The jukebox plays an old Leanne Rimes song and people are leaning over the bar top trying to get the busy bartender’s attention. The smell of beer from the tap wafts through the small, dimly lit space and the spotlights above reflect off the wall length mirror into people’s glazed eyes. It is 12:39 early Thursday morning at The Goalpost and it's College Night. Students who have come out for the drink specials are taking full advantage – some are holding two drinks at a time and already feeling the buzz. Bartender Olive O’Brien is working alone, catering to everyone’s demanding drink orders and trying to keep the loud Irish men at the other end of the bar from getting too rowdy.

But whether Irish or not, San Franciscans have a strange attraction to Irish pubs. Maybe it’s the jovial atmosphere and friendly faces or maybe just the good stout. Whatever it is, The Goalpost on Noriega Street has that special attraction, and Sunset locals and college students can’t get enough. In this case, it’s not just the good crowd, but O’Brien’s fun loving nature and positive attitude. The petite Irish native with long, blond streaked hair and sparkling eyes has a loud laugh and undeniable charm. She is loved by all, whether behind the bar on a Wednesday night or checking out the scene on her nights off, The Goalpost is O’Brien’s home away from home.

About eight months ago O’Brien decided The Goalpost needed fresher faces and a younger crowd – she not only bartends but also owns the bar. Her regulars were middle-aged Irish men with beer bellies, flannel shirts and a true love of beer. Paying customers, but not exactly hot on the party scene. After befriending Sarah Berg, a lively Communications major from SF State, O’Brien had an idea.

“I loved Sarah and her friends and I wanted a place where they could come together during the weeknights to have fun,” she says.

Berg made fliers and handed them out around campus to promote the event. Wednesday College Night at The Goalpost was born. O’Brien decided she wouldn’t just advertise drink specials to bring in customers, but she’d give poor college students good deals.

The fliers read: “$1 Kamikaze Shots and $1 Draft Beers! Come to Goalpost on Noriega Wednesday nights!” Berg knew the drink specials would entice college kids to come out mid-week.

“The first night the turnout was great,” remembers Berg, who loves happy hour no matter where it is. “A typical week night at The Goalpost consisted of me and five Irish guys, but that first college night was packed with 20 to 30 people.”

But not all students looked forward to or even knew about College Night. San Francisco native and frequent Sunset bar go-er, Inna Bagdesarian, 21, is normally found doing homework for her UC Davis political science courses or watching One Tree Hill on Wednesday nights. But the first time The Goalpost had College Night she was dragged out of the house by some friends.

“I never drank at The Goalpost before and didn’t even know it existed until they had College Night,” she says. “But I did end up having a good time.”

Up the street from The Goalpost is a very different bar, Eagles Drift Lounge, where smoking is permitted inside and there are one dollar beers. Jason Delaney bartends a couple nights a week and remembers the first time, months ago, when The Goalpost hosted College Night.

“Kids were standing out in the street, drunk and causing trouble,” he remembers, laughing. “The street cleaning guy was coming down the street and they were throwing chairs that had been left on the sidewalk into the street cleaning truck. It was chaos.”

Delaney, 24, says the owner of Eagles made the conscious decision to not have College Night or drink specials because “liquor is the worst drug you can give people.”

The first few weeks of College Night was prone to underage drinking so The Goalpost hired a doorman to card people, just like any other big club in the city, says Delaney.

“Weeknight college nights tend to attract kids who normally don’t drink on school nights and when cheap drinks are offered, they go overboard and don’t know their limit,” he says. The crowd at Eagles tends to have more mellow regulars.

Although College Night was a little rowdy in the beginning, O’Brien says none of the local residents have ever complained from the weeknight noise.

“People are nice here and no one has ever said that we were too loud,” she says.

While business was fine before College Night, now it booms. O’Brien has new partners and is taking the time to remodel and revamp.

“Things are crazy right now with the remodeling,” she said the first day. “There is so much to get done. It’s stressful.” O’Brian closed her bar the last two weeks of February to make the necessary changes without the distraction of customers. Because the inside of the bar is long and narrow with the bar running all the way down the left hand wall, O’Brien decided to shorten the counter and make more room for a stage. In the back where the jukebox is, she wanted to put a long booth with tables. It is still a work in progress.

O’Brien’s investment in the business should be well worth it. “I’m staying awhile,” she says in her thick but cheery Irish accent. “I’ve been in this country for 14 years and I’m not going anywhere.”

Aside from remodeling, the new partnership will also bring a new element to The Goalpost. First, a new name. With two new guys helping O’Brien run things, both of them in the construction business, the bar’s new name will be a play on words from their jokes on the job.

“The boys are always making fun of their work about who is in the yard,” says O’Brien . “‘Are ya workin’ or drinkin’ in the yard?’ they’ll ask each other and won’t stop laughing.”

So The Goalpost will be called The Yard, as a joke among friends who share a love of drinkin’. And along with College Night on Wednesdays, a new theme may emerge once it reopens. Chris, one of the partners, is a guitar player who plans on holding sing-a-longs on the bar’s new stage. O’Brien says Chris was a well known musician in Ireland and played at another local bar, Durty Nellies, before joining her pub.

Newly married and busy, O’Brien only bartends on Wednesday nights now, but with the bar’s new look, who knows? She may start working more. As long as spirited, friendly students like Berg keep coming in and the Irish regulars keep drinking, College Night will continue when The Goalpost changes its name.

“You know, Sarah told me she wouldn’t come to College Night unless I bartended, so I have to be there,” says O’Brien.

“It just wouldn’t be the same without her,” responds Berg. "She really is the best bartender."