Bamboo Hut

North Beach / Telegraph Hill, San Francisco –

Located right on the border between Downtown and North Beach's seedy heart – an area that’s catered to sexual indiscretion since the 1800s – Bamboo Hut is a tropical refuge from the titty bars and porn shops that still populate Broadway Street today.

A giant tiki head marks the entrance, but that’s just the beginning of the island décor, which continues with jungle plants, grassy awnings, and walls covered in thatched panels.

Happy Hour specials make the venue one of the cheaper places in this part of town to snag an after-work drink, enticing young Financial District professionals to unwind with a shot, a PBR, and a Giants game, while soft red booths offer space for the groups of party animals and college students who inevitably show up later.

Visitors who don’t like beverages garnished with plastic mermaids and monkeys will be sorely disappointed, but they usually fall in line after guzzling a few flaming volcano bowls and piña coladas served in coconut-shaped mugs.

Outgoing patrons generally not known to keep quietly to themselves get loud, rowdy, and sweaty once fueled by enough rum and pineapples, especially when the DJ or live band draws giggling girls and their tipsy booties to the tiny dance floor.

Uncontaminated by city fog or the sleaze across the street, the anything-goes, hard-partying vibe of the old days lives on at Bamboo Hut.