I'll see you at the Ace-San Francisco.

From Yelp.com:

"After being abandoned for nearly ten years, The Ace Cafe San Francisco has been reincarnated as a bare-bones biker bar with motorcycle racing on all of the TVs. It features an extensive collection of beer on tap and in bottles, in addition to premium wine (sorry, no hard liquor now, and I know that some of you might be skeptical of a wine rack in a biker bar, but bear with me here). There's a pool table and a jukebox that's full of your hard rock, metal, and punk favorites, as well as a kitchen serving sausages, barbecue, and chili."

Neighborhood: The Mission
1799 Mission St
at 14th St
(between 14th St & Erie St)
San Francisco, CA 94103

Lets Go! The Goodwood Festival of Speed U.K.

"The Festival of Speed is far more than just a hillclimb: it can justifiably claim to be the world’s biggest and most diverse celebration of the history of motor sport. It is the only occasion where you will see in action the greatest competition cars and star drivers from all eras: everything from 19th century steam carriages to current Formula One; fabulous racing motorcycles; classic rally cars to 3000bhp dragsters; plus motor sport legends like Moss, Surtees, Brabham and Andretti rubbing shoulders with today's hottest properties such as Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Petter Solberg and Colin McRae.

Motor racing first came to Goodwood in 1936 when the 9th Duke of Richmond held a private hillclimb through the park. Five years earlier he had won the Brooklands Double 12, and then in 1948 he opened the Goodwood Motor Circuit. These early events inspired his grandson, the present Earl of March, to bring motor sport back to Goodwood. This resulted in the first Festival of Speed, held in 1993 in the picturesque parkland surrounding Goodwood House.

Since the inaugural meeting, the Festival has become established as a key event in the motor sport social calendar. But it is not all about action on the hill. A 2.5-kilometre loose-surface rally stage – cut into the wooded area close to the hillclimb finish line – has around 30 cars from the history of rallying providing a thrilling demonstration of sideways driving throughout all three days of the event. Unrestricted access to the paddocks means that spectators and autograph hunters can get closer to the cars and drivers than at almost any other meeting. Away from the bustle of competition, you can relax with a picnic on the lawns of the House among some of the most beautiful and innovative automotive creations, which are judged in the Cartier ‘Style et Luxe’ design competition. You can explore the exciting displays of our many exhibitors, or seek an adrenaline rush from the Festival's interactive entertainment, including driving simulators and 4x4 driving. Children will delight in the special amusements to be found at the Junior Festival of Speed.



The Festival is motor racing's equivalent of Ascot or Wimbledon: an extravaganza of sound and colour that has been described as 'the garden party of the Gods'. In combination with the rich period theatre of the Goodwood Revival, the Festival of Speed ensures that Goodwood is unrivalled throughout the world.

Motorcycles make up a key part of the Festival of Speed, and over the years a mouth-watering collection of great machines and riders have gathered at Goodwood in celebration of motorcycling history.

Around 40 important machines gather at the Festival each year, with entry by invitation only from Lord March. The field is selected thematically, with the motorcycles chosen specifically to reflect the event's major themes, and many are ridden by famous names. Carl Fogarty, the late, great Barry Sheene, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Giacomo Agostini, Luigi Taveri, John Surtees, Jim Redman, John Reynolds, Troy Baylis, Troy Corser, Randy Mamola, Paul Smart, Mick Grant and Marco Lucchinelli have all competed at Goodwood in recent years.

Most importantly, the machines you see ridden up the hill are, almost without exception, the actual warriors, many of them works machines which won the honours in their day. Nowhere else will you see a collection like it. From pre-war Kompressors to post war Italian exotics; from the Great British specials to the two- and four-stroke kings from the Japanese; a broad spectrum of ultimate motorcycle racing history is illustrated."

I'll see you at the Ace.

from Wikipedia:

"The Ace Cafe is an old transport café; from 1938 designed to accommodate the traffic travelling on the new North Circular Road. Popular with Rockers in the 1950/60s it was a local haunt for the petrol heads. Today it has been refurbished and Rockers and motorcyclists from all over the world go to the Ace to share stories, fix bikes and see the legend itself
The Ace Cafe located on The North Circular in London, was built in 1938 as a transport cafe primarily for hauliers. Due to the fact that the cafe was open 24 hours a day it soon started to attract motorcyclists. The cafe was rebuilt in 1949 after being destroyed in a World War II air raid. This happened because the building is very close to the Willesden Railway Marshalling Yard, the actual target of the raid. A number of events occurred in the Post-war environment to make the Ace Cafe a success, the emergence of the Teenager; increases in road traffic; and the British motorcycle industry being at its peak. Many young people started to meet at the cafe with their motorcycles and listen to Rock'n'Roll music.
The cafe established itself as a cultural hub for rockers, and many bands and motorcycle enthusiast groups formed there.
The original cafe closed in 1969; one usage before it re-opened was as a tyre sales and fitting shop. One abiding virtue was that for some time they did sell and fit motor cycle tyres. However the Ace Cafe was refurbished and reopened in 1997, but no longer for 24 hours. The cafe is now also famous for its various classic and sports car gatherings.
An attempt was made in the 80s and 90s to re-create the Ace Cafe some miles away on the Western Avenue"

and here's a little something from the Ace webpage:

"Driven by a passion for bikes and rock n' roll, Mark Wilsmore started planning in 1993 to reopen the legendary cafe. Twenty-five years after the cafe closed, the first Ace Cafe Reunion was held in 1994, attracting 12,000 people. The following annual reunions, known as "Ace Days", took place on historic ground: Brighton's famous Madeira Drive. The original Ace site couldn't accommodate the steadily rising numbers of visitors. Over 25,000 enthusiastic riders celebrated Ace Day in 1997.

Since then major steps have been made towards the reopening of the Ace Cafe, including securing the original site and launching the Ace Cafe Club, with parts of the original Ace Cafe opened to the public on FRI, SAT, and on Bank Holidays and every first Wedensday of every month. Visitors can check out the place and see the progress. Based on the rich heritage and traditions of the 50's and 60's, the Ace Cafe still embodies the same values as when the original Rockers called it home. What could be found on a Triton going for the Ton in the sixties today can be found on a modern sportbike or streetfighter. The bikes, the music, and perhaps the whole world have changed, but the spirit remains the same: Non-conformist, rebellious, individual and authentic."

There are in fact very thin rumours of an Ace Cafe opening in San Francisco that so far have only resulted in leading me on pointless trips to dissused and boarded up cafes and with cryptic promices from the local free motorcycle paper of an opening in the "very near future"....watch this space.

Next time I pass through seattle...

Cafe Racer Espresso
5828 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 523-JAVA

Ironicly Cafe Racer now has show featuring local comic artists called "kickstart cuties". Its a grand drawing,..but a Vespa in a Cafe Racer cafe?.