Drink Therapy: Celebrating the Midnight Solstice, and on a School Night

Aaron Gustafson/Flickr

Like a beacon of hope.

​We know it doesn't make sense in a city where the sweltering starts with the autumnal equinox, more or less, but there's something about the slipping away of August that feels like the end of a summer that never was. (Poignant, right?) The last thing you want is to be stuck at home after a night of crappy TV, with the inexorable start of the 11 p.m. news signalling a quick slide into Tuesday morning's grind. That's why the late-night happy hour at Velvet Cantina can feel like deliverance, especially on this last day of August. Check in for $3 margaritas, $2 beers, and -- if you're particularly depressed -- $3 Fernet shots (Sun.-Thu.). It's not too late to get giddy before bed, and on the cheap, too. Think of it as a particularly fitting way to mark San Francisco's actual summer solstice -- even if you'll have to wear your down parka for the long walk home.

Velvet Cantina 3349 23rd St. (at Bartlett), 648-4142