When my editor told me I needed to find not just a pair of lederhosen but an entire Oktoberfest outfit one day before San Francisco’s biggest German bash, I felt as if I was in a true kuddelmuddel — the untranslatable word for a chaotic situation.
After several sackgassen (dead ends), I was referred to Held Over, a Haight Street vintage shop that specializes in authentic lederhosen, dirndls, felt hats, and other Bavarian wear. Held Over is always popular in the fall for trachten — the traditional Oktoberfest uniform — but staffers said this year has seen unprecedented sales since the bombshell announcement that Front Street would host its first-ever legal outdoor Oktoberfest.
Just as I, a native Philadelphian, am dubious of West Coast cheesesteaks, I was also a little skeptical of the San Francisco version of Oktoberfest. (It just so happens that I am also a former resident of the Bavarian village of Königstein.) So I was wary when I heard that the city was going to throw an Oktoberfest day-ger (the untranslatable English word for a day rager).
While San Francisco German beer hall Schroeder’s on Front Street throws an annual Oktoberfest, Friday’s beer-filled bacchanal is unique, as it christens the state’s first “entertainment zone,” part of an endeavor to make downtown fun again. Would it succeed? That’s what I was bestimmt — determined — to find out.
Finally, we can get legally sloshed outdoors
Dubbed Oktoberfest on Front, the free event included performances by AlpineSound, Ladyhosen, and Pop Rocks, plus traditional Oktoberfest games, including stein holding, beer chugging (with nonalcoholic brews), ax throwing, and a good ole pretzel toss.
Schroeders, Harrington’s Bar & Grill, and Royal Exchange were serving alcoholic drinks outdoors as attendees soaked up the live music along the carless Front Street between California and Sacramento. And that’s exactly why I was dispatched, to engage in the revelry.
After downing my first $23 stein, I began to feel rather jovial, perhaps because I would be expensing this. And if that wasn’t enough, the yodelers appeared onstage. So, like any lederhosen-clad journalist, I ordered another pricey beer alongside an $11 pretzel-bun bratwurst and $17 Reuben egg rolls and rejoiced in the spectacle.
Carl Oman lives in the Richmond but made the pilgrimage downtown for Friday’s festivities sporting a homemade pair of lederhosen he hadn’t worn in 17 years.
“Christmas I’m not so much into, but Oktoberfest I love. I think it’s a great idea,” Oman said, referring to the new entertainment zones. “The city is taking baby steps in making our city more European, like with the slow streets. Please, let’s make our city somewhere that’s not car-dominated and more human.”
Nearby, I spotted a scrum of tech guys in felt hats nursing Hefeweizen-filled boot glasses while wearing pretzel necklaces and trading what they’d learned at Dreamforce. Festival-goers from Pacific Heights, the Castro, the Mission, and even the East Bay told The Standard there simply must be more legally sanctioned public drinking events across the city.
Sporting a hunter-green set of lederhosen and holding a large stein, Harrington’s owner Chris Freise said 4,000 people had RSVP’d to the free event. Freise, who also owns a real estate development company with a portfolio of downtown properties, said more people have been coming to the area.
“Numbers are up, people are here more often, they’re here longer, they want to be here,” he said. “We’re also seeing people who aren’t just coming down for work. The summer is normally really slow. The last month we’ve been slammed. It feels like there’s momentum.”
Patrick McConnell and Oscar Nevarez came to the block party suited in lederhosen fresh from Amazon. Nevarez, who has been to the real Oktoberfest in Germany, said drinking in the middle of the street is awesome (shocker). “It feels natural to me, but it’s weird that it hasn’t been legal,” he said. “The First Thursdays have also been so cool.”
“Oakland is fun, but San Francisco has a little bit more to offer,” said Jake Greve, who lives in Oakland. “San Francisco, Oakland, they all need more of this. It’s so much better.”
As the German rhythms thumped, workers yet to clock out looked down from their sad offices at the throngs of merry folks with envy in their eyes. Beer was disappearing voraciously down gullets, and bratwursts were vehemently devoured.
For but a moment, it began to look like downtown had finally decided to loosen its tie and viel Spaß — have fun.