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The shuttered bars of the Golden Gate

on March 26, 2012

The place where the Mai Tai was invented is now a vacant lot. The original Trader Vic’s—where the world famous rum cocktail was invented in 1944—once stood at 6500 San Pablo Avenue, on the corner of 65th Street. But Trader Vic’s closed that location in 1972 and moved to Emeryville.

In the first half of the 20th Century, there were “50 bars from the Emeryville line to the Berkeley line” around San Pablo Avenue, according to historian Don Hausler, who compiled a walking tour of bars that have closed in the area since World War II. “Two or three bars on every block, almost.”

Among the other since-closed taverns in the area were:

Adam and Eve Tavern

5515 San Pablo Avenue

-Was operated by a bartender known as “Big Edna”

Silver Slipper Bar

5665 San Pablo Avenue

– An old cocktail lounge with a jukebox is now a lot across the street from the Golden Gate library.

Vagabond Club

5519 San Pablo Avenue

-Known as a black motorcycle club hangout, in now also a church.

Check out our map for more of the abandoned bars of the Golden Gate.

1 Comment

  1. Julie L. Thompson on April 12, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    Does anyone remember Stan’s? It was an awful dive bar that we’d stumble down the street to during the band’s breaks…at The Longbranch…in the 1970’s…Love “Jimmy” the bartender! Really fun place. Julie



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