Angelika You have surely already read here that ugly, bland, overpriced residential high-rises are increasingly dominating the cityscape of San Francisco, displacing beloved and traditionally designed places. However, occasionally, there's a win for the long-established residents of this, in this case it's pub named Zeitgeist.
Behind the German-sounding name lies a legendary dive bar with a beer garden, which has been providing refreshments for thirsty throats on Valencia Street in San Francisco since 1977, initially under the name "Rainbow Cattle Company." The owner, Horst Hans Grahlmann, a German who ended up in San Francisco, renamed the bar "Zeitgeist" in 1986.
Grahlmann was a flamboyant figure in the bar scene; he owned several bars in San Francisco and the surrounding area and was murdered under mysterious circumstances in 1998 at his home on the Russian River near Guerneville. The "Zeitgeist" bar has changed owners several times since then, is somewhat dimly lit and slightly disreputable inside, and was more popular with the biker underworld in the past. But nowadays, the pub and beer garden attract a diverse crowd. Not only is there good draft beer, but supposedly also the best "Bloody Marys" in San Francisco.
The beer garden idyll was recently threatened, as the oil change location "Oil Changer" directly across from "Zeitgeist" was to be demolished and replaced with a new, ugly residential block. However, the new, extremely tall residential building would have taken away the afternoon sunlight from the Zeitgeist beer garden. The planning commission in San Francisco discussed the issue, promptly intervened, and decided that the planned residential building must be reduced in height by 1.5 meters (5 feet) so that the beer garden tables would not be shaded.
San Francisco has actually has had a "Sunlight Ordinance" since 1984. The regulation stipulates that architects of new buildings must conduct a shadow analysis if the new building exceeds 12 meters in height. The construction must not literally cast public parks into shadow. Although the Zeitgeist pub is not a park, the regulation still came as a relief to the owners of Zeitgeist. After all, the residents of San Francisco make use of every bit of afternoon sunlight before the inevitable fog rolls in, and in the evening, one can only sit outside under heaters.