Weekend Stubble

If drink is the bane of writing, it still has its rewards. The ancient (and still very much alive) London pub Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was once responsible for the Cruikshank-illustrated volume of literary gossip The Book of Cheese: Being The Traits and Stories of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, which went through at least 11 editions from the 1890s through the 1930s. (It's still possible to find nice old copies cheaply.) Now it may be San Francisco's turn: the Geary Ave hangout Edinburgh Castle has published its own literary anthology, featuring such Grotto standbys as Po Bronson and Mary Roach.

The bar least likely to produce a book? Mr. Bing's. I've never witnessed any literature spewing forth from there, but I have seen its urinal filled with vomit.