SAN FRANCISCO--One long ago morning after seeing Tom Jones getslammed by brassieres at the House of Blues nightclub in Los Angeles,a friend and I were hit by road fever. We decided to take a day tripup Highway 101 to San Francisco.
It's not unusual to see the Golden Gate Bridge. And have dinner inNorth Beach at Ristorante Fior d'Italia, 601 Union, the oldestItalian restaurant in America (est. 1886). Or laugh at the hippiesplaying hackey-sack in the Haight.
But our destination was Lefty O' Doul's, the last great sports barin America.
The California sky was as blue as our Advil. She had the top downon her red Mazda and music from 'Tony Bennett's Greatest Hits' andTom Jones' 'Live in Las Vegas' tumbled into the air like lucky dice.By the time we reached Santa Barbara, I was feeling so good I beganregaling her with stories of Lefty, who opened his San Franciscorestaurant and bar in 1958.
Lefty was born in 1897 in San Francisco. He always dressed ingreen. He had green suits, green pants, green hats and green socks.He had green eyes. Lefty is the only major league player ever to hitmore than 30 home runs and strike out fewer than 20 times in the sameseason. He had a lifetime .349 batting average in 970 major leaguegames.
Well, that relationship went nowhere.
But I still visit Lefty's whenever I am in the area, whether it beWalnut Creek, Calif., or Soda Well, Wyo. I'll be back for the Cubs-Giants playoffs in October. Lefty O'Doul's is at 333 Geary Blvd.,across the street from Union Square in downtown San Francisco. Irecently dropped in for a beer while on assignment in Walnut Creek.
The 200-seat restaurant and bar is in the former St. FrancisTheater. Appropriately enough, the theater is an ornate vaudevillehouse that was built in the early 1900s. It still celebrates thatspirit. During the early 1950s O'Doul opened a bar called Lefty'saround the corner on Powell Street, but it is the Union Avenuelocation that is world-famous.
I suppose I like Lefty's so much because it reminds me of a darkdowntown Chicago hofbrau, like Miller's Pub or the Berghoff bar. Youdon't often find places like this in California (except for Musso &Franks in Hollywood).
Lefty's is nightlife unplugged. There's ample elbow room to carryon a good conversation, either at the bar or in a back booth. Leftyplayed for the Philadelphia Phillies, Brooklyn Dodgers and New YorkGiants during the late 1920s and 1930s. The historic baseballpictures that encompass the bar are in grainy black and white and notall duded up like some 21st century sports bar. As for Lefty himself,his face looks like a sack of potatoes.
Lefty's daily specials are served cafeteria style. Lefty's isknown for its lively corned beef, served hot and on the plate withpotato and side of veggies. Every St. Patrick's Day the restaurantsells up to 1,500 pounds of corned beef.
There's a piano bar in the front of the room and about a dozenpeople can hang around the piano. Someone is playing the piano sevennights a week. Mayor Willie Brown is a frequent piano bar visitor.The 24-seat main bar is reportedly one of the largest in the city andfeatures barstools made of baseball bats.
Francis 'Lefty' O'Doul died in 1969 at the age of 72.
He is buried beneath the green grass at Cypress Lawn Memorial Parkin Colma, south of San Francisco. You cannot miss his gravestone. Itis a 6-foot-high piece of granite engraved with his statistics, abaseball bat and his epitaph: 'THE MAN IN THE GREEN SUIT . . . HE WASHERE AT A GOOD TIME AND HAD A GOOD TIME WHILE HE WAS HERE.' Ofcourse. O'Doul was a roommate of Babe Ruth's in 1920 when they bothwere coming up with the Yankees.
Lefty's almost closed down in 1997. Monthly rent in the up-and-coming Union Square neighborhood doubled to $50,000 and previousowners couldn't make ends meet. That was the year I planned to fly toSan Francisco for New Year's Eve and one last night at Lefty's.
But Jim Bovis stepped to the plate.
He bought Lefty's in early 1998. His son Nick, 40, now manages thebar and restaurant. For the past 38 years Jim Bovis has owned theGold Dust Lounge around the corner from Lefty's at 247 Powell St.During Prohibition the vaudeville house and a speakeasy that becamethe Gold Dust Lounge were connected by an underground tunnel.
Bovis knew the old outfielder. 'Lefty used to come into my placewhen he wasn't here,' Bovis says as Jimmy Buffett's 'Why Don't We GetDrunk and Screw' plays in the background. 'He drove a green Cadillac.When Lefty had it, he ran a good operation. The men [customers] woresuits and ties. The ladies wore hats and cloth gloves.' Nightbartender Larry Lane adds, 'They were talking about auctioning theplace off in 1997. There's some pretty valuable memorabilia in here.'If the walls could talk . . .
(BULLET) (BULLET) (BULLET)
Lefty O'Doul's is framed by nearly 400 pieces of baseballmemorabilia. The booty includes Lefty's bats and celebrityphotographs he took himself. Like me, Lefty was an amateurphotographer. There are autographed pictures of San Francisco nativeJoe DiMaggio and his bride Norma Jean DiMaggio (Marilyn Monroe) on aUSO gig from Feb. 8, 1954.
History buffs can catch a one-of-a-kind shot of Lefty shakinghands with Japanese Emperor Hirohito, who invited O'Doul to theImperial Palace. Lefty was instrumental in introducing baseball toJapan. The Japanese called Lefty 'O-Dou-San.' Last June Lefty O'Doulbecame the first and only American to be inducted into the JapaneseBaseball Hall of Fame (located just right of Gate 21 in the TokyoDome in Tokyo).
General Douglas MacArthur referred to O'Doul's role in Japan's1949 post-war recovery as 'the greatest piece of diplomacy ever.' Theoccupation forces weren't thrilled about being in Japan, and theJapanese weren't happy having Americans hang around. Lefty was themanager of the Pacific Coast League San Francisco Seals in 1949. Hebrought his minor leaguers through a morale-boosting barnstormingtour of Japan, where they were greeted by MacArthur.
Lefty's ties with the Japanese went as far back as 1931, when hetoured the country with an all-star team that included Lou Gehrig,Lefty Grove and Mickey Cochrane. An autographed picture of that squadhangs near a television set behind the south end of the bar. A yearlater O'Doul returned to Japan with Chicago White Sox pitcher TedLyons and notorious catcher (and part-time spy) Moe Berg to coachplayers from assorted Tokyo universities.
The jovial Lane has been a bartender at Lefty's since 1980. Lanereminds me of Johnny Carson's old staff writer Pat McCormick. 'I'vehad about 20 people tell me this reminds [them] of a place in NewYork called the Blarney Stone,' Lane says during his early nightshift. 'Considering that Lefty played for all three New York teams[Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants], when he opened this, heprobably patterned it after that.'
Bovis has done nothing to change the bar. He abides by the mottoon the menu: 'Doing something right since 1958.' Well, Bovis did addbreakfast, so Lefty's now opens at 7 a.m. The house specialty, the'Home Run Breakfast' (two pancakes, eggs, bacon), is $6.95.
Bovis, 71, was born near Delphi in Greece. He traveled throughGrand Rapids, Minn., and Sioux City, Iowa, holding odd jobs beforelanding in San Francisco in 1957. Bovis managed the Yankee DoodleLounge on Powell Street before buying the Gold Dust in 1965. OnceBovis met Lefty, he became a baseball fan.
Lane, 57, adds, 'You don't really have an alternative withbaseball. A lot of visiting teams stay across the street [at the St.Francis Hotel] like they did a long time ago. When the Giants playedat the Stick [Candlestick Park], they stayed out by the airport.'
With the new Pacific Bell Park close to downtown, teams stay nearLefty's. Even the Lefty O'Doul Bridge crosses over McCovey's Cove andthe China Basin leading into Pac Bell Park. Lane says, 'It's greatfun for customers when there's seven guys sitting at the bar and fiveof them have World Series rings.'
The Cubs have obviously not been to Lefty O'Doul's.
New York Mets manager (and former Oakland A's manager) Art Howerecently dropped in with his wife. And certain members of the ArizonaDiamondbacks have found Lefty's. '[Ex-Cub] Mark Grace is great,' Lanesays. 'He's entertaining. He's a party all by himself. Seasonedveterans are great fun. Occasionally you get a rookie with anattitude.
'Overall, we get a nice balance. It's 50 percent locals, andothers are from around the world, which make it interesting. It's asafe place. I've only kicked six or seven guys out of here in 23years, which is unheard of.'
How has Lane become so attached to Lefty's?
'It's a funny thing,' Lane answers. 'I was just talking to[bartender] Mike Rapp over at Capp's Corner [huge salads at anaffordable price at 1600 Powell St., 415-989-2589] in North Beach andwe hit on that very thing. There's a good balance of clientele here.Neither one of us ever met Lefty. But we feel like we knew him.'
You will, too. The night always goes right at Lefty's, the lastgreat sports bar in America.
Specifically
Lefty O'Doul's is at 333 Geary Blvd. (415-982-8900) and is openfrom 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week. It is about a $30 cab ridefrom the San Francisco International Airport. I know. I've done it.In July, BART opened a line that takes visitors directly from theairport to the downtown Powell Street stop. For more information,visit www.lefty odouls.com and get a copy of the book Lefty O'Doul(The Legend That Baseball Nearly Forgot) by Richard Leutzinger[Carmel Bay Publishing Group].
