Sam’s Anchor Cafe–Sydney Schonefeld

My hometown of Tiburon, California is located on the San Francisco Bay, about a 30-minute drive from the city. Tiburon is home to a charming main street, incorporating many boutiques, cafes, and restaurants into the local landscape. I decided to focus on one restaurant at the epicenter of the street called Sam’s Anchor Café. Sam’s has been around since 1920 and is famous throughout the region for its American seafood cuisine and casual atmosphere. It has also been voted the Bay Area’s best outdoor restaurant, which makes sense considering its outdoor seating is right on the water with a view of Angel Island and the San Francisco skyline. A day at Sam’s is never uneventful. You can always be sure to find a diverse group of people in the restaurant, whether they be older men arguing at the bar over a sports game, kids chasing birds outside on the deck, or a couple of tourists exploring, there is never a dull moment. Over the years, Tiburon has become a tourist hotspot, making the downtown area extremely vibrant and diverse. However, this means that most business is done seasonally and many of the shops have high turnover rates with costly rents. Throughout the summers the street is filled with people but the shops that stay and manage to do well the rest of the year are the ones that cater to the local community. The reason Sam’s is so successful is because it does exactly this. Therefore, during the least touristy times of the year, they still manage to stay busy. It also helps that the local yacht club is right next door, so many customers walk into the bar straight off their boats, famished from a day on the Bay. According to Global Cities, Local Streets, the best local streets foster sociability, convenience, and community. Sam’s welcoming atmosphere is what sets it apart. With a good location and diverse age group, it is a fun place to be any night of the week. Sam’s brings the community together while also providing a diverse place accepting of new people.