{"id":488684,"date":"2026-10-08T02:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488684\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T02:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T02:00:11","slug":"the-liberties-at-22nd-and-guerrero-closes-indefinitely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488684\/","title":{"rendered":"The Liberties at 22nd and Guerrero closes indefinitely"},"content":{"rendered":"

The future of The Liberties<\/a>, the Irish bar and restaurant on Guerrero Street in the Mission District, is up in the air: Its owner is facing financial headwinds and unsure he can reopen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Owner Ian Duggan noted on Instagram on Sept. 7 that the Liberties would be closed for Labor Day but reopen on Tuesday. Instead, it has remained shuttered as Duggan works through some business challenges \u2014 most immediately a lawsuit for a $160,000 loan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m having a legal issue with some creditors who just made it difficult for me to operate,\u201d Duggan said. \u201cI am doing what I can to try to find a way forward for the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThe Liberties at 22nd and Guerrero streets have closed indefinitely after financial struggles. Photo by Oscar Palma.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place has been here for 25 years. It means a lot to me and to a lot of people,\u201d he added. He is considering finding a new operator who can keep the business going.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love it to be me, but I care more about the place than I care about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Court records show<\/a> that an entity called Black Olive Capital LLC filed a lawsuit against Duggan in August in New York alleging an unpaid balance of nearly $160,000 after penalties, attorney fees and interest. Duggan said he has had trouble paying back the loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I took the money I had a plan, but it didn\u2019t work,\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n

The Liberties first opened at 998 Guerrero St. on the corner with 22nd Street in 2002, and has been a staple in the neighborhood for nearly 25 years. It has hosted everything from bingo and trivia nights to live music and jam sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2019, just months before the pandemic, Duggan, a neighbor and customer, took over the business.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He loved the place, the community and the neighborhood, he said, and saw the establishment diminishing. He wanted to keep it going.<\/p>\n

Then the pandemic hit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 lockdown, the business offered $5 meals<\/a> (and handed out as many as 9,000, Duggan said) to people in need. In May 2020, the business was one of eight that received a $100,000 donation<\/a> from Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan for being one of the couple\u2019s favorite restaurants. Duggan said the money was used to finance the donated meals.<\/p>\n

Still, after trying everything and putting his soul, personal savings and retirement funds into the business, the Liberties continued to struggle, Duggan said. Today, in the middle of a legal fight in a different state, the owner said he\u2019s working hard to make sure his employees get paid for their final pay period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m working on now. In six years, everyone always got paid, through COVID, through everything, until these funds were frozen,\u201d said Duggan.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir payroll funds were frozen by liens from the lender dispute. I\u2019m paying lawyers with the last of my personal funds to get it released to them. I did my best, but it wasn\u2019t enough to stop this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he still doesn\u2019t have a timeline on when the business will\u00a0 reopen, if it does, Duggan said he\u2019s grateful for his customers\u2019 support, and to know they miss it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of heartwarming to hear. I poured six years of my life into this place. My heart, my sweat, my savings, my retirement, to keep it open as long as I possibly could\u201d said Duggan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m frustrated and I\u2019m heartbroken with what\u2019s going on. I\u2019m trying to find a way through, but it\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duggan said that anyone interested in possibly operating the business can reach him at info@theliberties.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of The Liberties, the Irish bar and restaurant on Guerrero Street in the Mission District, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[387,581,1556,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-488684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-business","tag-guerrero-street","tag-mission","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}