Legendary SF Punk Club Mabuhay Gardens Is on the Verge of Reopening

Few institutions in San Francisco are as crucial to punk as Mabuhay Gardens.

The legendary venue and Filipino restaurant at 435-443 Broadway was ground zero for the Bay’s burgeoning punk scene in the 1970s and ’80s. The lower level of the two-story, 12,000-square-foot venue featured local acts like the Avengers, Dead Kennedys, the Nuns, and touring forces such as Devo, Iggy Pop, the Cramps and many more until its closure in 1987 – a foundational punk club that’s been widely documented and revered since.

Although the building has hosted dinner theater, underground comedy, a monthly morning dance party and more as Fame Venue, the “Fab Mab,” as it was known, never returned to its musical roots – until now.

A group of local investors, nightlife veterans and North Beach neighbors are currently working to revive the property as a multi-use space with a focus on music, including but not limited to punk shows. On Aug. 25, they launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the purchase of the venue, which would once again be called Mabuhay Gardens.

The group’s first show will be held on Sept. 6, featuring local singer and guitarist Anthony Arya. Singer-songwriter Kelley Stoltz, Portland’s Federale, and locals The Boars are set to perform on Oct. 3. Musicians will play on the original Mabuhay stage downstairs, as well as the ballroom stage on the second floor.

“We’re going for it; we’re not holding back,” says Tom Watson, the designer and civil engineer leading The Mab revival. “[Mabuhay Gardens] was such an important venue for so many people, and so bringing that back as soon as we can is the least we can do for our community here.”

While these shows will softly herald the return of The Mab, they function as proofs of concept. The building hasn’t been a music venue in years. It will require equipment upgrades and proper staffing, though the site retains proper event permits, Watson says.

“We’re going to spin up and activate as quickly as possible. And we’ll learn from some of those events,” Watson says, adding that the space will be used for co-working during Tech Week in early October. “We need to get people in through the doors, and get them to experience the space and figure out how they might like to use it.”

Vesuvio Cafe manager and veteran booker Joanna Blanche Lioce will book one show a month at The Mab. She sees the potential it could bring to the neighborhood. “There really isn’t any live music venue in North Beach that is of that size still operating continuously,” says Lioce, who booked the Oct. 3 show.

Indeed, with the recent eviction of Edinburgh Castle and impending sale of Thee Parkside to a developer, clubs with a historically punk clientele have faced jeopardy citywide.

“The Bay has been losing live performance venues and creative talent for a long time,” says The Crucible founder Michael Sturtz, who invested in and is advising the project. “The Mab has an amazing history. Now it has a top-notch leadership team.”

Watson and his group of investors, advisors and supporters – which includes Sturtz, Bobby Fishkin, Jesse Elliott, former director of Fort Collins, CO’s Music District, Stanford Design lecturer Patrick Fenton, event producer Lapo Guzzini and artist David Fleming – have been hosting meetings with up to 20 like-minded people to develop the space. Their chief priority is honoring the wishes and vision of late owner Francesca Valdez, who took over the building in 1989 and died on July 21 at age 71.

“[It was her] vision that prevented the place from being simply sold for commercial interests,” says Guzzini. “Instead, people are talking to each other and trying to figure out how best to populate the space.”

Watson, a San Francisco resident since 2011 who studied at Stanford’s design program, met Valdez several years ago and developed a close friendship. Valdez had offered Watson the opportunity to purchase 49 percent of the building, but the sale was not completed before her death. Valdez’s sister is now handling the building sale.

Watson says “about 10 people” had invested an undisclosed amount of money in the project; their GoFundMe campaign aims to raise $4.5 million to “acquire 435–443 Broadway and reopen it as a nonprofit arts and culture space, reviving the legendary Mabuhay Gardens.”

Valdez put in place three LLCs: one owns the building, and the other two own each floor. Watson and Fishkin set up a nonprofit, M4A Foundation, with the goal of acquiring those LLCs in part or in whole; funds raised would also allow investors to be paid back. Watson suggested that crowd-raised funds could be matched by an organization like the San Francisco Foundation.

“We are getting it at a very good price, and there are many other people who are circling trying to buy the building,” Watson adds.

The ownership group’s ideal vision for the new Mab is similar to Watson’s Garage Ost. The renovated historical building in Liepzeg, Germany is a “creative community space” that hosts workshops, food pop-ups, music and whatever else its patrons desire. The communal vision for the new Mab includes a venue, recording studio, listening lounge, and record label that would be “a whole circle for musicians.”

“It’s not my space, it’s the community space,” Watson says. “These buildings tell you what they want to be.”