Beijing Boyce

The Frank

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Two decades ago, if someone said, “Let’s get a drink,” there was a good chance you would end up at Frank’s Place, then near Workers Stadium. Registered in 1989 and opened in 1990 by ex-oil industry man Frank Siegel, it helped kicked off the non-hotel bar scene in the capital. And it drew a diverse crowd – teachers and students, businesspeople and diplomats, journalists and tourists.

Now located in Lido, Frank’s Place (map) will hold a party this Saturday not only to mark its twentieth anniversary, but also to pay tribute to Frank Siegel aka The Frank*.

I have known The Frank almost as long as I have been in Beijing, whether as a patron at John Bull Pub, which closed a few years ago, or the numerous Sequoia Cafes that he runs with wife Jennifer. I have attended about 50 of his Friday night wine tastings, visited my first Chinese winery – Taillan – on a organized by him, and discovered the joy of tequila sans salt and lemon after he held a tasting of more than a dozen brands – each presented by a visiting distributor from Mexico – a few years back. Good times.

In any case, this Saturday’s party will have free food and booze from 5 PM and 7 PM, with “super happy hour” prices for the rest of the night and music from rock band Deuces Wild. There will also be a tribute to The Frank at 7 PM.

For more about The Frank, see this talk I had with him in 2007.

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* I think we need a Pantheon of Peking Pub People – a kind of Hall of Fame – and The Frank would surely be a first-ballot inductee. Qualifications might include any of the following: at least five years in the Beijing bar scene, being known by a single name – “Frank”; and so on. Will work on this in coming weeks…