A two-car crash this morning resulted in one vehicle smashing into the front of lesbian bar Jolene’s on the corner of 16th and Harrison streets in the Mission District.
Workers at neighboring businesses reported hearing a loud crash just before 8 a.m., but said that because their front doors face away from the four-way intersection where the accident happened, they only saw the aftermath.
A witness who rents a studio above Jolene’s said he was inside when the crash happened and rushed down to investigate.
He described the scene: An SUV was backed into the front door of Jolene’s with its airbags deployed, and a pickup truck with a smashed hood was pulled over on the other side of the street. Police and firefighters were present at the scene, according to another eyewitness.
The witness said he saw the SUV driver, a woman, taken away on a stretcher by ambulance. The man inside the pickup truck appeared to be unharmed.
By 9 a.m. both vehicles were removed from the scene. With the car dislodged from the bar’s front entrance, the damage was apparent. The lefthand entryway’s lower portion was smashed in, exposing a wooden beam, and debris from the crash was left scattered along the front entrance and street. The front iron gate was bent inward, but seemingly stopped the vehicle from reaching the storefront’s front doors.
Jolene Linsangan, the bar’s owner, said she got to the establishment at around 12:30 p.m. after learning from a neighbor what had happened. She estimated that repairs to fix the damage will cost about $10,000.
“I have to pay for this and the costs are so crazy,” she said, “I’m barely surviving over here.”
Linsangan is hoping to open the bar on Thursday for business as usual.
As of publication, the San Francisco Police Department has not released a report on the incident.
