San Francisco will get its first gay sports bar this fall--an addition that we frankly cannot believe did not exist before.
Following in the footsteps of similar bars in New York and Los Angeles, Hi Tops, a lively sports bar aimed at the gay community, will replace the recently shuttered brunch spot, Lime, in the Castro District.
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"I've played in San Francisco's gay sports leagues for years and there wasn't really anywhere for us to go out afterward," co-owner Jesse Woodward told The Huffington Post. "Of course there are a few great bars with the Giants game on, but when we were looking for a serious sports bar, nowhere fit the bill."
Indeed, while there are several spots to grab a beer and watch the Giants game in the Castro, the city is lacking a dedicated gay sports bar.
"We want a place to watch EuroCup, soccor, tennis and all of the local teams: the 49ers, the Warriors, the Sharks," explained Woodward to HuffPost. "Not just the Giants."
The bar will serve lunch, dinner and a late-night menu of gourmet stadium eats, and besides an enormous selection of beer on tap, Hi Tops will also feature a sports-themed drink menu.
"We'll have drinks named in honor of local athletes, post-workout protein drinks with booze in them--stuff like that."
The project is certainly an ambitious one: Woodward aims to have Hi Tops up and running in time for the World Series and construction hasn't even started.
But then again, the Giants haven't edged the Dodgers out of the NL West top spot yet either, and that's clearly just a matter of time.
According to Woodward, though the renovations will be largely cosmetic, locals won't find a trace of the space's former tenant.
"Everything will be completely redone," explained Woodward. "The bar will have a 1970s high school gymnasium theme. We're thinking metro athletic with playful, references to locker rooms and masculinity."
And with a tagline like "Cold Pitchers, Hot Catchers," we can't wait to see what Woodward and his team come up with.
Until then, here are a few of our current favorite spots to watch the game:
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