I'm still debating whether my new "home bar" is Grassland or Jonell's or another place I won't mention because that is also my secret establishment. I want to make it Grassland but damn it, the place is too clean and the bartenders are too nice!

The last time I drank here I did find poop stains all over the bathroom floor, like someone sat on the floor and dragged their butt around spreading poop...and that was gratifying to see, that the bar could get nasty. I told Cee 1 and she promptly called the dude bartender who had just got off his shift. He didn't look happy but at least he stayed this time and drank some shots with us.

Above is the old front of Grassland with the "WHERE - GOOD FRIENDS & GIRLS MEET" over the entrance. They took that down but kept the ugly yellow and green sign. I recommend they change the sign because this Grassland does not resemble the old Grassland one percent, not even a quarter of a half percent. Plus the sign is sorta ugly and does not convey what lies inside, which is a dark, inviting, clean, and fun little bar.

True dive bars are my favorite places to hang out, and the old Grassland was about as divey as you will ever see or drink in. I've drank in dungy bars in Elko, Nevada, and in old Reno, and well, in a lot of crappy neighborhoods in big cities and small towns and only three or four were as beat up as that old shithole Grassland and none of them were at a location as scenic as Kearny overlooking the Transamerica Pyramid and below Broadway on North Beach.

You've probably read all about it and if you haven't, do a google search. This is about the NEW GRASSLAND where they have daily drink specials, cute and not fake bartenders, clean glasses, beer on tap, and hell, nice flat screen televisions and an internet jukebox. Truly, this place fucking rocks.

I want to like it more, I truly do but every time I'm here, which is pretty much every time I go to Bing's less than a block away, I get the feeling I can drink and watch tv but I can't get *too* drunk or too obnoxious, and I may be totally wrong about that but that is what I sense.

Maybe it's the two cute, Asian, nice, smart, and cool chick bartenders I've met. Cee 1 and I forget the name of the other one but she's very, very cute. There is also a daytime dude bartender and he's pretty cool but I've had a difficult time getting anything out of him, like he puts a wall between he and the customer. But he's still cool. Cee 1 and the other chick bartender, they will drink with you and have a fun time, not in the manner a drinker experiences in a place like a Korean hostess bar where you feel like you're being pressured into drinks. This is not that type of bar; Grassland is NOT a hostess bar or any other type of ripoff bar. The fact that they employ pretty Asian (Vietnamese?) bartender is a coincidence, I think. It's simply a dark, clean little bar located near a touristy area of the City and its still trying to find it's identity.

It seems to be a sports bar at moments, then it seems to be a tourist trap, then it seems to be a dive, then some regulars come in and it seems to be a neighborhood bar, which would be very, very difficult as it's located in Chinatown near North Beach and the neighborhood bars in those hoods have different atmospheres than Grassland. To put it simply, Grassland seems out-of-place, almost out-of-its-time.

My theory and advice is its holding onto the past with the old sign. Take that down and put up a new sign and while you're at it, change the name of the place. That's it. Aside from that, the owner is making the best with what he or she has. Hmmm, maybe that is it? Maybe I need to meet the owner, unless its that dude daytime bartender, and in that case we already met.

Yeah, I like you Grassland but I feel I should love you. Maybe we'll get there over time?

Oh wait, they did change the sign!! I LOVE YOU GRASSLANDS.