Top Left Corner (red pants): Chastity Jones, a poet and works at the bar;
Top Right Corner (blue dress) is Alex Luke, a visual artist and works at the bar;
The Fig & Thistle sign was hand painted by Gentleman Scholar Signs ( Andrew Lawrence);
In the blue jean jacket is friend Francesca Tamse, a photographer;
Under the bar is Jonathan Sayous, he works at the bar;
Angel Davis, bar owner, in the white t-shirt with friend Tailin Zeng, standing behind;
The woman in the sunglasses is Heidie;
The postcards of the cats were drawn by Tristan Bynum and letter pressed at Lilikoi Design + Letterpress.
Photography by Josh Nece:
Top Lefthand, clockwise to 2nd from bottom on right (menu close-up); Woman in sunglasses up to man & woman seated
Other photos courtesy of Fig & Thistle
"Everything in its right place...
The bar started as idea, a dream I never thought would be possible. Luckily for me my best friend and business partner is one of the most motivated people I have ever met in my life and the dream became a reality. We wanted to create a place that we would to hang out at, a place that supported what we believed in, a place where people could come and feel at home.
Ten years ago the space was a studio apartment, when we first opened the guy who use to live here showed up and sat at the table in the corner where his bed used to be. In the past decade it's gone from the studio apartment to a small spa, and the three offices for therapist before we got a hold of it.
We only sell domestic wine and beer because we want to support our neighbors and we're really proud of the wine and craft beer coming out of the US. Most of our wines are made by small family run wineries producing only a few thousand cases a year or less. The whole bar is a communal effort. One of my good friends built the space, another friend from high school hand built the stools in his studio up the street and wheeled them down the alley on a cart when they were ready. beyond the wine and beer is the community around us and making connections with people. We found the photographer, at an art show one of the employees organized by converting their home into a gallery for the night. The day he came in to do the shoot the most random group of artists came in separately and people ended up joining in on the shoot and everyone left with new projects and new people to create with. Things like that always seem to happen here and it makes me happy." —Angel Davis
Fig & Thistle
313 Ivy Street @ Gough
San Francisco, California
www.figandthistlesf.com