7 Ancient East Bay Bars for History Lovers and Lushes While some bars become instant classics, others gradually accumulate their classic status, even absent anything resembling class. These seven East Bay bars, dating as far back as 1833, are all a minimum of 45 years old, and have managed to dodge inconveniences like Prohibition and cirrhosis to stay in business far longer than most of their patrons. Use them as inspiration for your next BART-based bar crawl. 1 Heinold's First & Last Chance Saloon Located in Jack London Square, and purportedly Jack London’s favorite bar, Heinold's was founded in 1883. These days, it's a cultural landmark and a tourist attraction, owing its striking curved floor to a long history of seismic activity since opening. Throw in the low ceilings, tchotchkes and dollar bills dating back 100 years, and you have the makings oof an icon. Grab a beer or a shot (it's cash-only). 2 Townhouse Bar & Grill Built in 1926, the building that would become Townhouse was a speakeasy during Prohibition, and it looks like the exterior hasn’t been painted since.

Inside, it’s more like a dinner club sprung out of the '70s and redecorated in the late '90s (same goes for the menu), but you can still remember the days when Emeryville was less Ikea and loft apartments, and more rum runners. 3 Hotsy Totsy Club The Hotsy Totsy has been around since 1939, making it Albany's oldest bar. It recently underwent a remodel that left it with purple walls and a large collection of undoubtedly priceless velvet paintings. The shuffleboard table is a popular attraction, as is a jukebox stuffed with old 45s from the '50s and '60s. The happy-hour drinks are cheap, but there’s also a full craft cocktail list, with some elaborate takes on hot chocolate and apple cider, and a taco truck parked outside a few nights a week. One of the last piano bars in a city that used to have many of them, The Alley centers around a pianist even older than it is: Rod Dibble, born in 1932, a year before the bar opened. As always seems to be the case in old bars, people love to stick ticket stubs, money, business cards, and other ephemera to the wall, perhaps after a crazy-cheap steak and a few rounds of songs accompanied by Dibble himself.

5 The Kingfish Pub & Cafe Opened in 1922 as a bait shop and bar, Kingfish originally benefited from a location just outside the UC Berkeley dry mile radius. It’s been serving a steady stream of heavy drinking locals for a long, long time, and all the random tickets and crap stapled and stuck to the wall and ceiling are like a geological record of filth and drunkenness. Like Hotsy Totsy, shuffleboard is the only amusement, and the drinks are cheap. It recently underwent a temporary shutdown, with its building being moved across the street to make way for condos. magnetic curtain rod menardsThe new Kingfish on Telegraph, opening in a few months, should have a little more space, thanks to a patio.hookless shower curtain waffle weave 6 White Horse Barcottage white bellino curtains

The White Horse claims to be America’s longest continuously operating gay bar, with a fuzzy opening date that probably happened during Prohibition. Officially, the bar has been on the books since 1933. During the day, it's like a living room, with patrons watching TV movies and smoking cigarettes on the spacious indoor/outdoor patio (it's even got a pool table). At night, things get rowdier, with karaoke, dance parties, and jello shots. 7 The Fat Lady Bar & Restaurantcurtains by lulu hillcrest A relative newcomer compared to the rest of the list (it opened in 1970), this Oakland bar nonetheless has plenty of throwback appeal, thanks to its red velvet curtains, gold mirrors, and approximately one million tassled lamps. cafe net curtains dunelmIt's technically a restaurant, but there's a bar for throwing one back, perhaps with a plate of their famous fried zucchini.idye curtains

14 Soups in San Francisco to Warm Your Weary Soul 20 Especially Child-Friendly San Francisco Restaurants 15 Fun and Fantastic Asian Snack Shops in San Francisco Where to Watch the Super Bowl in San Francisco and BeyondThe popular furniture and home design store Ikea has built a $30 billion empire selling products with names that few people can pronounce. But it hasn't hurt the company's bottom line. For most Americans who shop at IKEA for home items, the Swedish names may sound a little like this…pvc strip curtains cochin (Soundbite of TV show, "The Muppets") Mr. JIM HENSON (Director, Producer, Puppeteer): (as Swedish Chef) (Singing) Ibor skeer do, do, door, um, bork, bork, bork(ph)! INSKEEP: That's the Swedish chef from "The Muppets." But there really is an IKEA cushion called Mork. IKEA's product names have been the butt of jokes by "The Simpsons." There's even an independent online game which invites users to guess what certain IKEA products are with names like Bjorkas, Slojda and Klunsa.

In spite of those names, this chain is successful, and Deirdre Kennedy reports on the marketing phenomenon that is IKEA. DEIRDRE KENNEDY: At the giant IKEA warehouse in Emeryville near San Francisco, customers wheel out baskets piled high with cheap furniture, lamps and bedding. Most people who just dropped a couple of hundred dollars at a store can tell you what they bought, but not at IKEA. Do you know the names of any of the products you bought? Unidentified Woman #1: I can't pronounce them. I thought one was called amoeba, but it's not called that. It's A-N-E-B-O-D-A, or something like that. Unidentified Man #1: The name of the products? Unidentified Man #1: Yes. Unidentified Woman #2: (Unintelligible) Unidentified Woman #3: Rabalder. KENNEDY: What is that? Unidentified Woman #3: That is an extension cord, right? Mr. MATTIAS JONGARD (Advertising manager, IKEA): It means bald guy. KENNEDY: That's IKEA's advertising manager, Mattias Jongard.

So what does rabalder mean? Mr. JONGARD: I think in Swedish, the correct - should be, like, big fuss. It can create some attention. And then we call it in Swedish, rabalder. It's hard for me, you know, I come from Sweden, and I know how they are supposed to pronounce it, but nobody here understands what I mean. KENNEDY: Nobody, he says, includes his own co-workers. And the product names aren't just arbitrary. There's actually a formula for how the design team comes up with them. Mr. JONGARD: For example, sofas should be having names from Swedish small towns, like Kosta and Komfosh(ph). And can also be a woman's name when it comes to fabrics and curtains. And, you know, we have a lamp, and that's called Knubbig, and that's also slang for chubby. KENNEDY: That's chubby as in fat and round. IKEA's naming philosophy recently kicked up a bit of rabalder - remember, a big fuss - in the international press. A Danish journalist noticed that the company's floor coverings were named after Danish towns and cities.

One headline said, Denmark will not be Sweden's doormat. University of Copenhagen linguistics Professor Klaus Kjoller says no one in Denmark took it seriously and saw it for what it was: a friendly wink at the historic rivalry between Denmark and Sweden. Professor KLAUS KJOLLER (Linguistics, University of Copenhagen): If you go hundreds of years back in history, the Swedes have taken away quite a bit of Danish country. They're really teasing us. Prof. KJOLLER: Very softly. We're not going to burn down the Swedish embassy or, you know, demolishing IKEA stores here in Denmark. KENNEDY: That impish way of poking fun at its neighbors and customers and itself is all part of a marketing strategy that's paid off big time for IKEA. It now has more than 270 stores in 36 countries. Subodh Bhat, professor of marketing at San Francisco State University, says the odd names also appeal to the same consumer mentality that chooses pasta e formaggio over just mac and cheese. Professor SUBODH BHAT (Marketing, San Francisco State University): Part of IKEA's appeal actually worldwide - I mean, apart from the low prices and decent stuff - is that they are - not just the furniture, but the second and I think the more important part of the appeal is that they are hip because they're from this Scandinavian place with very exotic names.