Saying Goodbye to Thee Parkside, a ‘Safe Haven’ for San Francisco’s Punks and Rebels

On a recent Saturday night at Thee Parkside, I stand in the dimly lit bathroom reading the graffiti-covered walls as I try, and fail, to catch a glimpse of my reflection under the film of stickers on the mirror.

From the bathroom I can hear East Bay metalcore band The Tower the Fool hyping the crowd.

“It’s an honor to be playing here at Thee Parkside,” the frontman says. “It’s going to be one of the last ones here. We used to come here all the time when we were young. Back in our punk days, saw Reagan Youth, Adolescents over here —”

“Sneaking in underage!” someone yells from the crowd.

“Yeah,” he laughs. “Sneaking in underage. We were having a great time.”

A little red building on the corner of 17th and Wisconsin Streets, Thee Parkside will soon close its doors for the last time after 26 years as a staple of the punk and underground music scene. An official last day has yet to be set, but live music performances will last throughout the month of March.

While details regarding the $1.33 million sale of the property last April have not been made public, graffiti inside Thee Parkside’s patio reads, “This will be condos you can’t afford!” (The slogan is also on T-shirts sold behind the bar.)

No concrete plans for developing the lot have been filed with the city, but the property’s real estate listing highlights that the site “allows for development up to 48 feet in height” and “presents a rare chance to create a dynamic residential or mixed-use project.”

“The community that I serve, they’re losing a lot of things, not just Thee Parkside,” owner Malia Spanyol told KQED. “It’s been a struggle for 15 years, 20 years. Everyone’s moving to Oakland, everyone’s getting pushed out of the city. Everyone can’t afford to live here. Everyone’s working 60-hour weeks. It’s hard for a lot of people right now.”

The loss is just one of many for Potrero Hill’s creative scene. Bottom of the Hill, a 35-year-old music venue, announced it’ll close at the end of 2026. The nearby California College of the Arts will also shut its doors in 2027.

Parkside regular Duff Ryan has been coming to Thee Parkside since the early 2000s. He’d initially go to the bar to see a punk show or two. When he later enrolled at CCA just a few blocks away, Thee Parkside became the after-class hotspot to get a fix of tater tots.

Over a decade after graduation, Ryan remains a consistent regular for the community he’s forged with employees and fellow regulars alike. He can stop by on any given day and find someone for a chat.

“So many years later it’s been a central part of my life, my friend group, my family,” Ryan said.

During pandemic shutdowns, Thee Parkside opened window service, and Ryan went every day.

“It was a place to see your friends and to feel a little bit less crazy while stuck in your house,” Ryan said. “What an incredibly important sort of community outlet.”

Over the years, the small venue has hosted local bands as well as big ones, like when Green Day played as The Coverups in 2018. There have been tricycle races and ladies’ arm wrestling on the Fourth of July — plus weddings, baby showers, memorial services and birthday parties.

For Thee Parkside’s most tenured employee Shane Plitt, the closure is even more personal: at one point, Thee Parkside became his literal home.

Between tours with his band M.U.T.T., he got evicted. Spanyol offered the green room atop the bar, and he lived there well into COVID.

“I have spent so much time there, I mean, it was literally like my living room,” Plitt said. “I’d wake up, go downstairs and the regulars are all there trying to get me a shot of tequila and I’m like, I just need a coffee.”

Plitt and senior colleague Max Wickham recently got tattoos of Spanyol’s name. Inspired by a former coworker who would tag “Malia” inside and outside the bar, they snapped a picture and thought it felt right to get her name permanently inked.

“The core [of Thee Parkside] has always been the same,” Wickham said. “Malia has owned the bar for close to 20 years, and you can’t own a place that long without it becoming an extension of yourself. … It was a place where people could be — it sounds so cheesy — but a place where people could be themselves.”

Plitt and Wickham emphasize that the community at Thee Parkside — the punks, burners, hippies, techies and businesspeople alike — couldn’t exist without Spanyol’s efforts of inclusivity and acceptance. Some of the staff even call her “mom.”

“It really represents a safe haven for any creative person,” Plitt said. “Somebody’s down, bad on their luck, went to jail, got out of jail, can’t find a job — you are welcome.”

Since announcing Thee Parkside will be closing sometime this year, community response has been equal parts frustration and disbelief. But there’s also a silver lining: an outpouring of support. Plitt noted that the bar has been as busy as it was before the pandemic, a sign of the community coming together for some of its final nights.

“It’s been an insane 19 years for me,” Spanyol said. “It has been so wild. I appreciate what Thee Parkside has given me for fucking 19 years. It has been so much fun. It has been such hard work, but it has paid off in so many ways.”