Biergarten (www.SocketSite.com)

It was fifteen months ago we first reported the Biergarten in the works for Parcel L, part of the Proxy project along Octavia Boulevard. Now open Wednesday through Sunday from three to nine, and with the sun having broken through the morning clouds, it seems an appropriate way to whet our weekend whistles this week.

The Evolution Of EnvelopeA+D’s Proxy Project For Parcels K+L [SocketSite]

20 thoughts on “It’s Time To Whet Our Weekend Whistles”
  1. Yes though this would have been nice to enjoy during the warmer dryer months it should still be a nice place to hang on the sunny days this winter. I went looking on their website to see what they have on tap but alas no list. My taste buds want to know. The website also indicates that they’ll close in the rain.

  2. I saw it say 6 beers on tap: some hefeweizens, a black beer, a lager, a pilsner, and while it lasts, Hofbrau Oktoberfest.
    More than that we’ll just have to find out for ourselves.

  3. Köstrizer, one of my favorite beers was on tap when I walked by there last weekend. Everyone there has to be seated, and the line was probably 20 people or so waiting to get seated. I settled for Ritual instead.

  4. I’ve been here and it’s fun. What a great use of outdoor space here. Like sparky-b said they have a small selection of German beers and you can get them by the half liter or liter (the giant Octoberfest mugs). They’ve also got soft pretzels and sausages which you can order and they’ll deliver to your picnic table.
    It’s like a slightly more upscale, German version of Zeitgeist. Great to have in Hayes Valley too since it’s within walking distance of a lot of other fun places to go afterward.

  5. Those tables/benches are great but if you don’t bolt ’em down the benches will tip when two people stand up off an end at once.

  6. “everyone has to be seated” I was at Market bar a while back and 3 of us were told we had to sit down. No mingling while standing. We left never to return.

  7. I never understood the fascination with the white trash amenities that have been springing up.
    -A raised platform in a parking space where you can breathe fumes is called a parklet. In the poorest towns in America, they wouldn’t put something up so insulting to the residents.
    -20 tables, with a dumpster retrofitted to be a kitchen, along a busy freeway with a single tree only Charley Brown could love at Christmas, in an establishment so incompetent that it opens in time for the cold and rain, is a biergarten. The real ones in Germany are beautiful. This is the white trash equivalent.
    It’s getting to be embarrassing. Is this the best we can do? The efforts are either America’s Cup nouveau riche activities that will have the appeal for the rest of us of watching paint drying, or embarrassingly low budget substitutes for something real, but missing. Not enough parks? Here’s a 9×6 parklet covered in fumes and ready for an accident, now shaddup.

  8. Tipster, the place that has done parklets on the biggest scale is Manhattan, which closed large stretches of Broadway to traffic.
    And there’s no freeway in Hayes Valley. They are putting up temporary structures to use the space freed up by removing the freeway, until the timing is right for permanent development.
    Anyway, while the weather was warm, the parklets across town saw heavy use. The parklets along Valencia (immediately bordered by a bike lane, not cars) have livened up the street considerably.

  9. I agree with tipster. If our politicians would stop trading open spaces to developers for affordable housing that never gets done, we’d have at least a slim chance at becoming that World Class city that Willie Brown touted on the signs on top of the beat up Yellow Cabs years ago. That really summed it up for me back then.

  10. It’s tipster, not Hipster. See what I did there.
    In any event, other than these two examples what are the others? Are we really complaining about parklets and this biergarten? How about we start cleaning up the filth in this city that is now overtaking the city. At least these establishments are bringing more people into spaces and encouraging social activity.

  11. “It’s getting to be embarrassing. Is this the best we can do?”
    Really though you should be comparing this to the alternative of a vacant lot. Vacancy causes blight and IMO a large degradation in livability. I really think that any of these programs that put vacant lots to use until a permanent use can be found are net positives.

  12. How about we start cleaning up the filth in this city that is now overtaking the city.
    Turns out that the guy responsible for that is busy campaigning for mayor. Better luck next time!

  13. @tipster, et al.
    The parklets replacing parking spots are requested (and I believe partially funded & maintained) by the business or housing they are in front of. They have been so successful that some high end restaurants have requested them, Absinthe and Tsunami Sushi come to mind.
    They are pleasant and a much better use of space than a couple parking spots. If you are aware of any accidents that have happened at a parklet, please provide supporting information.
    The beer garden looks fun and I plan to check it out, I’ve already tried the coffee spot and that was nice as well. By the way, the businesses are in shipping containers, not dumpsters.

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