El Rio

Mission, San Francisco –

Part live music venue and part DJ haunt, El Rio in San Francisco also hosts film and art showcases, comedy acts, burlesque routines, salsa nights, karaoke, impromptu jams, and loads of neighborhood fundraisers, making it a go-to spot for a crazy quilt of San Francisco’s eclectic populace.

Old regulars with pruney skin sit by the entrance in the front room, sipping PBRs alongside greasy-haired skinny hipsters, while butch-looking girls battle effeminate guys on the shuffleboard table toward the back. Dolled-up girlfriends of both guys and gals order up bad 80s hits at the jukebox, perhaps rooting for the Middle Eastern tourists who wandered in to battle the preppy jocks over a game of pool – such is the crazy crowd that so often comes.

Those with grumbling stomachs can make their way to the spacious patio where, depending on the night, they’ll find barbecue or free oysters on the half shell waiting for them on one of the many picnic tables. Behind the patio, a second room features an open dance floor that draws an energetic mix of horn-rimmed post-grads, buttoned-down young professionals, blue-mohawked punks, and drunken law students as DJs spin, bands play, some dude tells jokes, or women shake their tasseled boobies.

On the odd chance patrons pay a cover charge for the live shows, they can feel a bit better about it knowing the money is likely destined for a local charity – and if there’s a group of first-time visitors walking through, they’re likely destined to be in awe of what El Rio has in store.