El Rio's new mural, Virgils at far right. | Photo: Joe Kukura/Hoodline
By Jay Barmann - Published on February 23, 2021.
Two bars, two different fates. Over in Bernal Heights/La Lengua, next-door bars El Rio and Virgil's Sea Room, which almost share a backyard were it not for a fence, have arrived at diverging moments in this COVID year. 11 months after closing down in the initial wave of business lockdowns, El Rio has reemerged with a fresh mural on its face, serving to-go cocktails and food items and hoping to one day soon be able to open that back patio again. But meanwhile Virgil's announces it is closing permanently, unable to float any longer with the debt that small businesses citywide have been shouldering.