4004–4006 3rd Street

1. 1883

   Built about 1883. The bar's projecting metal sign, with neon lettering and a martini glass, dates from the years that made the building significant.

   Neighborhood Commercial Buildings Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
2. 1883

   Built for Bernard Lagrave, a French immigrant from the Basses-Pyrénées, as a liquor saloon with living quarters above, near Railroad and Trinidad avenues, today's Third Street and Galvez Avenue.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
3. May 1888

   After Bernard Lagrave died, ownership and running of the saloon passed to his widow, Catherine Lagrave.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
4. 1900

   Built.

5. 1905

   The saloon was being run by Bernard P. Lagrave Jr., son of its founder.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
6. 1958

   Sam Jordan spent six months renovating the building: new foundations went under all the exterior walls and new piers under the interior posts, and the old bar was stripped out and replaced with a cocktail lounge that had a horseshoe-shaped performance stage at the back of the ground floor.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
7. 1958

   The wooden plank sidewalk in front of the bar, a survival of the Butchertown era, was taken up and replaced with concrete.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
8. May 1958

   Annie Pyle, a daughter of Bernard Lagrave who had owned and run the bar through the 1930s and 1940s, sold the building, then trading as Lagrave's Tavern, to Sam Jordan, ending about 75 years of Lagrave family ownership.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. January 23, 1959

   Sam Jordan opened the bar as Sam Jordan's Tavern; it was soon known simply as "Sam's".

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. June 1963

    Sam Jordan announced his run for mayor of San Francisco, the first African American to do so, standing for the Freedom Now party; staff and regulars worked on the campaign from inside the bar.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
11. 1967

    A two-storey horizontal addition was built onto the rear of the building.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
12. 1980–1989

    The bar began hosting a monthly Black Businessman's Lunch on the third Friday of each month, where African American business owners and people from the city's civic life met to talk over the issues of the day.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
13. 1989

    The Concerned Citizens Committee was started over drinks at the bar to put on a free community meal in Bayview-Hunters Point built entirely from donated food and labor; it was served each year in the week before Christmas for four years.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
14. Jan 1993

    Permit 9301143 $$$ $3,000

    Open some walls for exploratory purposes only.

15. 1995

    Sam Jordan went into semi-retirement and handed the running of the bar to his family.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
16. Feb 2009

    Permit 200902111850 $$$ $18,000

    Reframe existing se corner of building & install new entry door per engineer's plan due to automobile crash. replace stucco brick veneer per existing finishes.

17. January 29, 2013

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 263, Sam Jordan's Bar.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
18. Sep 2014

    Permit 201409226903 $$$ $6,848

    Kitchen hood fire suppression system upgrade to ul 300; maher n/a.

19. May 2015

    Permit 201505297579 $$$ $1

    To obtain final inspection for work approved under permit application 8921840 all work is complete. n/a ordinance #155-13.

20. Dec 2018

    Permit 201812208851 $$$ $1

    To obtain a final inspection for work approved under previous permit pa201606301354 [reroofing].

21. May 2023

    Issued Permit 202305167912 $$$ $50,000

    Siding on north side and partial south of building is going to be replaced.

22. 2024

    The bar here is on the city's Legacy Business Registry.

    African American Citywide Historic Context Statement, adopted 2024

4 expired permits are omitted. The city's African American context statement prints the address as 4004-4006 Third Street twice and as 404 3rd Street once.