell cable lines and one block from the F-line historic streetcar terminal. Boats bring fresh seafood to the restaurant’s dock – their catchphrase is “Pier to Plate”. San Francisco seafood classics include Cioppino, local crab and salmon, with very strong libations to go with them.
Buena Vista Café – It’s been at the corner of Hyde and Beach since 1916, right where you get off the Hyde cable car. For decades, it was an eating and drinking place serving classic hearty fare to local sailors and workers at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory a block away. Then, in 1952, it inaugurated a drink called Irish Coffee and gained global fame. Today, an official San Francisco Legacy Business, it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and drinks late into the evening.