A New Year’s Eve storm gave The Wooden Nickel a new definition of “dive bar,” plunging several feet of fetid water into a spot once known for its local crowd.
The bar never reopened after the storm, because of an extensive mold problem caused by the incident. Owner Nancy Chung has announced that it will be permanently closing after seven years in the neighborhood.
Scenes from the time showed floodwaters several feet high on Folsom Street, drowning cars nearby and fully washing away the bar’s blue parklet. The bar’s inventory and equipment were destroyed and its walls and floors ruined, creating a serious mold infestation that the bar’s owner said would require “considerable” time and money to fix.
“I don’t have it in me, financially or emotionally, to keep going,” said Chung, of her decision to shutter the bar.
The bar’s formal closure was first reported by Broke-Ass Stuart.
A February mold inspection revealed a concentration of 70,000 mold spores per cubic meter, a reading 140 times the 500 spores per cubic meter normally considered safe. The space is still considered a hazard, said Chung.
“The mold inspector said anyone entering should be wearing a ventilator,” she added.
Margarita Lara, a bartender at Delirium at 16th and Albion streets, said that when she went to check in on the Wooden Nickel a few weeks after the floods, she could smell mold through the mail slot.
Chung started a GoFundMe after the flooding in December, but updated supporters in March that she did not raise enough money to save the bar. She pointed to the cost of curing the mold infestation and strained negotiations with her landlord over responsibility for the damage; legal action may yet come to pass, she wrote.
She raised $37,295, which she used to pay for rent, debris removal, legal fees, and to provide her employees with a financial cushion while they look for new jobs. She has another two years on her lease, which she’s hoping to end early.
Chung opened the Wooden Nickel in 2016, but has been a bartender for over 20 years. Since moving to San Francisco 14 years ago, she’s worked behind bars at Homestead, Delirium, Lone Palm, and Thieves Tavern.
In happier times…
Local bartenders spoke fondly about the Nickel’s local crowd; Taco Tuesday; the pool table in the bar’s parklet; and Chung’s dog, Roux, who died last fall. But Chung remembered her spot, first and foremost, for its woman-dominated crowd.
“I’d say it was about 80 percent women,” said Chung. “Which is rare. What kind of bar do you go to which isn’t filled with a bunch of dudes who won’t leave you alone?”
Aleah Vollono, a bartender at the Flying Pig Bistro and Pub on South Van Ness Avenue between 15th and 16th streets, described the Wooden Nickel as a “watering hole for locals.”
“It’s tucked away and really neighborhoody,” said Lara, the bartender at Delirium.
“Local” is a compliment, but it can also be a challenge.
“There are challenges to being off the beaten path,” Chung said, of the bar’s location at 15th and Folsom. “The people who were there were very purposeful, though.”
Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Josh Marks, a bartender at The Willows, on Folsom between 11th and 12th streets, is also sad to the Nickel go.
“A bar closing negatively affects other bars,” he said, “because people don’t come to go to just one bar. And every bar brings people to the area.”
Peter Elzer, a retired beer specialist who helps out at Bender’s Bar and Grill at South Van Ness Avenue and 19th Street, says that bars in the area have been challenged by San Francisco’s changing crowd, and the pandemic.
“People don’t stay out late anymore; kids don’t even drink these days,” he said. “These tech kids buy one beer, pay on their debit cards, don’t tip, and are in bed by midnight.”
Chung didn’t want to point fingers, however.
“Our idea of going out has really changed,” she said. “It’s hard and exhausting to socialize, but we’re all in this boat of confusion together.”
On Saturday night, the bar will be having a goodbye party at Kilowatt, on 16th Street, where the Nickel’s old manager now works.
Not just flooding; it’s “sewer flooding” as many neighborhoods have had to learn.
The water surged out of the sewers and into homes and businesses all along and around Folsom from 18th to 13th.
It also flooded the homes on Marina Blvd.
The City’s response is the same regardless of where you live or how much or little money you have: denial of culpability, file a lawsuit.
It was a bummer that this “event” occurred on NYE but City Hall “didn’t know it was going to rain” and London had a date to party.
And then on NYD, she had to catch a flight to Vegas and if it’s not on her appointment calendar, it doesn’t exist.
She pointed to the cost of curing the mold infestation and strained negotiations with her landlord over responsibility for the damages…
SF is one screwed up place, why are landlords so deadbeat around here? Lots of vacancies can be traced back to terrible landlords who don’t maintain their property.
So the wood nickel is gone, what is the landlord going to do, let it go completely to pot? Zero people are going to want to rent a Chia pet of a space that is prone to flooding, especially with a landlord this terrible.
What a sad loss for the neighborhood. Wooden Nickel was such a cool bar, a great locals’ spot. Let’s hope The Willows, Rite Spot, and Bender’s are here to stay.