TOSCA Cafe, the bar in San Francisco with a colorful history that’s apparently not known to some media people, is closing this weekend – Sunday is it’s last day.
Reported, it is falling to new ownership, as Jeannette Etheredge has elected to sell it to Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield, who have made names for themselves at The Spotted Pig in New York, and saw TOSCA as the plan for their West Coast expansion. This weekend marks the end of an era which saw the bar as the unofficial home of the San Francisco Film Community.
Oh, I’ve blogged about this place a bunch. I was a regular here until my Mom’s move to Georgia and the death of my stepfather altered my schedule. But I still walk in from time to time. But what I remember are the numerous dates, and great bartenders like Steve, who works the SF Giants games at AT&T Park, now.
Phil Bronstein, legendary newshound and dragon fighter, loved TOSCA. So did former San Franciscao Mayor Willie Brown.
I’ll remember stars like Sean Penn, and movie producers and directors and people above and below the line, as they say. I’ll remember the stories of parties and fights in the back pool room I have never been in to this date. And most of all, I’ll remember that cappucino.
TOSCA puts Brandy in its caps, so when you say “I’ll have a cap” that’s what you get.
That’s a tradition that goes back to prohibition and a time when any establishment that had alcohol was shut down, and its owners jailed. To avoid this, and make good with friendly cops, the TOSCA owners then created the idea of hiding their booze in plain site. Thus, the cap.
Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield will never be Jeannette Etheredge. She’s one of a kind, and if you could get past her prickly way, she was a OK. The greatest surprise to me was that she was an Obama fan, and opened her doors to the Obama For America Bay Area Campaign, whenever we asked.
I’ve not seen that video above for a long time.
Wow.
Stay tuned.