San Fran Voice

I used to spend a lot of time at the bars on Grant Street, especially at Grant & Green which offers a laidback attitude, no cover, live music and decent drinks.  But you know how life is – you go to the same places for awhile and then you get tired of them and move on – so it had been awhile since I’d meandered along Grant Street in the late hours of the San Francisco night.  And it turns out, not much has changed, but why fix what ain’t broke, right?

We arrived at the bar to find Storytyme, a Colorado retro rock band, taking over the stage.  The small dance space was slightly crowded with people who moved like they were getting paid to dance.  The thing about Grant and Green is that it can get really packed, often with interesting characters, but there’s a laidback attitude that’s perhaps not always typical of North Beach which makes it possible to cram in there without stepping on any toes.  Storytyme proved to be an interesting group, filled with high-energy performing ability and a talent for getting the crowd going.

Storytyme was actually opening the night for another band, but we’d moved on in to the North Beach night before they got going.  We skipped over Mojito, because even though they make the best vodka mojito I’ve ever had, they were looking a little quiet.  We spent some time at Magnet, which is the only lounge on Grant Street, enjoying the beautiful people until they had moved on.  And then we made our way to O’Reilly’s, a laidback Irish bar a few blocks from Grant Street on Green.

O’Reilley’s was strangely quiet.  And as we looked around the North Beach streets, we realized that almost everywhere was eerily quiet.  It wasn’t even one in the morning when we headed home, and there wasn’t much going on around us.  Perhaps the long holiday weekend has got everyone indoors on a Friday night since there’s an extra day to get out?  Or maybe everyone was up to something outside of North Beach?   Whatever the case, although it was quiet, it was a nice night out in the neighborhood.