This San Francisco Shop Had a Sordid Past as a Brothel and Gun-Slinging Saloon

A year after the 1906 earthquake ravaged San Francisco, the city began to rebuild by erecting ornate structures. One such Pacific Avenue building, completed in 1907, now houses Grow, a female-owned and-run experiential marketing agency. Long before its current tenant moved in, the space’s upper floors housed a brothel and a nightclub, while its ground-level saloon, owned by boxer Spider Kelly, was considered the worst dive in the world. But now that it’s home to a respectable business, the décor had to match.