A fresh lobster cocktail cost 75 cents. A plate of “imported anchovies with egg” was only 50 cents. Meanwhile, half of an alligator pear — better known today as an avocado — set diners back a mere 35 cents.
These old-timey dishes are listed on a framed historic menu at Jack’s (opens in new tab), once called the most beautiful restaurant in San Francisco. It operated downtown from 1864 to 1999, although the 1906 earthquake and fire forced the city’s alligator pear lovers out of the original building and into the current address on Sacramento Street. After brief 21st century stints as a brasserie called Jeanty at Jack’s and later as a co-working space, Jack’s recently underwent an extensive renovation for an undisclosed, six-figure sum under the direction of venue development firm Skylight (opens in new tab), which reopened it in November as an event space that hosts salons and industry summits.
In its heyday, Jack’s functioned as a shadow City Hall, as Skylight CEO Stephanie Blake puts it. Rather than simply turn back the clock — there’s minimal demand for a smoke-filled den for men with muttonchops, or for a working bordello upstairs — her team updated the space, ripping out the dark wood, moving the bar back, and painting the walls in dusty pinks with gold accents.
The vibe is Barbary Coast, but classy. Skylight commissioned an artist to create three different wallpapers and unearthed historical photos of Jack’s patrons, such as Alfred Hitchcock with Herb Caen, and Ernest Hemingway with Ingrid Bergman. In the restroom, another Hitchcock portrait hangs above the toilet. As a nod to the name and to the critters that once populated the area, Skylight installed jackrabbit coat hooks between the gold sconces. (There’s a bowl of bunny-branded matchbooks at the entrance, too.) Overall, the ground floor and rear mezzanine have a capacity of 80 to 100 people, and Skylight hopes to renovate the upper-floor offices in the next two years…