ANOTHER UPDATE!

after closing down (and temporarily becoming a semi-upscale place) clown alley is open again! go check it out and tell me if you think it's as good as it used to be... (i stopped by for some late night fries and half were delicious and half were cold and hard...)
 
cheeseburgers?
homemade chili?

clowns???
that's right. classic cheeseburgers with homemade chili if ya want... and you can even sit outside! the original clown alley has been at the corner of columbus and jackson since 1962. a favorite for "starving artists" for years... used to be that rising stars who were performing nearby at the hungry eye (Diana Ross, Jonathan Winters, Barbara Streisand... to name a few) would jet over to clown alley for their grub. A couple weeks ago Bill Cosby even called over for a couple chili dogs from his nearby swank hotel...

me? i like the chili fries the best... and, of course, the fact that they are open until 1:00 am during the week and 3:00 am on the weekends...





clown alley is
one of the few places in this
concrete jungle where you can eat outside...
(this photo was taken with a 4x5 pinhole camera)




shawn roland (a young, local north beach artist) painted these really cool murals
after they remodeled the place a year and a half back.




bill (who started working here at age 14 and now runs the place)
says that the name relates to the wide variety of people who eat here.
("homeless to celebs")




a cheesburger and fries did this jolly fellow up right!




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