Back in the late 18- and early 1900s, however, one woman in San Francisco stood as a shining example of just how successful and beloved a female tavern owner could be. Mother Thompson was the proprietor of Mrs. Thompson's, a saloon on the Embarcadero that sat between Howard and Folsom. The bar was rough and ready and more often than not, full to the gills with sailors - many of them British on account of Thompson's penchant for serving English ale in pewter mugs, just as they did in the UK at the time.