Red's Place, the dim little dive bar that has anchored Jackson Street in San Francisco's Chinatown since 1963, is closing after more than six decades of pouring drinks for neighborhood regulars. Owner Jerry Chan confirmed the closure in an interview set to air Wednesday on NBC Bay Area, telling the station simply: San Francisco, Red's is closing.
The bar at 672 Jackson St. has long billed itself as the oldest bar in San Francisco's Chinatown, a claim repeated by San Francisco Chronicle in its report on the closure. San Francisco Travel has described Red's Place as the “Cheers” of Chinatown, per the same report. Jerry Chan took over the business from his parents, Herman and Lisa Chan, who bought Red's Place in 1990.
That title of Chinatown's oldest bar has never gone uncontested. The Li Po Cocktail Lounge at 916 Grant Avenue dates to 1937. The lounge features 1930s decor and a neon lantern sign. Red's, which opened in 1963, came after Li Po's founding.
A Building With Layers of Chinatown History
The building that houses Red's Place has worn many hats over the decades. It held a barber shop in the late 1800s before later becoming a cigar store and a saloon, per the Chronicle's reporting. The passage was once known as Bartlett Alley, according to a historical account published on Medium. The area had Chinese residents and businesses, and Bartlett Alley is now known as Beckett Street, according to the same account.
Inside the bar itself, teller booths remain in the basement as remnants of the neighborhood's underground gambling days, Red's Place has said, though the space is not open to customers. The layered history, from barber shop and saloon to neighborhood dive, has made the address one of the more storied corners of Chinatown.
Firecrackers, Karaoke and a Decades-Long Tradition
For generations, Red's Place sat at the heart of one of Chinatown's most explosive traditions. When the Chinese New Year Parade's route ran down Grant Street toward Broadway, revelers would gather on Jackson Street afterward, and firecrackers were set off right in front of the bar. San Francisco Heritage has quantified the scale of that tradition, reporting that post-parade celebrations historically involved detonating up to 300,000 firecrackers on Jackson Street. In a 2017 interview, Jerry Chan said he prepared to light 100,000 firecrackers at midnight on the eve of Chinese New Year that year and said he did not want Red's Place to disappear as San Francisco changed around it.
The block hasn't been without trouble. In July 2023, a 33-year-old man was shot in the leg on the sidewalk directly outside Red's Place's outdoor parklet near Jackson Street and Grant Avenue during a late-night karaoke gathering, according to The San Francisco Standard. Chan told the outlet that bar operations were unaffected while police investigated.
Chinatown's Legacy Businesses
San Francisco's official Legacy Business Registry, established in 2015, provides financial grants, marketing help, and business assistance to qualifying establishments over 30 years old to prevent cultural displacement, according to San Francisco Heritage. Buddha Lounge was among the businesses listed in a registry class, as Hoodline reported alongside other historic District 3 businesses receiving the same protection.
New Lun Ting Cafe, at 670 Jackson St., is next door to Red's Place.
San Francisco Heritage had recognized Red's Place years earlier, including it in its official list of 100 certified Legacy Bars & Restaurants in May 2014 for its long-standing cultural role in Chinatown.
No word yet on what comes next for the Jackson Street space once Red's Place pulls its last pint, but its exit marks the end of one of Chinatown's longest-running fixtures.
