Speakeasies in San Francisco

There is something about San Francisco speakeasies that makes everything from a dashing date to a come-hither cocktail a little more intriguing. Everything is sexier if it’s whispered like a secret. And slipped between the San Francisco shadows are some of the most stylish sipping spots in the city – you just have to know where to look.

First up is the infamous Bourbon and Branch in the Tenderloin, which boasts a devoted throw-back vibe complete with a password-only entrance, a labyrinth of secret serpentine passages, and staffers in authentic 1920s couture. Reservations are a must, especially if you want to peruse the uber-cozy (and elite) Library Room.

Serving as a nice non-divey option in the heart of the Mission, the Hideout at Dalva offers a chic and sultry speakeasy space, tucked behind the equestrian scene and the projection screen – and that moonlights as a bathroom entrance. Blood-red banquettes and dim lights have retro revelers imbibing in intimate intrigue.

The Vortex Room in SoMa is the height of well done kitsch. Eccentric, unassuming, and unabashedly strange in its offerings, this diminutive venue offers wonderfully bad B movies in a hard-to-find location on Howard Street. Films hailing from the 60s to the 80s make their way into the Vortex and onto the cortex of popcorn munchin’, bourbon swillin’ party-goers. The Vortex room has a full bar, but BYOB is welcome too. Illicit never tasted so salty. Or sweet.

Speakeasies in San Francisco are everything they should be -- sultry, shadowy and brimming with hush-hush hoopla.