In the heart of Chinatown there is a bar that is dedicated to Buddha in name only. The bar itself is dedicated to pouring strong drinks and playing liar’s dice while listening to Mark the bartender talk against all odds of stopping. If it were not for the neon sign above the door, the Buddha Bar would not be noticed by anyone. It is a nondescript dive of the best kind.
This bar is the entrance to the seedy underbelly of Chinatown. While blonde tourists march by the door by day, poking their heads in on occasion for a look, the evening brings on the serious drinkers of the local variety. Cheap beers and strong drinks attract them like flies to pie. But even though the drinkers come in, they also don’t linger.
This bar could easily hold its own character part in a flic like Big Trouble in Little China. There is the front door where people enter, possibly never to come back out. The locked gate to the basement only lends to the mystery and tales of what lies beneath Chinatown – a labyrinth of tunnels, ancient opium dens and the magical remnants of Lo Pan – but once entered, it takes a bit of imagination to visualize.
Buddha Bar
901 Grant @ Washington
San Francisco, CA 94108
Hours: M – Su: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.
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Tags: buddha bar, chinatown, dive bar, san francisco
