The bar has stayed more or less the same since it\u2019s opened, but the cast of characters running it has changed.\u00a0 In the 1960s, Hanestad left the business. In 1987, Ralph Figari passed away, and passed ownership of the Ha-Ra Club to his son, Rick.<\/p>\n
![\"Black](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Capture-decran-le-2026-04-03-a-12.40.39-930x400.png\")
Ralph Figari and Hank Hanestad (on the left) celebrated the first anniversary of the bar on February 1, 1957. This photo is exhibited on the wall of the Ha-Ra Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in that bar,\u201d Rick Figari said. \u201cI spent more time there than I did in my own home.\u201d He also credits his existence to it \u2014 his parents met at the Ha-Ra and family lore has it that he was conceived on the pool table.<\/p>\n
Starting from when he was a child, Figari\u00a0 said, he spent countless hours helping his father with day-to-day operations. \u201cMy oldest memories were of coming in as a kid with my dad,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could smell the soda guns and the spilled beer.\u201d<\/p>\n
To his father, learning the ropes of the business was just as important as what he was learning in school. \u201cThis neighborhood was rough and you had to be streetwise,\u201d Figari said. \u201cMy dad said: \u201cYou\u2019re going to get an education. Now boy, I did! I mean the things you see and have to deal with\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
For the 25 years he owned the Ha-Ra, Rick Figari was reluctant to make any renovations. \u201cIt was hard to change the place,\u201d he said. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t bring myself to do it.\u201d In 1994, Figari bought the building the Ha-Ra is housed in. But eventually, with no children to pass it on to, he made the difficult decision to stop running the bar itself. \u201cSometimes, you have to let things go, even if you really don\u2019t want to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3848-e1775258462652-853x640.jpg\")
Rick Figari working the bar in 1989 or 1990. Photo courtesy of Rick Figari.<\/p>\n
Sometime around 2011 or 2012, Wizz Wentworth was working as an ATM repairperson when a call led him to the Ha-Ra Club. To some, the Ha-Ra might have looked run-down and dated. To Wentworth, it was an absolute knockout \u2014\u00a0the kind of historic interior that could never be built from scratch.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine somebody sees a 1947 Ford truck in the middle of a field. It might need a lot of help to get pretty again, but it\u2019s still a 1947 truck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The ATM repair gigs were just a side hustle. Wentworth had been in the bar business for decades, most recently as a co-owner of Amante in North Beach. In 2015 Wentworth teamed up with two associates, Tom Whalen and Scott Broccoli, and took over the Ha-Ra business (though not the building) from Figari.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next challenge, as Wentworth put it: \u201cHow do we clean this thing up, not rob it of its soul and hold on to the story? And then still be contemporary enough to still make the market happy?\u201d<\/p>\n
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Photos of the original owners and other memorabilia tied to the bar\u2019s history fill the Ha-Ra Club\u2019s walls. Photo by B\u00e9atrice Valli\u00e8res.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3872-853x640.jpg\")
The decommissioned pistol. Photo by B\u00e9atrice Valli\u00e8res.<\/p>\n