Future Bars, the acclaimed hospitality group behind Bourbon & Branch, Rickhouse, and The Dawn Club, announced the grand opening of Long Weekend, an immersive cocktail bar experience in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. Housed in a meticulously restored 1920s bank building on the corner of Columbus and Broadway, Long Weekend reimagines the space as a cultural portal, transporting guests to global destinations without having to leave San Francisco.
The venue debuted with Long Weekend Havana, a fully realized sensory journey through Cuban culture featuring live music, visual art, environmental storytelling, and an innovative cocktail program. Every nine months, the entire experience will transform to showcase a different destination from cities that have inspired cocktail culture from around the world.
“Cuba has made immense, lasting contributions to global cocktail and hospitality culture over the last 100 years,” said Brian Sheehy, CEO of Future Bars in a statement. “My visits to Havana have always been inspirational: the drinks, the art, the inherent hospitality, the joy and resilience of the people, the contradictions, and the beauty of the place. More people should get to experience Cuba and Havana in person, but that’s not a straightforward process these days. With Long Weekend Havana, we hope to bring visitors to our place to provide a little experience of what we are all missing out on these days.”
Long Weekend Havana guides guests through four meticulously crafted environments. The street-level Barra Principal features traditional Cuban music curated by renowned Havana-based composer Alejandro Del Valle, alongside authentic cocktails like daiquiris and mojitos served shaken, on the rocks, blended or over shaved ice. The visually dynamic mezzanines El Horizonte and La Vista offer elevated perspectives on the Havana experience. La Bóveda, an underground vault celebrating Havana’s contemporary nightlife, features street art and Cuban reggaeton in the building’s original bank vault.
Beverage Director Jayson Wilde crafted nine custom rum blends from a selection of over 150 globally sourced rums, meticulously designing a menu meant to recreate and elevate classic Cuban cocktail profiles.
“We scoured through distribution catalogs looking for intriguing rums at mixable price points, then categorized them into base rums, modifier rums and overproof rums,” Wilde explains. The team tasted through all 150+ rums over several weeks, ultimately creating specialty blends, including an Agricole-forward blend for watermelon cocktails, funky Mexican rums for an Aguardiente blend; and molasses- and chocolate-heavy rums for darker preparations.
Despite the intentionality, Wilde shares that the team’s goal is to “make the menu incredibly nerdy on the backend without being too obvious to the guest. We want Long Weekend to feel fun and adventurous without having to read a paragraph for a cocktail description.”
The menu spans the core of daiquiris and mojitos, with classic versions starting at $14 and flavored variations (strawberry, tropical, watermelon) at $15. Guests can choose their Daiquiri style: shaken and served up, on the rocks, blended or over shaved ice. Bottled cocktails are also available, including a Cuba Libre and Cubata with house cola, along with punch to share “con amigos.”
Classic cocktails include the Hotel Nacional (a pineapple and apricot daiquiri variation), the Bumbo (a coconut water and dark rum Old Fashioned), the Canchánchara (an aguardiente blend with honey, lime and butterscotch) and the chocolatey Daiquiri Mulata. Non-rum options honor traditional Cuban flavors, including the Princessa (a blended gin-based coconut cream, mint, and guava crusher) and the Hombre Cohete (vodka or dark rum with espresso liqueur blend and banana).
Each iteration of Long Weekend will feature a gallery showcasing artists from the featured destination. Long Weekend Havana is working with legendary Cuban artist Reynerio Tamayo, with 100 percent of art proceeds supporting his children’s art school in Havana. Under the guidance of CTO Doug Dalton, the venue also features immersive visual digital landscaping which is complemented by audio soundscapes recorded by the team in the streets and cafes of Havana.
Honoring the building’s history as the Italian American Bank, which opened in the 1920s, Long Weekend has revived the original vault’s safe deposit box service for a new purpose: the Keyholder Club. Keyholder Club members receive their own safe deposit box and key, along with curated contents designed to enhance the Long Weekend experience, including engraved table game sets, personalized tasting glasses and custom bottled spirit flights. Keyholder Club members enjoy advanced access to reservations and invitations to special events featuring art shows, guest performers, and exclusive beverage experiences.
Long Weekend opened on October 23. Long Weekend Havana is located at 270 Columbus Ave in San Francisco. Hours are: Monday-Wednesday: 4:30 pm to Midnight; Thursday-Saturday: 4:30 pm to 2:00 am; and Sunday: 4:30 pm to 11:00 pm.
