The Bars That Time Forgot, an occasional series, vol 1: Doctor Bombay's

(In The Bars That Time Forgot, we will, on occasion, pause to remember a drinking place that has shuffled off this mortal coil.)

Doctor Bombay's was on 16th between Guerrero and Valencia, where Double Dutch is now.

Photo found on MisterSF.com. Thanks!

As you will see, most bars that fold become other bars.  I guess it's because once you have all the bar stuff in a room, it makes sense to keep it as bar.  After Doctor Bombay's closed, around the time of the first dot-com boom (another recurring theme), it became Cama and then Double Dutch?  Or was there something else in the middle?  I can't recall.

Anyway, Doctor Bombay's was a vaguely tropical/desert mishmash inside.  There was bamboo and hieroglyphics on the wall.  Maybe some kind of fake palm trees?  It's hard to remember.  It's hard to remember because the house specialty was something called "Pixie Piss," which had a kind of Sweet N Sour candy taste and, if memory serves, was pink or red? I think?  It had a lot of spirits in it too, so the details are vague.

DB drew an eclectic crowd, typical of the Mission back then.  I do remember they had better-than-average DJs, and an especially good Britpop night.  Remember when having Britpop nights was a thing?  It wasn't a Destination Bar for me, but I was always glad to find myself there.

Doctor Bombay's probably closed around 1999-2000, somewhere in there.  RIP.