3600 16th Street
San Francisco, Califonia 94114
(415) 431-0306
LookOutSF.com
Status: LGBT Bar
Previously: Metro City Bar & Grill; Corner Zoo; Outlook; Caracole
In Their Own Words: Parties are a bitch to clean up. Host your party with us and we’ll do the dirty work for you!
History
Summary
| Name | Dates of Operation |
| LookOut | 2007 – present |
| The Metro City Bar & Grill | 1981 – 2007 |
| Corner Zoo | 1981 |
| Outlook | 1980 – 1981 |
| Caracole | 1976 – 1979 |
Details
Wedged in the corner where Market Street, Noe Street, and 16th Street intersect is a spacious upstairs bar with a wrap-around balcony that allows patrons to smoke, if they’re so inclined, and watch pedestrians ample through the Castro.
The bar’s had many names over the years – including Caracole (1976-1979), Outlook (1980-1981), and the Corner Zoo (1981) – but its longest incarnation was as the Metro City Bar & Grill, a name it held for more than a quarter of a century.
Richard Pearson and Mario Enriquez, who were both business partners and life partners, purchased the bar in 1981, naming it the Metro. Pearson had previously owned the Rainbow Cattle Company in Guerneville, which was later owned by Horst Hans Grahlmann, who also owned what was then Uncle Bert’s (now The Mix), and later by present owners Tim Eicher and Rob Giljum, who now co-own QBar, the Edge, the Midnight Sun, and Beaux.
In August of 2007, Richard Pearson and Mario Enriquez lost their lease. They were forced to relocate down the block to 2124 Market Street, taking over the Expansion, but it lasted barely a year before they sold it to Doug Murphy and Shawn Vergara, who turned it into Blackbird.
The Metro was acquired by Chris Hastings, formerly of Catch Restaurant, who reopened it on September 14, 2007 and promptly had a contest to rename it. The winning name was the LookOut, a nod – perhaps subconsciously – to its brief former name of the Outlook. The attached restaurant served pizza for a time, but now also serves more traditional bar fare like sliders burgers, corn dog bites, and chicken wings.
It’s been home to numerous parties and events, and is well-known for its charitable events, including sponsoring Jock Sundays, a Sunday beer bust supporting different LGBT athletic teams each week where the athletes, sometimes in gear or their underwear, sell Jell-O shots and sometimes do other fundraising activities like selling raffle tickets, t-shirts, or bachelor date auctions. The bar also hosts the Santa Skivvies Run every December. In August of 2014, they announced on Facebook that since opening nearly seven years earlier, their events had raised over $600,000 for LGBT charities.
Sources
Brigham, Roger, “Jock-a-thons and beefcake buffets,” Bay Area Reporter, April 3, 2008.
Flournoy, Roy, “Given thanks Milk,” Bay Area Reporter, October 11, 2007.
Gerharter, Rick, “Here come the Santas,” Bay Area Reporter, December 20, 2012.
Hemmelgarn, Seth, “Santa Skivvies Run to raise money for SF AIDS group,” Bay Area Reporter, December 5, 2013.
LookOut page on Facebook, accessed August 16, 2014.
LookOut website, accessed August 16, 2014.
Zamora, Jim Herron and Ray Delgado, “Gay club owner, pal slain,” San Francisco Examiner, October 26, 1998.
Location
3600 16th Street, San Francisco