The 500 Club sits at Guerrero and 17th in SF's Mission, a corner dive with a neon martini sign over the door, cheap drinks and a back room of regulars at night.
Tip: Bloody Mary at 06:00 on weekends is a Mission tradition. The room runs cash; the back room is the locals' corner, not the front bar.
Address: 500 Guerrero Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Zeitgeist on Valencia in SF is a German beer garden and Mission dive with a backyard the size of a city lot, 60 taps and a kitchen turning out cheeseburgers late.
Tip: Cash bar only; the patio sets at picnic tables. The kitchen runs Bloody Marys all weekend and shuts the grill by 23:30 most nights.
Zeitgeist on Valencia in SF is a German beer garden and Mission dive with a backyard the size of a city lot, 60 taps and a kitchen turning out cheeseburgers late.
Tip: Cash bar only; the patio sets at picnic tables. The kitchen runs Bloody Marys all weekend and shuts the grill by 23:30 most nights.
The Saloon on Grant Avenue first poured in 1861 and survived the 1906 fire, making it the oldest operating bar in San Francisco with blues bands every night.
Tip: Live blues every night with a small cover most weekends. Cash bar; the original 1860s wood bar is the photo opportunity.
Tunnel Top sits over the Stockton Street tunnel in San Francisco's FiDi, a two-level corner bar with built-in cushion seating upstairs and a divey downstairs.
Tip: Upstairs lounge has bar-rail views over the tunnel mouth. Ten beers on draft and a short cocktail list; cash bar moves faster on busy nights.
1015 Folsom in San Francisco runs five rooms over three floors with a refreshed sound system and headline EDM, house and techno bookings on Friday and Saturday.
Tip: Buy tickets online before 22:00 to avoid the queue around the corner on Folsom. Rooms upstairs draw smaller crowds than the main floor late.
Audio SF on 11th Street is SoMa's dedicated house and techno room, booking international DJs onto a single dance floor under a Funktion-One rig in San Francisco.
Tip: Doors at 22:00; the line moves faster after midnight. Resident Advisor tickets are cheaper than door for headline bookings.
DNA Lounge in SoMa is the late-night, all-ages SF club running seven bars, two stages and four dance floors across goth, industrial and drag programming.
Tip: Monday's Death Guild is the longest-running goth-industrial night in the country. Saturday's Bootie SF mash-up party runs until 04:00.