A WELL BUILT & WELL TRAVELLED 1860’s BAR
The centerpiece of the Devil’s Acre is the beautiful mahogany bar which dates to 1860’s San Francisco. We came across this bar while on a tropical libations research expedition to the Hawaiian Islands many years before we commenced work on what eventually became the Devil’s Acre.
On hearing our plans to open an Apothecary inspired bar in North Beach, San Francisco, our long time friend and Hawaii restauranteur, Terry Wigzell informed us that he had the ideal component for the project, but that we would need to hop from Maui to Kona to inspect it at his storage facility.
We hopped immediately to Kona, to be introduced to what was an elaborate wooden bar from a bygone era. Terry had purchased the bar in North Beach in the 1970’s, from a building on Columbus Street which was set to be demolished. The bar was carefully dismantled and shipped to Maui. There, he and his wife Penny, deployed it at their new “Pancho & Lefty’s Cantina” in Old Town Lahaina, where it was well tapped for three decades. When the restaurant closed, Terry dismantled and transported the bar again, this time to Kona, with intentions of placing it in a new restaurant there. Time passed, and the bar stayed in storage for another decade, until our visit.
Terry agreed to let us purchase the bar on condition that we preserve it’s history by deploying it back in San Francisco. He packed it up again, and shipped it to us via the Port of Oakland. From there, it was carefully restored and placed in storage for another few years as we awaited City approval for our bar project. Eventually, in 2013, we installed it at the new Devil’s Acre, on Columbus Ave. The artefact was home again in San Francisco.
As a great Americana historian, Terry had preserved the details of the historic provenance of this bar. Here’s what he shared with us.
THE GRAND HOTEL SAN FRANCISCO
The Grand Hotel San Francisco opened in 1868 at Market Street and New Montgomery, across from the Palace Hotel. Conceived of on a grand scale and occupying much of a city block, the highly eclectic Grand Hotel styling reflected elements derived from Italinate and Neo-Classical architecture, among others. It was designed by renowned Architect John Gaynor, most famous as the designer of the Palace Hotel across the street from the Grand Hotel.
The building had four stories, commercial shops lined much of the the hotel's first floor, sharing space with a main lobby.
APOTHECARIES’ HALL
The gathering place inside the main lobby was the “Apothecaries' Hall”, an elaborate establishment which operated as a medicinal apothecary by day, and transitioned to the service of “cocktails” in the evenings. Apothecaries’ Hall was operated during the day by B.B. Thayer, chemist, and in the evening by William J. Bryan, druggist. There were two mahogany bars inside the Apothecaries’ Hall, which were custom built in Pittsburg, PA, specifically for the Grand Hotel. They were delivered by cargo sail ship around Cape Horn. The larger mahogany bar was designed for the service of the medicinal offerings, the smaller mahogany bar for the service of cocktails and other liquid refreshments.
Between 1900-1902 the hotel underwent a major renovation, resulting in the smaller bar being deemed surplus to requirements. That original bar, the one now at The Devil's Acre was purchased by a saloonkeeper in North Beach, and installed in his bar somewhere along Columbus Avenue. We have not been able to identify the name nor location of this bar, so hopefully our historically minded neighbors in the area can assist us on the search.
1906 EARTHQUATE & FIRE
When the 1906 earthquake struck, the Grand Hotel survived the shaking. Unfortunately, the ensuing fire destroyed it, along with Apothecaries Hall. Fortunately, the small mahogany bar which had been relocated to North Beach survived the Great Fire.
HAWAII: MAUI & KONA
The bar, which consists of the elaborate wooden back bar, with imbedded original hand cut glass inlays, and the front counter section, was installed at Pancho's & Lefty's Cantina in Old Town Lahaina, Maui from the end of the 70's until 2008 when the business was closed. The the bar was then shipped to Kona and placed in storage by Terry & Penny. It was transported back to San Francisco in 2010 and has been the admiration of many since the opening of The Devil’s Acre in 2014.
ONGOING RESEARCH
We continue to search for historical leads, photos and drawings of the bar along the way, and hopefully we’ll eventually identify that North Beach bar location where it undoubtedly served many a thirsty visitor for seven decades.
RAISE A GLASS TO THE BAR
We would appreciate your help on this search. In the meantime, stop by and instead of raising a glass at the bar, let’s raise a glass to the bar, in honor of the enduring craftsmanship of our predecessors from over 160 years ago!
