Behind the Bars

Being a familiar face in one of these spots is a right reserved for the tried and true, but warming a barstool should be on everyone’s bucket list. You won’t find hip, muddled farm-to-tumbler cocktails in any of these unpretentious, straight shooting (as in pool tables and shuffleboard) iconic bars, just good drink and conversation.

61 Opened on Sausalito’s Caledonia Street in the 1930s by railroad man Frank “Smitty” Smith, Smitty’s Bar has long served as a neighborhood gathering place. If you listen closely you might even be able to hear gossip from the ghosts of the ship workers who gathered here during the war. (Or maybe it’s just that third stiff cocktail talking.) Currently owned by Bill McDonald, Chuck Keller and John Larkin, we’re happy to report that Smitty’s is still going strong. smittysbar.com

62 From the famous Bloody Marys on Sunday mornings to the no-nonsense menu of beer, shots and basic mixed cocktails, the Silver Peso is one of Marin’s favorite watering holes. The name? It’s a good story: One of the original owners gave customers the coins he collected in the Philippines during World War II, and the practice eventually became synonymous with the bar itself. 415.924.3448

63 When the 2am Club reopened after the Prohibition era in 1933, it did so just outside the city limits. It didn’t matter that it was officially named “the Brown Jug,” this one-room, bare-bones saloon at the corner of Montford and Miller avenues eventually became known as the “2am Club,” and the name stuck. Today “the deuce” (as locals affectionately call it), now owned by Dave Marshall and Amanda Followay, is as popular as ever. 415.388.6036

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