Hours of getting all dressed and dolled up can become a questionable endeavor. Why bother with strapping on those flashy, gold stilettos that will inevitably make a simple task like walking a challenge? Then come the blistering feet, the long waits in the cold and the expensive cover charges before the night finally begins. The top dogs, with their clipboards and fancy earpieces, have the minions convinced that their overcrowded establishments and overplayed music are totally awesome, so people accept the fact that it’s 11:30 p.m. and last call is in a whopping two hours. So hurry up and get plastered because the clock is ticking.

If there is one thing partygoers don’t have enough of in San Francisco, it’s time. As the nightlife scene comes to a bitter halt at 2 a.m., belligerence and chaos flood the streets. With so many bars and clubs disposing of the eager, intoxicated crowds at the same time, the city faces many problems involving fighting and disorderly conduct. While city officials seem to have run out of answers to stop the madness, there still is one more proposal that has yet to be tested: staying open later. The law states no alcohol after
2 a.m., but a few extra hours of dry fun may be the ticket to sanity in the streets.

The streets of North Beach are a mecca for mayhem after 2 a.m. A group of girls stumble around on the dirty cement holding their shoes with blistered, open wounds on their feet, ready to contract hepatitis. The bustling streets are bombarded with pedestrians dashing in front of cars, and what appears to be the entire SFPD is patrolling the streets with desperation. A group of Abercrombie and flip-flop-wearing Gotti wannabes hassle some girls huddled together on the curb awaiting a cab, while across the street there appears to be a fight over in the pizza line.

Robert Davis, executive director of the San Francisco Entertainment Commission, estimates that there are roughly four thousand people packed into the small area of North Beach on any weekend night, so it can be hard to keep it under control even with police and club security. Davis says the problem with staying open later is that it would disrupt the community. The police, club owners and the entertainment commission have discussed possible solutions in recent meetings, such as anti-loitering laws to keep people from hanging out in front of nightclubs during operation. Another idea is to create a staggered close amongst the venues so every club and bar isn’t closing at once. The Board of Supervisors will be discussing these resolutions within the next few weeks.

Luckily, there are some places in the city on the people’s side. The EndUp, sitting on the corner of Sixth and Harrison streets since 1973, offers a prime example. If people just want to dance their ass off to pure house music until sunrise, the EndUp is a landmark and the crowds are loyal. It’s 3:30 a.m. as a guy dressed in a one-piece sequined suit dances enthusiastically in circles while a middle-aged duo gracefully two-steps beside him. A trio of half-naked, scandalously dressed girls take turns dancing toward the mirror in admiration of, well, themselves. But nobody’s judging here.

“Here’s the problem with many places—all of the liquor must be off the counter at two o’clock so people are forced to hurry up and drink and then they are thrown out into the streets,” says EndUp owner Bryan Edwards. Fortunately for him, that’s not an issue. People can stay there until Monday morning if they have it in them. With top-notch security that doesn’t get off by interfering with the customer’s good time in an environment where time is not an issue, people can really mellow out and have fun without worrying about fists being thrown, something Edwards has never seen at his club.

Derek Hena, general manager of the nightclub Mighty, says they don’t have any problems when shutting down, especially because they generally close around 4 a.m. “If the places have to close at 2 a.m., then you have plenty of people who have been binge drinking forced out at 2 a.m., not a pleasant feeling, and then the altercations that ensue usually happen just outside the venues,” says Hena. As for the rest of San Francisco, only time will tell if the city will become one that never sleeps with safer streets.
Tick-tock.