Locals love to scorn this huge, multilevel black-painted club, but there's nothing like hearing a big-name DJ on its fantastic sound system. On the main dance floor, glow stick–waving kids shake under chartreuse lasers. The three dance areas located upstairs and down are usually a little more mellow, with booths for lounging. Critics complain that the place draws a suburban crowd, but the solution is to make sure you bring your own cohorts with you, ignore the other clubbers, and surrender to the music. A tip: When mentioning this club in conversation, be sure to refer to it as "ten-fifteen"—otherwise you'll immediately identify yourself as hopelessly uncool.

Opens Fridays and Saturdays at 10 pm. Check Web site for special events on other days.

This large, warehouselike space is a gallery and performance venue as well as a bar and club. In the main room, eccentric local art is displayed. On the dance floor, a giant dragonfly dangles from the ceiling, and trippy visuals flicker on the walls. On Wednesdays from 5 to 10 pm, the club hosts Qoöl, the finest happy hour in the city. The after-work crowd dances with a wild enthusiasm usually reserved for Saturday night. Note that the place has no sign, so it's easy to miss.

With copper-topped tables, checkerboard-tile floor, and antique mirrors, genteel Absinthe evokes a French brasserie of the Belle Epoque. Its excellent cocktail menu is in keeping with this theme, using recipes, such as the Ginger Rogers, culled from early 20th-century cocktail books. The bar has a separate menu from the adjoining restaurant—chiefly nibbles and small plates. The soft, flattering light makes this a perfect date choice.

Open Tuesdays through Thursdays 11:30 am to midnight, Fridays and Saturdays 11:30 am to 2 am, Sundays 11 am to 10:30 pm.

Local nightlife entrepreneurs Vintage415 command crowds of beautiful people with slick venues, good drinks, and stellar DJ lineups. Their latest venture, the Ambassador, takes the 415 vibe to the next level. Thirty-one crystal chandeliers preside over a dark interior that's masculine in a metrosexual way—white molding crowns red brick walls, and button-tufted black leather covers the marble-top bar and U-shaped booths. Before 10 pm, tables are first-come first-served and are equipped with private telephones for ringing your server with drink and even dinner orders. Late night, booths are typically reserved for bottle service. So, unless you shell out for that bottle of Dom or Hangar One, it's pretty much standing room only. But you'll be elbow to elbow with SF's prettiest party people.

Open Tuesdays through Fridays 6 pm to 2 am, Saturdays 7 pm to 2 am.

Skip the tired dinner theater of Teatro Zinzanni popular with other tourists, and instead visit Asia SF to admire its gender illusionists. Unlike drag queens, these svelte odalisques in low-cut evening gowns try to look convincingly female. On the hour, they perform lip-synch revues on top of the bar. The vaguely Asian decor includes rice-paper lanterns and shoji screens that shift from pink to gold. Instead of paying an entry fee, customers must purchase one of three reasonably pleasant pan-Asian dinner menus.

Situated in an authentic 1920s speakeasy, Bourbon & Branch is SF's answer to New York and London's Milk & Honey—an unmarked watering hole in Tenderloin that requires an online reservation (the phone number is unpublished) and a password at the door. Okay, now that you've heard the spiel, here's the real deal: If you want a primetime table in the front room on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, then by all means make a ressie. Otherwise, walk-ins are accommodated in the modish mezzanine lounge, secret library room with vintage tomes, and antique tractor seats at the bar. Despite a glam atmosphere—pressed-tin ceilings, velvet wallpaper, and a custom blown-glass chandelier—the artisan cocktails, crafted with homemade ingredients and fresh produce, are the real draw.

Open Mondays through Saturdays 6 pm to 2 am.

Dozens of votive candles cast a honeyed glow upon coppery tequila-hued walls and neo-tropical wallpaper inside this cozy Latin art salon and "culinary cocktail" lounge in Union Square. It's a comfortable hole-in-the-wall with cowhide armchairs and wine- barrel tables. Owner Duggan McDonnell is known for his artisan drinks, and bartenders from around town grab stools at the long bar to watch him mix up exotic cocktails. The blackberry and cabernet caipirinha—available by the pitcher—is a blend of Three Thieves Cab, cachaça, and fresh fruit. Other libations play with hints of pastis, Riesling brandy, and sangiovese.

Open Mondays through Saturdays 5 pm to 2 am.

The Sunday afternoon beer bust at the Eagle Tavern is—by far—the biggest daytime boy-bar scene in the city. Everyone from leather-clad biker dudes to bicycle shorts–wearing gymheads shows up to swill all-you-can-drink beer on the huge outdoor patio. (If you're still recovering from the night before, you can also take refuge in the always-dark billiards room). It's dinner time when you see a tiny Mexican woman carrying a red cooler; she's the famous “Tamale Lady” and makes some of SF's tastiest. Say yes when she asks if you want hot sauce. The scene peaks between 4 and 6 pm, then dies when the sun goes down.

Open daily noon to 2 am.

Once a 1920s dance hall, the Fillmore is decorated with concert posters dating back to its heyday in the mid-'60s, when legendary rock producer Bill Graham lured some of the biggest names in music here. Santana and the Grateful Dead played the Fillmore before they were widely known. Today, it's still the place to see big-name rock and alt-rock groups, and, strangely, free apples are always provided (a tradition started by Graham). Barring a few balcony seats, admission is standing room only; you can snag a place up front if you arrive early.

One wall of this restaurant's expansive heated courtyard functions as a screen for art-house foreign films—but most patrons don't actually watch the movies. Rather, the flickering frames of Antonioni's Blow-Up and Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi serve as a glamorous nighttime backdrop for cocktails and flirting. The California–Mediterranean cuisine is generally good, although—again—it plays second fiddle to the scene. The adjoining industrial-chic Laszlo Bar has rotating DJs.

Open Mondays through Fridays 6 pm to 2 am, Saturdays and Sundays 11 am to 2 am.

Named for the Barbary Coast–era prostitutes who dominated SoMa back in the day, Harlot is situated on shadowy Minna Street behind a velvet rope and mysterious façade. Until nightfall it's a moody happy-hour hangout, then morphs into an ultra-lounge. With a black-on-black palette, 24-foot onyx bar, leather banquettes, and cowhide accents, Harlot entices revelers by spoiling them: Valet parking is a rare amenity, as is the well-edited wine list by sommelier Mark Bright (of restaurant Michael Mina); bottles come with olives, nuts, and local chocolates. There's also a white-on-white VIP lounge with table service.

Open Wednesdays through Fridays 5 pm to 2 am, Saturdays 9 pm to 2 am.

Considering San Francisco is the gayest city in America, there's a surprising dearth of lesbian bars. Thank goodness for the stalwart Lexington Club, which (accurately) bills itself as "your friendly neighborhood dyke bar." The crowd is on the young side and ranges from shave-headed grrrls with motorcycle helmets under their arms to pin-up glamour gals, all out for a good time. The space is remarkably small, just one room, with a bar running the length of it, and a pool table at one end. On busy nights, the shoulder-to-shoulder scene can get a little raucous; cat fights aren't unheard of here. Seek refuge in the ladies' room, which has possibly the best graffiti in all San Francisco.

The Castro's trendiest bar recalls the swinging '60s, with pink-tinted windows, shiny white plastic furniture, and an aggressively (sometimes annoyingly) hip clientele. Cocktails are the big thing here; you'll do fine if you order anything muddled, preferably mojitos. There's a sexy dining area with swooping booths and a pretty good small-plates menu (try the mini burgers) served until 11 pm, Monday through Thursday, and midnight Friday and Saturday. But reserve an early table if you want to enjoy dinner conversation: Once the DJs arrive on weekend evenings, the noise level is deafening. Quieter types may prefer to come for the surprisingly good weekend brunch with all-you-can-drink mimosas.

Open Mondays through Thursdays 5 pm to midnight, Fridays 5 pm to 1 am, Saturdays 11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 1 am, Sundays 10:30 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to midnight.

The city's only true piano bar, Martuni's draws an always-animated crowd of mostly male bon vivants, ranging in age from 20s to 60s and clad in everything from jeans to tuxedos. The unifying theme here is a love of cocktails and song, specifically martinis, Broadway musicals, and the Great American Songbook. Crooners snag seats at the piano and wait their turn to sing at the open mic. But this ain't karaoke—don't ask to sing if you can't carry a tune, unless you want to flounder, ignored, in the spotlight. If you prefer your music in the background, stick to the front room, where you can sip drinks at high cocktail tables.

Open daily 2 pm to 2 am.

Evoking a nuclear fallout shelter, a Dr. Seuss illustration, and a Martian cocktail lounge, Noc Noc may have the strangest interior of any bar you've seen. Neon and black lights illuminate the splatter-painted, zebra-striped space. The TVs on the wall show a permanent snowstorm. Come early to secure one of the nooks. Later, the bar can get crowded with Lower Haight locals, some studiously hip, others looking like they just rolled out of bed. No hard liquor is served—only wine, sake, and a great selection of beers.

Open nightly 5 pm to 2 am.

A stylish place to mingle with local hipsters, the Orbit Room features a pressed-tin ceiling, an Art Deco facade, and rose-colored cone tables. But the real attraction here is the bartender, Alberta Straub, dubbed "the Alice Waters of booze" for her commitment to the fresh and homemade in her unbelievable cocktails. Her showstopping Bloody Mary gets zing from her own horseradish-infused vodka and is garnished with five vegetables. Be sure to visit during Straub's shift; she works nights Tuesday through Saturday.

Open Sundays through Thursdays 8 am to midnight, Fridays and Saturdays 7 am to 2 am.

The Powerhouse holds a torch for the old-school gay-bar standard of hard drinks and heavy stares. Though not particularly big, the space has two levels. The well-lit lower bar has a pool table and a mellower vibe, good for socializing with friends; the upstairs attracts guys more focused on hooking up, and there's a smoker's patio outside where new friends go to make out. The regular crowd tends toward 40-somethings, but there's more of a mix during the frequent special events (like strip billiards or ink-and-steel night for the pierced and tattooed). NB: The Powerhouse is an inappropriate place to bring women.

The Redwood Room can be a pickup joint, popular with rich businessmen and bottle blondes, but it also blazes with splendor. Although the place is a Schrager-Starck production, there's no hip minimalism here. Instead, with its burnished redwood walls, tiger-striped carpet, and enormous bar carved from a single redwood tree, the room resembles an opulent hunting lodge. Try the signature martini drinks (flavors include lavender and lychee) and watch the "oil paintings"—the denizens of these plasma screens are continually shifting, casting flirtatious glances at one another.

Open Sundays through Thursdays 5 pm to 2 am, Fridays and Saturdays 4 pm to 2 am.

Tucked in an alleyway off Columbus Avenue, nearby the storied City Lights Bookstore, this North Beach saloon is at once a dive bar and a museum of oddities; random-seeming objects dangle from the ceiling, gather dust in display cases, and hang everywhere on the walls. The wacky collection includes a New Guinea bone calendar, a petrified whale's penis, scrimshaw art, and a stuffed mongoose. Genial bartenders cater to a mellow crowd of bohemian regulars.

Open nightly 5 pm to 2 am.

An average night's entertainment here might include an aerialist, a python-festooned exotic dancer, and a couple of women in cat costumes prowling about on all fours. Guests loll in white beds to watch the dreamlike spectacle and to enjoy standard global-eclectic fare along with cocktails. There's a five-course prix fixe menu ($60–$70) and only one seating per night, at 7:30—but, as with most "dining experiences," the real draw is the experience, not the dining. (If you'd prefer to forgo the food, show up on a Friday or Saturday night after dinner and just have drinks.) Book a table well in advance, and don't wear white—when eating in bed, it's all too easy to make a mess of yourself.

Open Tuesdays through Sundays 7 pm to 2 am.

Lovers of kitsch will relish this faux-Polynesian bar, its entrance guarded by a stern-faced totem. Inside, there's a dance floor made from an actual ship's deck, and a small lagoon, its surface ruptured by an artificial monsoon every 15 minutes. A live band plays cheesy covers, and the drinks are the umbrella- and fruit-laden concoctions you would expect, such as the "Zombie," which comes in a miniature Easter Island head.

Open Sundays through Thursdays 5 to 11:45 pm, Fridays and Saturdays 5 pm to 12:45 am.

Truck pulls low-maintenance gay guys and gals off the beaten Castro path. It's an easygoing place, with cheap micheladas, beer-battered bar food with spicy sauces, and free shots at the start of happy hour. With its auto-garage decor and no-nonsense attitude, this is the type of place to slug back a few and feel like a real local (particularly during the liquid brunch on Sunday afternoons). It's not known as a place for dancing, but is always a good bet for a lively crowd during the Folsom Street Fair and Carnival.

Open Mondays through Fridays 11 am to 2 am, Saturdays 4 pm to 2 am, Sundays 2 pm to 2 am.

Once a seedy biker bar, Zeitgeist is now a friendly neighborhood beer joint that only looks like a seedy biker bar. Instead, it's patronized by both tattooed Mission hipsters and blue-collar types. The long wooden trestle tables on the spacious outdoor patio are conducive to mingling. The place can get crowded on warm summer evenings; be prepared to squeeze in where you can. The kitchen serves tasty pub grub such as burgers and barbecued chicken, and the Bloody Marys are recommended.

Open daily 9 am to 2 am.