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I mean sure, we all expect John Waters to have drank at the Phone Booth (he’s done so twice), but so have Chloe Sevigny, Michael Fassbender, Spike Jonze, Michael Stipe, Andy Samberg, Hope Sandoval and many more. Neither Selleck nor Manilow have ever stopped in for a drink, but the list of famous people who have is long and eclectic. Jared is the creative force behind the decor - he built the chandelier himself. He was in a band called Outer Circle, which was signed to Enigma Records in the ’80s, and he’s still a musician and a songwriter today. “When we bought it in 1999 … we put in all the tap beers and built all of this stuff and put in real liquor and we got a jukebox that I take care of,” Steve told me over our second drink. The famed Barbie chandelier at The Phone Booth.
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The Phone Booth that we know and love today, with the famous Barbie doll chandelier and signed photos of Tom Selleck and Barry Manilow, came into existence when Jared and Steve took over. It was before the Mission really gentrified, so most residents were Latino, including a lot of immigrant families. The neighborhood was quite different, too. Then on April 1, 1999, Jared and Steve (a third generation San Franciscan) bought the joint from Linda Pancost, who Steve described with a loving smirk as “a notorious owner of this bar and a notorious woman in her own right in San Francisco.”Īt the time, it was an off-the-beaten path old man gay bar that was “beige inside with lots of mirrors and no beer on tap.” A man named Eddie played piano on the weekends. What is known for sure is that Jared started working at the Phone Booth around 1996. But considering there was a previous phone company building next door to the Telco building as early as 1909, the Phone Booth could potentially have had this name for even longer than Steve and Jared suspect.
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Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATEĪs for where the bar got its name: There’s a huge old Pac Bell building a block away called the 25th Street Telco Building that was built in 1949 and full of telephone operators and other phone company employees. Phone Booth owners Steve Spingola, left, and Jared Wendt share a moment for a portrait at the end of their Mission District bar in San Francisco on Feb. While there aren’t any records earlier than the ’60s or so, a friend gave them a matchbook from what appears to be the 1940s when it was called the Phone Booth Cocktail Lounge and the owners were “Marge and Jim.” Sitting down at the end of the bar next to the aforementioned legendary jukebox, husbands and co-owners Steven Spingola and Jared Wendt explain that they believe their bar is at least 80 years old. Then again, to a bar like the Phone Booth, 20 years is nothing. What’s remarkable is that, in a city that’s seen so much change over the past 20 years, not much feels different since I started drinking there … other than the smoking, thankfully. But the impressively cheap drinks, exquisitely curated jukebox, delightfully campy decor and weirdo clientele made smelling like an ashtray the next day almost worth it. The Phone Booth was smoky back then it was one of the last bars in SF that allowed lighting up. (Photos by Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE) (Photos by Kevin Kelleher/Special to SFGATE) Clockwise from top left: friendly games of pool are a staple of The Phone Booth in the Mission District DJ Per Sia, Tim Rodriguez, and Francis Beavers catch up over cocktails Phone Booth regulars Dan and Joshzilla Sasha, originally from Mexico, is the beloved mascot of The Phone Booth. Clockwise from top left: friendly games of pool are a staple of The Phone Booth in the Mission District DJ Per Sia, Tim Rodriguez, and Francis Beavers catch up over cocktails Phone Booth regulars Dan and Joshzilla Sasha, originally from Mexico, is the beloved mascot of The Phone Booth.