San Francisco’s Bottom of the Hill No Longer Shutting Down
Bottom of the Hill, the legendary San Francisco music venue, won’t shut down at the end of the year after all.
Earlier this year, owners Kathleen Owen, Ramona Downey and Lynn Schwarz announced that it was time to retire and close the club after 35 years. Then came an outpouring of support. Fans mourned one of the city’s last affordable, independent venues; bands bemoaned the loss of a stage that nurtured generations of up-and-coming acts. A couple of agents even said that if there’s no Bottom of the Hill, they’ll skip San Francisco on their tours altogether.
“We realized that we are but stewards of this place, and it got bigger than us,” Schwarz tells KQED. “And that we actually kind of don’t have a right to let it close, especially when so many people are reaching out to buy the business and just telling us how much it means to the ecosystem of music.”
After months of negotiations, the owners announced that biotech entrepreneur and longtime Bottom of the Hill concertgoer Michele Bronson would take over the business, Coyote first reported.
Schwarz tells KQED she feels “elated” to pass the torch to Bronson after a triumphant final year running the club. “Meeting with her, it just became really clear that we liked her brand of enthusiasm and smarts and business acumen combined with her extraordinary passion for music,” Schwarz says.
After the New Year’s Eve show with Shannon Shaw, Bronson plans to close Bottom of the Hill for at least a month to make improvements. She also wants to retain the venue’s current staff. Owen and Downey will remain the owners of Bottom of the Hill’s building on 17th Street.
Schwarz says she feels bad about causing panic about the club’s closure. Popular acts like Toro y Moi, Deerhoof and Bratmobile all sold out shows at the 246-capacity room this year to show their support. Some bands even reunited to play there. And fans have shown up in droves to attend concerts and buy merch. “I went from being overworked last year to taking on a year that is four times busier, but it has actually been just absolutely wonderful,” Schwarz says.
That leads Schwarz to an important point: She hopes fans will support their favorite cultural institutions before they’re in danger of shutting down. “Show Michele the same love that you showed us this year,” she says. “Support the independents.”