Car crashes into Dovre Club, damaging longtime Mission bar

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A car crashed into Dovre Club at Valencia and 26th streets this morning, causing the beloved neighborhood bar to temporarily close. On top of that, the intersection will look distinctively different for a while, as the iconic Dovre Club sign that has hung on the outside of the building for decades is gone. For now. 

“I got a call at 9:25 a.m. from a regular, who said somebody just drove into the bar,” bar manager Dee Deem, who was also among the first on the scene, said in an interview in front of the bar. 

The damage, she said, was minor. “The bar itself was not really compromised,” she said. The front doors are broken, and a supporting beam outside of the bar has been taken out completely. 

At 9:12 a.m. today, police officers and firefighters responded to 26th and Valencia streets for a hit-and-and run vehicle collision, according to both departments. 

Two cars collided, with one striking and causing significant damage to the Dovre Club building. Two adults from the cars sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to San Francisco Fire Department captain Jonathan Baxter. 

The suspect driver fled the scene on foot while leaving the suspect vehicle at the scene, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Officers soon located and detained the suspect driver near Folsom and 26th streets. 

Paramedics examined the victim on the scene, while the suspect was transported to hospital for evaluation, according to Henderson. 

All above information is preliminary, as the police department is still actively investigating the collision. 

The iconic Dovre Club sign was taken down by firefighters — and carefully kept inside the bar — after the incident, for safety reasons. “The firefighters said it was going to fall, and so it was safer for them to take it down,” said Deem. 

The bar is expected to be evaluated by the Department of Building Inspection today. It will be closed tomorrow, and will remain closed until a structural engineer, a licensed plumber, and a licensed electrician all indicate that the building is safe, according to manager Deem. “Hopefully we’ll be open as soon as possible,” she said. 

The Dovre Club was established in 1966 at the Women’s Building’s location, on 18th Street between Valencia and Guerrero streets, and was relocated to 26th and Valencia streets in 1998. 

Deem has witnessed Dovre change with the people who live on the block over her 20 years working here. “The bar is integral to the neighborhood,” she said. “This bar is a third space for a lot of the people in the neighborhood. A lot of the people who don’t have strong social lives at home, people who have roommates, people who just want to maybe not go home. They come here instead. The pool is free, the drinks are inexpensive, and the community is good. The whole bar is literally made up by the people who come in here.”

She’d like to express her gratitude to the community that came out to support them this morning. 

“As soon as I was alerted to the accident, people started reaching out. The community is already reaching out. People who live in the neighborhood came over here,” she said. “That means so much that so many people who come here love the place as much as we do.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.