Rikki's Women's Sports Bar

First Women’s Sports Bar in San Francisco

We were so excited to help with the interiors of Rikki’s Women’s Sports Bar in San Francisco. Such a fun project! At long last, a community space for anyone and everyone to watch women’s sports. Located at 2223 Market Street; go check it out!

The space had previously been an Asian fusion restaurant. Luckily the fixtures didn’t lean too heavily into an Asian theme but there was a lot of wood. This worked out alright considering the overall goal was to create a comfy, living room-type feeling in the bar. For cost-savings, we wanted to try to repurpose as many of the existing furnishings and features as possible. But, we did need to tone down the wood accents a bit. With the bold brand colors set as deep blue, purple and light pink, we had fun working out how to use the colors to our advantage to achieve that cozy vibe—starting with the exterior. The rock is a local, sentimental relic that can’t be removed so we made it on-brand by painting it!

Photo courtesy of Lila Gray Photography for Ladysmith

Lounge Area

Immediately to the left, upon entry, we created a comfortable, living room-style lounge area. If you are not drawn into this space by the lounge-y-ness, you are likely pulled to the space to check out the gallery wall that celebrates local women’s sports teams, iconic sportswomen and even has a display of Gay Games medals donated by the owner that earned them. Eleven medals—so impressive!

Here you can see the owner’s Danielle Thoe and Sara Yergovich in front of the gallery wall.

A Good Omen

One photo on the gallery wall has a karmic story behind it. It is a Rockford Peaches team photo from the movie A League of Their Own.

When walking through the basement looking at the furnishings that had been left behind, this photo was found! Why an Asian restaurant had A League of Their Own photo hanging around didn’t quite make sense but, it sure gave a “this-was-meant-to-be” feeling to the venture. Clearly this discovery was destined for the gallery wall! In case you weren’t aware, the movie is a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), a professional women's baseball league founded in 1943.

Eat and Drink Anywhere and Everywhere!

Removing the pony wall that ran down the center of the space would domino into a variety of issues that would cost a lot of money to overcome. So, we used the pony wall to our advantage since it allowed us to create a wider variety of drinking and eating options. Overall the space offers a broad range of eating and drinking arrangements: lounge area, bar, a high drinking/eating rail, high tables, low tables and tables along a banquette that runs the length of the space. And, don’t worry because every seat in the house has a view of multiple TVs for cheering on your favorite teams. The on-brand, purple, locker room-style benches were created out of wood repurposed from some of the initial move-in demo.

Photo courtesy Rikki's by Molly DeCoudreaux

Rikki’s: Inspired by the Legacy of Rikki Streicher

From the 1960s to the 1990s, Rikki Streicher operated queer and lesbian bars in San Francisco which provided a safe and inclusive gathering space for all members of the LGBTQ community. Rikki was instrumental in creating spaces for women and women’s sports in San Francisco and the goal was to tell her story and those of other community leaders.

Rikki’s story is shared with patrons on the larger-than-life tribute wall.

All Women’s Sports Represented

On the west side of the space was a large wall that needed a bit of pizzazz. We designed a brightly-colored, sports-field graphic. For durability to stand up to crowds and for easy cleaning when necessary, we printed the graphic on commercial-weight vinyl and had it “stuck” on the wall—think vinyl wall paper meets billboard. We couldn’t be happier with the end result.

Local Women’s Sports Teams Represent

Patrons are always excited to see the signed, local, team jerseys that we framed and used to help disguise (and warm-up) a cold expanse of existing white tile.

Other Fun Design Features

Two additional design features have been huge hits.

First, a hand-painted Rikki’s logo has turned into a great backdrop for selfie’s and Instagram/TikTok moments.

And second, the basketball lights above the kitchen ordering bar have been a crowd pleaser. Especially considering the lights can be changed to sports team specific colors. Valkyries purple? Say no more!

Go Cheer on Your Team!

If you are near Rikki’s, stop in to support your team, have a cocktail or enjoy a delicious meal. All this talk about the design and we haven’t even touched on the fabulous drinks menu (featuring many mocktail options) and delicious food—definitely not your basic sports bar grub but, they have a really great, thoughtfully-curated menu.

Cheers! (double entendre intended!)

If you need any help designing your home or business interiors, we would love to hear from you!

Wendy TrotterMarch 19, 2026San Francisco, CA