Monroe Bar / Club / Lounge

North Beach / Telegraph Hill, San Francisco –

The remnants of old Hollywood live on at Monroe, an upscale lounge that infuses a little classic celebrity glamour into the hard-partying North Beach scene.

With ubiquitous dark wood flooring, sleek low banquettes, and wall-sized fashion and art tapestries bearing everything from galloping horses to sultry models, the venue packs a lot into its already spacious interior.

Happy Hour sees the pair of marble-topped bars lined with twenty- and thirty-something financial types from Downtown – either snacking on cheese plates or sipping half-priced wine poured straight from the barrel – as mellow house music plays in the background.

When the work week fades into the weekend, however, the bare-bulb chandeliers dim, DJs turn up the music, and a fashionable crowd of clubbers makes its way onto the intimate dance floor. Suburban girls dolled up in satin tops reserve the VIP tables in back, sinking into long M-shaped couches to nosh on flatbreads and organic strawberries, while guys in designer jeans and button-downs offer to buy them avant-garde cocktails like the tequila and champagne-powered Bubbly Sanchez.

A caged patio keeps the party animals from spilling onto the street when they need a smoke break, and also frees up the sidewalk for the long line that usually forms by 11pm.

Exuding old-fashioned class and frequented by pretty, contemporary people, the Monroe is a cool and swanky nightspot that surely would have pleased Marilyn herself.