When you walk into O’Keeffe’s bar, two things hit immediately: it’s filled with laughter and the owner
loves Ireland.
The bar is owned by Annie O’Keeffe and is on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Balboa Street. It is filled
with items from her hometown of Leitrim, Ireland and from her late husband, Tim O’Keeffe’s,
hometown of Cork County, Ireland.
The walls in the bar and behind the counter, where O’Keeffe is found talking, laughing and joking with
patrons while they drink, are lined with photos of love ones and mementos from her native Ireland.
Photos on the wall are not just of O’Keeffe’s family but also of people who she’s met while living in San
Francisco and she now considers to be important in her life.
Since 1975, O’Keeffe has been a staple in the Richmond District. Originally from what she refers to as
“Lovely Leitrim,” Ireland, O’Keeffe is one of 12 children and decided to move to San Francisco in 1975
while visiting the city for three weeks for her brother’s wedding.
“It seemed a lot easier living here. I used to have to walk seven miles. We didn’t have the buses. Didn’t
have the cars,” said O’Keeffe.
O’Keeffe also refers to Leitrim as the “Texas of Ireland” because it’s big and it’s more of a “drive-through
county.”
“We didn’t have a car. We had one bicycle and my dad used that when he worked for the council. And
so, we had to walk and hope somebody would come by and give you a lift,” said O’Keeffe.
Born in 1952 in Northern Ireland, O’Keeffe lived in a town that was so small that she went to a school
with one classroom for all the children and there were about 50 children at the school.
When O’Keeffe’s grade school teacher, who also happened to be her cousin, got married, her teacher’s
husband came to pick her up from school after the honeymoon and a few of the kids, including O’Keeffe
started whistling. The next day the seven of them were kept after class and given 12 smacks on the hand
for their stunt.
For Bobby Corriea, who is O’Keeffe’s nephew, a part of what makes O’Keeffe great “is her affinity for
family” and he believes that it comes from her growing up in a small town.
According to O’Keeffe, her hometown was a place where everybody was family, and everyone helped
each other.
“You’re never going to learn about Annie by talking to her. You just have to watch her interact with
everyone she meets,” said Corriea.
Watching O’Keeffe interact with friends and people who come into the bar it’s immediately recognizable
that she loves jokes and getting a laugh out of the people who surround her.
According to Corriea, O’Keeffe always has a witty retort to anything you say to her.
“I was an attorney in Ireland and came out here and couldn’t pass the bar,” joked O’Keeffe, gesturing to
the interior of the bar, when she was asked about whether she had ever imagined owning and running a
bar in San Francisco when she was younger.
One of the biggest things about O’Keeffe according to the people who know her, is that she remembers
everything and everyone and that she talks to everyone.
“She’s like a mother. She looks after everybody,” said Corriea.
Jack Wong, who met O’Keeffe at the former Clement Street Bar and Grill about seven years ago, said
that O’Keeffe and a group of their friends came to visit him at the hospital after he was hit by a car while
crossing the street.
O’Keeffe doesn’t have any biological children; however, she does have three stepchildren and according
to Corriea, all the kids around the neighborhood call her ‘Auntie Annie.”
During Halloween, O’Keeffe will have a small witch set up in the corner at the bar where the kids will
immediately run to, so that they can grab candy, when they stop by with their parents. She also keeps
dog treats at the bar for the dogs that stop by with their owners. O’Keeffe keeps pictures of the dogs
behind the bar along with photos of all her family and friends.
Wong said that O’Keeffe has a bubbly personality but that the biggest thing about her is her generosity.
Wong recalls O’Keeffe taking a group of friends out for dinner at Gold Mirror and paying for the entire
meal, including the after-dinner drinks they had.
“She takes a whole group of us out. It’s first class; she spends,” said Wong.
James Kiely has been friends with O’Keeffe for 15 years and says that “she’s the most beautiful person in
the world.”
Kiely recalls O’Keeffe calling him up one night saying, “’Jimmy you have to come down and put the light
up for the pool table.’’ She told him that she “would be waiting at the door” after he told her he had the
flu.
Kiely has fixed the sign that hangs outside of the bar, fixing it and having someone come out to fix the
wiring because it wouldn’t light up. Kiely said that “this place (the bar) is a family. Everybody takes care
of each other.”
Greg Maciel, who became friends with O’Keeffe after moving to San Francisco to go back to school at
San Francisco State University in 2011, said that she is very personable and that she remembers
everyone’s birthdays. To Maciel, his friendship with O’Keeffe means more to him than going to the bar.
“She’s Annie to everybody. She’s Annie to me,” said Kiely.

Article originally written in 2019