Drag shows that have been a regular feature of late at Ginger's – the Financial District's only LGBTQ bar – will be replaced by DJ performances, and the bar will close earlier, after the bar's manager departed following issues with management.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported in September 2024, Dana Marinelli, a lesbian who had been general manager at Oasis, resurrected Ginger's over the summer. It is owned by Future Bars, and it was closed amid the COVID pandemic.
Ginger's was popular for weekday happy hours, as the bar drew office workers from the surrounding downtown concentration of corporate headquarters and financial institutions. But the Financial District is also a neighborhood whose decline has been catapulted to the center of the city's politics as it seeks to revitalize the beleaguered district.
In recent decades, the city's Pacific Stock Exchange, the so-called Wall Street of the West, closed in 2002, and tech firms preferred to set up shop in the newly developed South of Market.
But things really took a downturn in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. The streets, bereft of office workers then working from home, highlighted open-air drug use and sales in the eyes of the public and the media. Combined with issues concerning car break-ins, and organized retail theft, businesses began an exodus.
Help needed
Marinelli stated she left the bar after Future Bars cut her salary, and the bar's entertainment budget, and security. She told the B.A.R. that she was also concerned about allegations of ADA compliance issues and fires in the building the bar is housed in.
Brian Sheehy, a straight man who is the founder and CEO of Future Bars, told the B.A.R. that "We've been having live shows Wednesday, Thursday, Friday going on six months. The shows have been spectacular, wonderful. But not enough people are coming to the shows consistently for it to be a viable business," he said, adding that the concept going forward will be a "single DJ" with the bar "closing around 9 o'clock."
"We want to keep Ginger's open," he said. "The business is not profitable, but we know it's important."
Marinelli told the B.A.R., on the other hand, that she didn't get the resources she needed for the bar succeed.
"They didn't do a thing to help me," she said, and shared with the B.A.R. receipts showing she paid personally for advertising while the bar's budget for entertainment was cut three times, she said.
A 40% salary reduction – with a proviso that not responding yes would be taken as a resignation – was the straw that broke the camel's back, just as Future Bars took away security just before a shift, she said.
"I can't see the front door from the bar because it's upstairs," Marinelli said, explaining also that Ginger's being an LGBTQ bar heightened the need for security. Ginger's has a large stairwell between the street level and the bar.
"The security of my patrons, performers and staff is extremely important to me," she continued. "This was an unacceptable cut in my mind." Sheehy conceded that "we had to redeploy the guard."
Wakeup call
Marinelli said a fire in the single-room occupancy hotel Ginger's shares a building with was another wakeup call. The February 1 fire led to the circuit breakers for Ginger's – in the basement of the SRO – being covered in water, Marinelli said.
When asked about the incident, Sheehy said, "The fire department were on the scene, had five or six trucks, and they took care of it."
San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias stated to the B.A.R. March 13 that the fire was at 9:37 p.m. February 1. It was on the fifth floor.
"Two residents were displaced and no cause was given," Elias stated. "At 23:54 [11:54 p.m.] the building was turned over to the maintenance crew."
As for the Americans with Disabilities Act issue, Marinelli said that she was told that if someone needed elevator access from the street-level entry to Ginger's, staff was told they'd have to walk them to the SRO building, the entrance of which is around a corner, and ask front-door staff to use the elevator. During a Grand Ducal Council Of San Francisco event held at Ginger's, Patrick Noonan, who has a prosthetic leg, was denied access by the front-door staff.
"They denied him ACA access at the hotel because nobody had informed them of the situation," Marinelli explained. "You're standing there with a person with a prosthetic leg – let them use the elevator."
Noonan stated to the B.A.R. that it was "basically a power trip of one staff person [at the SRO hotel] not being kind" and wanted to stress "this is not Ginger's fault."
Sheehy conceded that the incident happened. He said the San Francisco Fire Department and department of building inspection approved the arrangement.
"If anyone needs to take an elevator, we escort them into the Stanford Hotel," he said, referring to the SRO hotel. "There was a situation recently where the staff in the hotel weren't aware of the arrangement, but the very next day that was cleared up."
Marinelli said several bartenders left with her; Sheehy mentioned at least one who is staying.
"I did as much as I could for as long as I could," Marinelli concluded.
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