Shotwell's stands at the corner of Shotwell and 20th streets and has been operating for about 135 years, serving as an after-work gathering place. The bar’s outdoor and indoor flow, along with its long history, creates the sense that it represents the neighborhood itself. Owners Tom Madonna and David Hall treat the responsibility of maintaining a long-established San Francisco institution seriously, and they work as the bar’s primary bartenders. The business began in 1891 as a German immigrant grocery store and saloon, with food and dry goods up front and beer in the back. It survived the 1906 earthquake, including a nearby fire, and operated as a grocery store during Prohibition before becoming a full-time bar after the 21st Amendment. C. Mich “Old Man” Cribbin ran it for more than 50 years, strengthening its role as a neighborhood institution.
"The saloon has stood at the corner of Shotwell and 20th streets for the past 135 years, an after-work oasis for generations of San Franciscans. During busy hours, the party pours out onto the tree-lined sidewalk and parklet. The fluidity between the outdoor and indoor spaces, combined with a century's worth of gravitas, gives the impression that Shotwell's is more than just a neighborhood bar - it is the neighborhood itself."
"Caring for a San Francisco institution that's decades older than the Golden Gate Bridge is not a duty that owners Tom Madonna and David Hall take lightly. "There is a responsibility. And I think that, without being too boastful, I feel like I am absolutely the perfect person for it," Madonna said. He's got the hands-on experience to back up the claim. Madonna and Hall are also the bar's primary bartenders."
"The bar that would eventually become Shotwell's was founded in 1891 by German immigrants as a combination grocery store and saloon. "The format was common in the working-class neighborhoods of the American West: food and dry goods up front, beer in the back. One business. Two purposes. One address," Madonna wrote in an email."
"The saloon survived the 1906 earthquake, despite a fire caused by the quake coming within less than a quarter mile of the bar. The establishment passed as just a grocery store during Prohibition - who can say if the taps were ever actually turned off- before transitioning to a full-time bar with the passage of the 21st Amendment. C. Mich "Old Man" Cribbin took over the space and ran it for over 50 years, helping establish it as a neighborhood institution until his death in 1976."
Read at SFGATE
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