Three Dollar Bill Cafe

According to the Bar Area Reporter’s article written by Matthew S. Bajko, the Three Dollar Bill Café just closed down due to high rents, lack of security. The Café is closed as of Sept. 22, 2008. The café has just been remodeled and also hosted a poetry series monthly.
The LGBT Center is seeking out other alternatives to fill the space.

Sadly, the 3 Dollar Bill has closed. Yet another casualty of our dear president’s terrible economic practices.
:(

I just heard this place is closing! Does anyone have any news?

The staff is really friendly a nd attentive! they even brought my amazingly good Mango smoothie to my table, not like other cafes that just scream out your order.
The internet is reliable and plugs everywhere.
Not that great for studying unless you can do it with music but i managed…

I don’t know much about this place — I only went once (last night) to hear my friend Kirst read at the queer poetry slam (or something like that).
Here’s what I observed:
*The poetry was mostly very good, and often very funny, and Kirst’s was especially awesome and I am not just saying that because she’s my friend.
*Everybody there, including the staff, was incredibly friendly and sweet.
*Anchor on tap (think globally, drink locally!)
*Not a bad wine selection for a bar.
*Although I didn’t try it, they serve Mac-​n-​Cheese, and I LOVE Mac-​n-​Cheese.
*Gay, bi, straight, queer, lesbian, intentionally ambiguous and others all seemed to mix and play well together.
*The MC solicited a poem topic (a thing, and a mood, he said) at the beginning of the night, so I shouted out «angry foreskin!» and I’ll be damned if he didn’t write a f**king impressive poem in under an hour!
I’ve never seen a three dollar bill, but I think I saw a guy named Bill at the Three Dollar Café — and that’s almost as cool.

I’ve been here quite a few times. Like others have said, it’s on a corner that was sorely in need of a coffee shop. The drinks are good and generously sized, and there’s also food available (the french toast is pretty amazing). There’s free wi-​fi (get the password from the barista), but one catch– a serious dearth of outlets.
The 3DB is often taken up by large book clubs and such. I’ve had my own group meetings here, though, at random times, and it was never too crowded. It’s a very central location, so it’s a good spot for people to meet.

⁴⁄₅ Update — Returned for the yogurt parfait and coffee, and loved it. True to the wording on the menu, the parfait is literally layers of granola and yogurt. Only wished they mixed in some fruit as well.
Very close to five stars.
— - — - — - — -
Things started off well, with the staff generously offering to give me a green salad instead of the potato salad that was the standard side of the day. Thank you very much. And I was great anticipating the hummus sandwich that sounded so delectable on the menu.
Ten minutes later, things took a turn for the worse as my sandwich was still nowhere in sight.
Five more minutes, my mental Unilocal was dipping below three stars.
But then, one of the most meticulously prepared triple-​decker hummus sandwiches ever appeared, and it was love at first sight. Now I see why you took so long — you were making me an amazing sandwich.
I’ll absolutely be back to sample their breakfast offerings.

They recently revamped it and it looks even better. I like the grilled cheese and a few other ones of their sandwiches. Nice to have a LGBT-​focused food place.

Sometimes, I think I have a guardian angel or something that goes around, making sure I don’t mess up my life too badly.
She came with me to the 3DB the other day, and said «Maia baby, I love you, but we both know that you don’t have the discipline to get any work done when there’s the internet to be explored, so I’m just going to turn it off…»
So, while the wifi going out for 2 hours is usually an occasion to knock a few stars off a place, I blame (thank?) my guardian angel instead, for letting me get some work done for once.
Oh, and the café? Well, the layout is very nice — couches and coffee tables to sit with your friends, comfy chairs to read in, and tables to work on your laptop on. It’s got good coffee and salads, cool people, and big sunny windows that let you look at the feet of people walking down the sidewalk on Market, which I think is pretty badass.

I really like this place, and especially since they recently remodeled it– it’s got a very comfy vibe to it. I have night classes here at the center, and it’s a great place to sit down get the reading I procrastinated on, done. They always have really good music– and the service is good, sometimes.
Minus one star when the girl at the register didn’t tell anyone about my order and there I was waiting 20 minutes for a peanut butter and jelly. Yes, a pb&j. Damn me for being lazy for not just making one when I was home but still. Really didn’t like that. Still, I support local business and so should you.

The owners are hot.

Probably one of (if not the most) friendly staffs at a coffee shoppe in San Francisco. The free wi-​fi is great and unlike other cafes that feature it 3DB never gets filled up with people who buy one coffee and sit for 7 hours with their laptop taking up table space (see: The Fall of the Canvas Gallery). They also do a lot to support and promote local artists as well as host a calender of events for activities that take place on any given night. All in all a great little café that’s worth checking out.

I used to go here once in a while because it was convenient to drop by and grab a quick bite to eat… but then this happened, and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth:
As I was walking out of The Center one day, I noticed the chalkboard in the front window of the Three Dollar Bill Café read, «Breeders Welcome» and involved a chalk drawing of a baby.
This term is, as all of us in the queer community are well aware, meant to be pejorative and offensive towards heterosexual people. But this is not appropriate to display in the front of a place that is meant to be an example of tolerance, acceptance, and unity in our community and a bridge with the greater community of San Francisco.
The thing is, The Center is supposedly a safe space for Bisexual and Transsexual people, and women too. But a sign like this can make it very hard to feel comfortable if you are part of these demographics: Bisexual people engage, at times, in what might be termed by some as «heterosexual» behavior. So a term like «breeders» often is even more of a stinging assault on our identities than it might be on that of heterosexuals, who don’t have to struggle with being caught between two worlds.
And some transfolk might also feel alienated by this term, since many identify as heterosexual and be in heterosexual relationships.
Women who are in same-​sex couples are very capable of having children together, thanks to sperm banks, etc. We can «breed» as much as we want, because our bodies make us able, and modern technology has made this easy to do without involving a male and a sex act. To infer that «breeding» (or the ability to) is somehow offensive is an assault on womanhood, as if to say that we are somehow inferior because of our natural ability or urge to have children. So this is yet another way of trivializing women’s stature in our society, of telling
women that our bodies are somehow shameful. In the queer community, as with the greater society in which we live, women’s voices often go unheard. There are far more spaces for gay men, more affluence in the gay male community, more presence at Gay Pride, and a plethora of other inequities. We are already spend our lives under the radar; by ridiculing what is a beautiful natural ability, we are further subjugated by society and by our own queer community.
The term «Breeder» is insensitive at best, and terribly offensive at worst. It’d be like a very heterosexual bar in the Marina posting a sign saying, «Faggots welcome» and then putting next to it a chalk-​drawn parody of two men engaging in anal sex. That would be considered indecent, offensive, intentionally hurtful, and not really welcoming at all to
anyone gay. I doubt a gay person who saw the sign and complained would feel comfortable going back there after the sign was removed. The lack of acceptance and tolerance would still hang heavy in the air…
When I complained about this directly to the center, the response I got was that they «gathered that the sign was meant to be humorous
without any mal-​intent.» They also told me that this was written by a «new employee» and that they’d have stricter guidelines for their signage in the future.
Ahh, well, I guess that’s all one could hope for. Except the whole incident left me with a bad taste in my mouth, as though this was basically done to fix any appearance of ill-​will, but maybe the anti-«breeder» sentiment still lurks under the surface. Just as I would stay away from a business that put out a queer-​phobic sign even after it was removed, I’ll be staying away from the Three Dollar Bill Café.

No line for lunch. Nice dining area. Was virtually empty at lunch time. Had the vegetarian minestrone soup with tortellini. Came with bread. Simple. No fuss. Service with attitude.
Will be going back regularly for lunch since they have a good selection of salads and sandwiches at reasonable prices. I have no idea why this place isn’t packed for lunch.
If anyone working at the Three Dollar Bill café is reading this — I suggest you walk your menus over to the many many government offices in your vicinity.

I enjoying coming here for the Wi Fi and the good selection of drinks and snacks. I think they have sandwiches too but don’t remember. The staff is friendly. I’ve held some club meetings here and its convenient and spacious (when there’s not another large group meeting).
For specific food choices, the breakfast burritos are filling and the lattes very hot.

good variety, strong coffee drinks. love the free wifi access (password provided if you ask).
pretty mellow vibe the times I’ve visited.

I love the bathroom! Bathrooms with maps on the wall are great :) Although, why the maps are all from LA (I guess someone came up from Socal and decided they didn’t need their LA Thomas Guide anymore?) It was fun reading the post-​its, and the blue light was fun.
The café was comfy… killed a bit of time here before going to Destino across the street. Maybe I should have spent more time in the bathroom? I bet the wi-​fi works in there!

Da Good: Location, beer, coffee, snacks, wireless
Da Bad: Atmosphere is *too* colorful
Good café, but not great. I had a green tea and a hummus bagel with vegies. Vegies were fresh, as was bagel, hummus was OK. Tea was good, but not great. Atmosphere is unusual for a café, it has more bright colors than i like, prolly good for kids. I prefer dark wood and leather at other cafes. IIt’s on market facing south, so most of the place was bathed in sunlight — normally i like sun, but not in my face when or when i’m on a laptop. It does have beer, is in a good location in the city, so it could get 4 stars. but it gets 3 since i am not a fan of the atmosphere, and nothing else was great enuf to bring me back
³⁄₅ tea
⁴⁄₅ food
³⁄₅ atmosphere
⁴⁄₅ service
³⁄₅ value
Plus free wireless (they give you password)

I heart this café. i used to go there every day when i worked in the nieghborhood and loved both the coffee and the art that they put up from local people. i always run into other homos that i know there and it was hot. the knitting night and microcinema nights were pretty cool. but it’s also hot that they have one of the only three LGBT open mics in town and the only one that happens more than once a month. the last Queer Open Mic there was recently called «better than sex» by one of the attendees.
ahhh good times. plus — their food is good and the service is always friendly.

Never a fan of the «gay» center, I have become pleasantly surprised by 3 Dollar Bill, the café located on its ground level.
The service isn’t just pleasant but dedicated to your good experience.
The sandwiches are perky and just so slightly tongue in cheek, like the «yoga daddy» sandwich «It’s hot» the sign says.
Uh, huh gay folks, we know who your daddy is… plus they have wireless so grab a brew or hot soy chocolate and find a daddy online of your own.