The best bar in San Francisco reopened for business the other day under new management. But it's no good. They've got it all wrong. For one, the place is too bright and cheerful now. The new owners have installed all manner of lighting and cleaned up the mural over the bar. It looked better with sixty years of smoke stains, a kind of patina. Now, it just looks like what it is: a 1940 interior decorator's kitsch version of a magnified Persian miniature. If that weren't enough, the new owners have slapped a fresh coat of paint on the walls and put flowers all over the place - lilies, for crying out loud, gladioli, birds of paradise. Hideous. But worst of all, they keep the door open to the street, inviting all and sundry to come and take refreshment at the Persian Aub Zam Zam Room. That would have horrified Bruno more than anthing else. A bat could have dwelled happily, day and night, in the original Zam Zam. If someone opened the door, especially in daylight, and hesitated before coming in, Bruno would shout: 'Shut that door, there's a stench out there. Away with you, barbarian!'

LRB 8 August 2002 | PDF Download