Nancy Pelosi visited San Francisco's Balboa Cafe

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

A tip from a good source informed this blogger that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of The U.S. House of Representatives and San Francisco representative, paid a visit to The Balboa Cafe in San Francisco Saturday night, March 27th, and it was out of the blue.

It started with a phone call informing the manager that Nancy Pelosi was coming with a party of an undisclosed size. But when they arrived the party also included "a lot of Secret Service people. This place has never seen that kind of security" the source said.

But it's not the first time The Balboa Cafe has entertained important elected officials. When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was an entrepreneur who was co-owner of The Balboa Cafe, he was known for election night parties that attracted U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and former Mayor Willie Brown.

When Jerry Brown was Mayor of Oakland, he was a known to visit The Balboa. One night on a July Saturday in 1999, this blogger, who was at the time working to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland, was sitting near the side entrance door when Jerry walked in. "What are you doing here in San Francisco?", Jerry said, "You're supposed to be raising money for The Super Bowl."

"Jerry," I said, "That's why I'm here."

The Balboa Cafe, of which this blogger is a regular, has also hosted celebrities like the late Anna Nicole Smith and Star Wars-creator George Lucas, who likes (from personal experience) Irish Coffees.

I started visiting "The Balboa" while working for Mayor Elihu Harris as Economic Advisor between 1995 and 1999; that was also how I learned about The Balboa's election parties.

Maybe one day Mayor Newsom will get President Obama over for a visit?

Stay tuned.