Twin Peaks Tavern
401–419 Castro Street · Eureka Valley
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1883
Built as a saloon and cigar store, which it was trading as by the 1890s.
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1883
The building's first form stood here: a single-storey building addressed as 3999 17th Street, with a telephone exchange at one end and a small dwelling facing Castro Street at the southern end.
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January 15, 1900
A quarrel over an unpaid round of drinks ended in a gun battle across the saloon's pool table, in which the proprietor was shot dead; the charge against the other man was dismissed six weeks later on the testimony that the proprietor had fired first.
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1901
Built by Jules Levy.
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1915
Victorian trim and a second storey added.
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1915
A second building, two flats with two projecting bow windows on the upper floor, had been built on the southern part of the lot.
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September 12, 1921
Raided by federal agents as part of a sweep of forty premises. A foot switch dropped the liquor supply through a trapdoor onto bricks in the cellar; the crash gave the raid away, forty gallons of alcohol were seized as evidence and the saloon keeper was arrested after offering the agents $65.
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1923
The exterior remade in Mediterranean revival style, and largely as it was left then.
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1923
The remake was carried out for the owner, Samuel Levin, with Jules Levy as builder: the bay windows came off and the whole building was stuccoed, possibly in answer to the Castro Theatre going up next door.
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1935
The Twin Peaks Tavern opened as a neighborhood bar two years after the end of Prohibition, run by Osborne Bye and William Mullane.
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1940–1944
The tavern's projecting metal sign, painted with the Twin Peaks and fog, was up by the early 1940s, then carrying the proprietors' names, "Gus and Bye".
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1945
Gus Fagerlind and Knut Carlson were the tavern's proprietors.
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1971
Robert Clancy, who had run the Twin Peaks Tavern through the 1950s and 1960s, sold the business; its windows were then papered black inside and painted over outside.
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1972
The Twin Peaks Tavern, on this corner since 1935, was bought by two lesbian owners who installed large plate-glass windows, making what has been described as the first gay bar in the United States with a street-visible interior.
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1972
The new owners took out the walls of the small upstairs office to open a railed balcony, removed the suspended ceiling, and brought in a pre-Prohibition back bar from a Mission District bar through the window openings; antique tables and chairs and stained-glass lamps made in Berkeley completed the fern-bar interior.
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October 11, 1972
The bar's state liquor licence was first issued to its new owners, who reopened it as a gay bar.
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July 1973
The Twin Peaks Tavern was admitted to the Tavern Guild of San Francisco, the first gay business association in the United States.
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1974
The bar's team in the new Gay Community Softball League beat the Police Department team, and the police came to the bar afterwards with sirens going to salute the players.
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April 2, 1980
Police Chief Cornelius Murphy, appointed after the White Night riots, spoke to about 125 gay men from the tavern's balcony in a meeting arranged by the Tavern Guild to mend relations between the police and the gay community.
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Feb 1983
Sign - erect.
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Nov 1989
Bring building into code per dahi.
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May 1999
Rebuild service counter as it existed before only.
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Aug 2001
Remodel kitchen and bath repair water pipes dry rot near bathtub.
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2003
After 31 years the owners who had opened it as a gay bar sold it to two of its longtime bartenders.
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Jun 2004
Patch existing walls, sheetrock, add electrical plugs.
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2008
The bar's interior was used as a set for the film "Milk".
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January 29, 2013
Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 264, Twin Peaks Tavern.
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Apr 2013
Change of use. from m to b. new electrical service; heating; ventillation & plumbing, finishes and install cafe equipment. no change to exterior of space.
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Jun 2018
Existing restaurant to replace existing hood, re-route existing gas line, new equipment, automatic front door opener. n/a for maher.
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Sep 2018
Installation of ul 300 fire system, one cylinder on ground floor. ref permit application 201806212555.
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Feb 2019
To comply with nov 201162247 - removal of atm machine from front of store. installation of new glazing to be butt jointed to match existing.
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Feb 2020
Per building and pg&e record, remove address; 403, 405, 41 castro street from block 3582, lot 071.
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Mar 2020
Change of use to limited restaurant. interior ti - work includes new finishes, millwork, counters and refrigerator units plus general repair.
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Jun 2022
In compliance with abe ord# 51-16. install power door operator and wireless door buzzer. abe# 201912119670.
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Jun 2022
In compliance with abe ord# 51-16. install power door operator and wireless door buzzer. abe# 201912119669.
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Jun 2022
In compliance with abe ord# 51-16. install power door operator and wireless door buzzer. abe# 201912119667.
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Jun 2022
In compliance with abe ord# 51-16. install power door operator and wireless door buzzer. abe# 201912119672.
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Jun 2022
In compliance with abe ord# 51-16. install power door operator and wireless door buzzer. abe# 202002031630.
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Jun 2022
In compliance with abe ord# 51-16. install power door operator and wireless door buzzer. abe# 201912119671.
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Mar 2023
One unit: kitchen remodeling: change cabinets, tile on floor, countertop in kind remodel.
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Oct 2024
2nd story residential kitchen & bath remodeling in kind. no moving walls. all fixtures to remain in same location. kitchen approx. 80 sq ft. bathroom approx 40 sq ft.
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Nov 2025
Change of use from retail to salon. plumbing line, drainage etc for washing machine, hair wash sink, updated electrical outlets, lighting; widen bathroom doorway remodel in kind.
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Feb 2026
New plumbing, drainage, electrical, ventilation; bathr remodel in-kind; change of use (retail to coffee shop); add in required had, 3 compartment & mop sinks, new front door, new flooring, wall tiling, cove base; new led lighting throughout.
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Mar 2026
Remove damaged sub-floor and replace, bring framing upto code by adding additional framing(not removing old framing. revision to permit application 202511149694.
DBI holds 31 permits for this parcel, most of them tenant improvements on individual floors. The timeline shows the 24 largest by stated cost, plus the earliest on file; the DBI query in the sources below returns all 31. 2 of them are nominal $1 street-space or sidewalk permits. 3 expired or cancelled permits are not shown. The assessor's roll gives 1901; the 2012 Article 10 landmark case report dates the building to 1883. The building is dated variously to before 1883, about 1886, 1895 and 1923; the assessor gives 1901. The second storey is dated both 1915 and the 1890s.
Nearby
- Bank of America Building Same street
- Castro Theater Same street
- 3991–3993 17th Street Same block
- 3987–3989 17th Street Same block
- 3979–3981 17th Street Same block
- 3969–3973 17th Street Same block
- 2395–2399 Market Street Around the corner
- 2416–2420 Market Street Around the corner