Spec's Twelve Adler Museum Cafe, San Francisco

Immortalized by SF musician Mark Eitzel in his 1996 song, 'Some Bartenders Have the Gift of Pardon', this deceptively low-key hangout Spec's Twelve Adler Museum Cafe was a bohemian Mecca in the 1940s, featuring Middle Eastern music, jazz and belly dancing. Time has only strengthened its reputation as a meeting place for beat poets and musicians in general. Come enjoy the cool vibes and the mellow atmosphere. The bar itself is decorated with scrimshaw, Eskimo carvings, and other bits of history brought in over the years by sailors and dockworkers. The bathroom graffiti is nothing less than inspiring. Finally, it's proximity to City Lights Bookstore and Kerouac Street makes it the perfect place from which to anchor a beatnik excursion in North Beach.