San Francisco Voice

Venue: HEMLOCK TAVERN

Address: 1131 Polk Street between Sutter and Post

Neighborhood: “Polk Gulch” according to the website, although everyone I know agrees that it’s “that neighborhood between Russian Hill and The Tenderloin”

Types of bands that play here:  Alternative … not in the sense of the music genre “alternative” but in the sense of “hm, familiar to something I know but a bit different”; example: an upcoming show by a faux French band and a weekly “Punk Rock Sideshow”.

How often there’s live music:  Almost every night of the year, baby!

Points given for:  Really interesting mixture of people in the crowd as well as performers invited on stage; music every night means you can just stop in and see who is playing and you can hang in the bar for no cover if you don’t care to see them

Points taken away because: small, narrow venue so it’s hard to see the band unless you’re right up front so get there early

Overall: The Bay Area’s Most Kissed Music Journalist would be happy to take a date to any show here

There are a series of bars along San Francisco’s Polk Street which draw a really diverse crowd of people.  The bars themselves are quite different, from the Asian tranny bars to the college dance spots, but their proximity makes them prone to bar-hopping so you get an interesting mix every time you enter one.  As the night gets later and people end up at the bar at which they feel most comfortable, Hemlock Tavern draws in a crowd composed of two different basic types of people: late-college, early-young-professional types and edgy music lovers.  The crowds are separated between then no-cover bar / pool table area and the low-cover live music section of Hemlock, although they convene periodically in the enclosed smoking room adjacent to the main room of the bar.

You can tell the difference between the crowd of people who is just there to enjoy a drink and those who are there for the music.  If nothing else, you can see it in the way that the music fans stop off quickly to get a decently-priced drink at the bar before heading directly to the back where a neon arrow indicates the door to the live music part of the bar.  These folks get their hands stamped for the show and then head through the sound-proofing plastic gates of the doorway to enter a narrow room with a raised stage at one end.  A mirror lining one entire wall of the room helps to make it feel as though the place is bigger than it is and the line of booth seats and small tables which runs along it helps to give the place a cozy feel.  But really, when you enter the music room at Hemlock Tavern, you’re entering a small space which is rapidly going to become crowded with people.  For a concert space, this is good … music is all about experience and being crowded in with other music lovers helps to make that experience feel like a shared one.

The music coming from the stage is coming from a combination of local San Francisco bands and bands visiting the city from national and international locations.  I’ve only seen a few shows at Hemlock so far but what they seem to have in common is that they’re a little bit “different”.  These aren’t the “alternative” or “indie” bands that you would see at a place like The Warfield or Great American Music Hall but instead are the kind of bands who are made up of people who live a really self-directed alternative lifestyle.  The result is a music which tends to be fresh and new although not always perfected.  The shows are low cover ($5 – $10) and there are usually two or three bands playing each night so you get your money’s worth.

The best part about Hemlock is that you can count on it always having something going on.  You can stop in on any night of the week and ask around to find out who is playing and what their music sounds like.  If it sounds good to you, you can pay your cover and head in to the music room.  If not, you can mingle with people throughout the rest of the bar, paying nothing and enjoying that interesting neighborhood diversity that makes up this stretch of Polk Street.