2247 Market Street
San Francisco, Califonia 94114
(415) 551-2500
HiTopsSF.com
Status: LGBT Bar
Previously: Lime
In Their Own Words: Hi Tops is San Francisco’s first sports bar for the gay community. Located in the heart of the Castro, we are all about having a great time with fun people in the best neighborhood in the city.
History
Summary
| Name | Dates of Operation |
| Hi Tops | 2012 – present |
| Lime | 2004 – 2012 |
Details
In 2004, local mogul Greg Bronstein opened Lime, a restaurant/bar that served appetizers and full meals, but also provided a busy bar for those who wanted to meet up for cocktails before wandering elsewhere for dinner.
But over time, the bar’s weekend bottomless mimosa brunches drew an unexpectedly unruly crowd: straight couples from other neighborhoods seeking cheap booze. The mess from drunken and largely straight crowds even drew the attention of the New York Times, which noted problems with people leaving the bar in the early afternoon too intoxicated to stand up, staggering into traffic, vomiting on the sidewalk, and urinating on nearby businesses. Some homophobic slurs were reported, though that seemed to be rare.
Bevan Dufty, the neighborhood’s former Supervisor, hastened to blame the problem on economics (the bargain of bottomless mimosas) and over-serving rather than sexual orientation, noting that Blackbird down the street also has a good gay and straight mix without having similar problems.
In early 2012, Lime started to show signs of trouble. In March, the bar’s liquor license was temporarily suspended due to tax issues and their phone number was disconnected. Although the bar managed to reopen quickly, the issues were only temporarily resolved, and by May Bronstein officially announced that both Lime and Trigger were closing. Many locals were relieved. “This could be replaced by a needle exchange for all I care,” one resident commented to Grub Street. “Goodbye Lime, and don’t let the door hit your mimosa-binging ass on the way out.”
New co-owners Jesse Woodward, Dana Gleim, and Matt Kajiwara quickly took over the space with the intent of turning it into Hi Tops, San Francisco’s first official gay sports bar. Many other gay bars play sports games, particularly when local teams make the playoffs, and the San Francisco Chronicle at one point seemed determined to brand Uncle Bert’s as a gay sports bar, but Hi Tops appears to be the first dedicated to always playing sporting events on their 16 flat screen televisions, and the first in San Francisco to specifically market themselves as a sports bar for the gay community.
Woodward says he got the concept for the bar from gay sports bars on the East Coast like Gym in New York and Nellie’s in D.C. The kitchen and bar were completely remodeled, with a menu designed by Top Chef contestant Jamie Lauren featuring high end bar food like barbeque corn on the cob, homemade corn dogs, and blacked ahi tuna burgers.
The new bar quickly made national headlines. In January, barely a month after they opened, Sports Illustrated ran a photo taken by one of their reporters of two men passionately kissing in the bar just as the San Francisco 49ers clinched a spot in the Super Bowl. Woodward told NBC News that the photographed kiss sent a positive message: “Sports fans [come] from all walks of life and we’re all a big melting pot. Everyone can get along.”
In August of 2014, co-owners Jesse Woodward and Dana Gleim will open Bandidos, a sit-down Mexican restaurant with a full liquor license, across the street in a spot formerly occupied by Letitia’s before it was torn down to make way for a mixed-use building with businesses at street level and condos above it.
Sources
Barmann, Jay, “Exclusive: Hi Tops, San Francisco’s First Gay Sports Bar, Takes Shape in Former Lime Space,” Grub Street SF, June 14, 2012.
Barmann, Jay, “First Look at Hi Tops, S.F.’s First Gay Sports Bar, Now Open in the Castro,” Grub Street SF, December 3, 2012.
Barmann, Jay, “Lime Closing This Weekend in the Castro, to Be Replaced By S.F.’s First Gay Sports Bar,” Grub Street SF, May 3, 2012.
Barmann, Jay, “S.F.’s Gay Sports Bar Hi Tops Lands in Sports Illustrated’s Super Bowl Preview,” Grub Street SF, January 29, 2013.
Barmann, Jay, “Two Castro Bars, Trigger and Lime, Have Liquor Licenses Suspended,” Grub Street SF, March 2, 2012.
Bravo, Tony, “Hot Spot: Hi Tops, San Francisco’s gay sports bar,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 12, 2014.
Elle, Jean, “Sports Illustrated Photo Captures 49ers Celebration at Gay Sports Bar,” NBC Bay Area, January 29, 2013.
Flournoy, Roy, “Business Briefs: Shooting for the Top,” The Bay Area Reporter, December 13, 2012.
James, Scott, “Change With a Straight Face Barrels Into the Castro,” The New York Times, May 7, 2011.
Medina, Sarah, “We Wanna Be Friends With Hi Tops Owners Jesse Woodward & Dana Gleim,” 7×7 SF, July 29, 2014.
Location
2247 Market Street, San Francisco
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It should be noted that the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup is being held in a country noted for its violent Human Rights Violations against our LGBTQ+ community. And that Hi Tops Bar has chosen to support FIFA and Qatar by showing the World Cup in its entirety. How can that be? It’s offensive to know that our only Gay Sports Bar is supporting an event in a country that is perpetrating atrocities against our Queer Brothers and Sisters. I think it’s shameful.