The calm solace one finds in a dimly lit dive bar is a feeling known well to many San Franciscans. The deep history of hiding out in a bar goes back over a century in San Francisco. Starting with the Gold Rush days as the capital of California’s lawless “Barbary Coast” to the Kerouac and Ginsberg hang-outs in North Beach in the 1950’s to the Tavern Guild organization of gay bar owners of the 1960’s; San Francisco has seen its fare share of social groups using bars as their home base.

With this lookbook we’ve put the spotlight on Bender's Bar and the people who work there and own it. Bender's is where we’ve called our home base in San Francisco for two decades and which also happens to be around the corner from the first Self Edge on Valencia Street which we opened in 2006. Just a couple of institutions with distinct visions, aging somewhat gracefully.

Photography: Dani Ponce
Styling: Oscar Ojeda
Creative & Direction: Kiya Babzani