By Thomas K. Pendergast

Would you believe that a TV parody of James Bond movies from the 1960s would inspire the name of a bar on Geary Boulevard two decades later?

Would you believe that same bar still sits on the corner of 11th Avenue 40 years after that?

How about the San Francisco Office of Small Business recently honoring this bar by including it on the City’s official Legacy Business Registry?

These facts do not come from Agent 86 Maxwell Smart, however, the bumbling but extremely lucky CONTROL agent from “Get Smart” who coined the original phrase “would you believe” for pop-culture posterity.

As luck would have it, the bar first opened as “Would You Believe?” in 1986, that is, if you believe those numbers are just coincidental and not part of some secret code.

The Legacy Business Registry recognizes longstanding, community-serving businesses as valuable cultural assets of the City. This recognition is also a tool for providing educational and promotional assistance to such businesses for their continued success.

In a recommendation letter from District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan to Director of Office of Small Business Katy Tang, Chan wrote that the bar “has served as a cherished neighborhood institution, first opened by the late John Fracchia, and later stewarded by a succession of passionate community members.”

In 1997, Tan Yan Yi “Shirley” Do along with her partner Tri Long Do took ownership of the bar and under their care it grew into a “neighborhood institution,” Chan stated.

The bar changed hands again around 2023-2024, with former long-time bar employees Alifa Wong, her brother Gordon Wong, Robert Vong and Randy Ho running things now.

Alifa was hired as a bartender sometime in the early-to-mid aughts and a few years later her brother Gordon joined her there.

“I was introduced by one of the other bartenders who was working here,” she said. “I came in and started working. It was a Wednesday shift. That was my first time.

“I had passed by the place before, never knowing what it was,” she recalled. “Back then it was different. It was not renovated… It was very dark.”

Gordon added, “It had red walls with a black backdrop.”

“And it was crowded,” Alifa noted.

Fast forward many years later, when by chance a running joke led to the latest change of ownership.

“Everybody had always joked around and asked (Shirley Do) ‘why don’t you sell the bar to me?’ And it was always a running joke,” Alifa said. “Everybody always asked her to sell the bar, and of course, it’s her baby, so she’d never think to sell it.

“And then Robert made a joke about it and said ‘Hey Shirley, sell the bar to me.’”

And would you believe, she said “yes,” along with the inclusion of the other three.

“Her condition was that she would only sell it if we were involved. So she entrusted us with taking ownership of it, because she had spent so much time and so much of her love, her blood, sweat and tears poured into this business,” Alifa said. “It was an amazing honor that she would actually consider selling it to us.”

Being located on one of the main traffic arteries of the City ensures that they get plenty of tourists coming through the door, and yet, the fact that the have been at this location for so long also means they have a loyal group of local patrons, giving them a sense of community.

Gordon recalled a night when this became apparent during one of the numerous power blackouts that recently affected the City.

“We managed to get the emergency lights turned on and we were like, ‘Are we just going to go ahead’? And they’re like, ‘Well, we have water. We could just use our phones,’” he said.

Outside the wind was blowing and thrashing everything from an incoming storm.

“So, we were just kind of doing a campout kind of thing,” he said. “We couldn’t even take credit cards at this time, but people were just like, ‘Hey, we’re in this together.’ Because if I was at home, I would be doing the same thing, but I want to be here with everybody. So, let’s just go ahead and make this work.’”

Alifa added, “It was pitch black in there. I sat next to somebody, and we were having the best conversation ever because we were both San Francisco natives. We were talking about the good old days of San Francisco. I learned so much about this City.

“We were talking for at least 45 minutes, and then suddenly the lights came on. We kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Oh, that’s what you look like.’”

Throughout the years they have noticed certain changing habits and behavior from patrons, especially involving technology.

“I think it’s a generational thing too,” she said. “People don’t communicate the way that they used to. Whereas a lot of times people are just on their phones all the time, even when you go into a bar, you’ll see that people are sitting there on their phones.

“Back then you didn’t have that. You just talked to people. You talk to each other.”

“Yeah, you looked up,” Gordon added.

“Now it’s like everyone is just on their phones. It’s a real thing,” she said.

“I’m guilty of it too. And sometimes you become more aware of that. Then you just put your phone on the bar… When you’d go into a bar, back then it was like you’d sit next to somebody, you’d just automatically have a conversation.

“But nowadays I feel like the younger people, they don’t have a lot of face-to-face conversations.”

Like many business owners along Geary Boulevard, they are aware of the upzoning to allow for the development of taller buildings being implemented through the City’s Family Zoning Plan and the potential for developers to buy up property and demolish long standing businesses.

Even though being on the Legacy Registry is honorary and will not protect their building like giving it “landmark” status would, they are more worried about this kind of thing happening to the Jack In The Box across the street, because they have what might be described as a symbiotic relation with that fast-food restaurant.

“We don’t serve food at our place, but you’re more than welcome to bring food in,” said Robert Vong. “So that’s a concern for us.”

And there might be another, more subtle challenge affecting their business.

“Since (SF) Mayor Daniel Lurie has promoted downtown, a lot of traffic has gone down there,” said Randy Ho. “So that’s a big challenge for us, for the bars here in the Richmond District.”

And while street fairs like the Autumn Moon Festival on Clement Street help business there, they do not see much of that money.

“When they close off Clement Street for the fairs and festivals – we don’t get that on Geary. I can imagine why they don’t close down Geary, but it does hurt our business a lot,” Ho said.

Still they remain positive. When asked what the best part is about running a bar on Geary Boulevard in the Richmond District, Vong did not hesitate.

“The best part? This is the best part of the City,” he said with a smile. “We were born and raised here, and to be a business owner here is absolutely amazing.”

Don Adams, the actor who played Maxwell Smart, passed away in 2005. Perhaps if he knew that 60 years after his character introduced the words “would you believe” into the pop-culture lexicon, San Francisco is now putting it on such an exclusive list, he might express his pleasure by using another popular Agent 86 phrase – “and loving it!”

Would You Believe? is located at 4652 Geary Blvd. at 11th Avenue. It is open Monday-Thursday from 6:30 p.m.-12a.m., Friday 5p.m.-2a.m., Saturday 6 p.m.-2a.m. and Sunday 6:30p.m.-12a.m. Visit wouldyoubelievesf.com for more information.