715 Harrison

Last updated

715 Harrison
San Francisco Club X big room 2023.jpg
715 Harrison's main room in 2023
715 Harrison
Former namesCity Nights, Club X (see § Shows and offerings)
General information
Address715 Harrison Street
Town or citySan Francisco, California
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 37°46′55.6″N122°23′51.4″W / 37.782111°N 122.397611°W / 37.782111; -122.397611
OpenedSeptember 11, 1985
Technical details
Floor count2
Other information
Number of units3
Number of bars3
Public transit access
Website
sfclubs.com

715 Harrison is a nightclub venue located in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California, known mostly for hosting Club X since 1989 and previously City Nights from 1985 to 2020. The club is designated by San Francisco as a legacy business and is one of the few venues in the Bay Area consistently open to guests above 18 years of age, rather than 21. [1]

Contents

History

City Nights first opened on September 11, 1985, and was started by Brit Hahn, then a 25-year-old San Francisco native. The club from its founding until 2023 was owned and operated by SFClubs, Inc., itself by Hahn and Ray Bobbitt, the longtime manager of operations at the club. The property where City Nights first opened, located at 715 Harrison Street, was originally a gay bar known as "Dreamland", as well as hosting the Harrison Street Theater, until it was acquired by Hahn; he credits Oasis, a local gay bar, for inspiring his interest to open up City Nights. On its first night of business, City Nights hosted Tower of Power as its stage act. [2] Bobbitt joined club management in 1989. [1]

715 Harrison was one of the few venues which did not fall victim to San Francisco's high entertainment-venue turnover rate. At one point, the venue's Club Faith was the only 18+ club targeted towards LGBT+ populations in the Bay Area. [3]

According to the venue's management, 715 Harrison has entertained over six million people as of 2020. The club closed throughout the major stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] Club X officially announced its reopening in September 2021, with its first night after quarantine being the 25th of that month. [4]

Venue location and structure

715 Harrison's front room in 2023 Club X front room 2023.png
715 Harrison's front room in 2023

715 Harrison is on Harrison Street near the intersection of Third Street. The venue is a large concrete building and is noted as having formerly been the location of the Goat Hill Pizza warehouse. [5] The total size of the venue is 25,000 square feet, though promotional material in 2023 released by the club describes the venue as having 15,000 sq ft (1,400 m2). [6] [7]

The property is located within walking distance of Moscone Center and is accessible by Muni bus line 12 through a stop across the street and Muni Metro's T Third via Yerba Buena/Moscone station. [8]

Spanning 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2), the building itself also contains a pizza parlor, formerly operated by Escape from New York Pizza (no relation to the Portland chain of the same name) and offices on the upper level. Both have entrances to such respective areas on street level. At one point, the offices of Live105 were across the street at 730 Harrison. [9] [10]

Upon entering the venue, the first room which patrons enter is a large room and dance floor with a bar at the farthest end. Stationed on top off the bar is a section of lounges and round booths set up as VIP lounges; these are further accessible by a flight of stairs to the left end. Near this left end is a miniature stage and stairs which with a hallway lead into the venue's main room. A large stage with a wide LED video wall dominates the main room hovering over a large pit. Both rooms are equipped with fog machines. [11]

Shows and offerings

City Nights

City Nights is the oldest, most popular, and most widely-known weekly event that has been hosted at the club. The venue has operated City Nights since its 1985 opening up until the COVID-19 pandemic. The club branded itself as a hip-hop and Top 40 hits club and operated every Saturday night from 9:30 pm to 2:00 am. City Nights' attendees are advised to expect a very large young crowd due to the general lack of clubs in San Francisco open to people under 21; City Nights additionally credits itself as being the only 18+ Top 40 and hip-hop club in San Francisco. Despite this, City Nights operated a full bar for all guests over the age of 21. [12] [2]

Club X

Club X's logo Club X San Francisco Logo.png
Club X's logo
An older logo for Club X Club X old logo.jpg
An older logo for Club X

Club X is the second weekly event created by the club, and the oldest one which is still running. The event was first created in 1989, and the name "Club X" was coined as a way to note the large audience of university students from across the Bay Area. Until the pandemic, Club X ran every Friday, and though it originally concentrated on hosting alternative rock and similar live performances, starting in 1996, it has advertised itself as having a heavier focus on "alternative" EDM, especially house and dubstep music. [13] [1]

LGBT events

Hahn and Bobbitt additionally operated several targeted towards LGBT audiences. These were most often held on Thursdays and went under numerous names, including "Dreamland", "Faith" (sometimes referred to as "Club Faith"), "Time", "The Crib", and "The Box". According to Bobbitt, the venue has hosted LGBT-targeted events for a combined 26 years. [14] [1] [13]

Other events

On Tuesdays, 715 Harrison hosted "Roderick's Chamber" and "The Go-Go", events themed around and targeted towards the Goth subculture. These events lasted for a combined 16 years per Bobbitt. During the late 1990s, Roderick's Chamber in particular was considered among the top Goth-targeted nightlife events in Northern California, and especially favorited by fashion-focused members of the subculture. [15] [1]

Starting in 2023, 715 Harrison began to host "Ritmo Latino", a new Friday event which featured cumbia, reggaeton, bachata and dembow. [16] [17]

Incidents

715 Harrison has been the location of occasional anti-LGBT+ motivated incidents, as well as assaults committed by intoxicated people. [18] [19] The club was also the site of a kidnapping which ultimately led up to a robbery and murder in 2008. [20]

In 2018, City Nights became one of the many targets of threats made by a terrorist allegedly supporting the Islamic State. The ISIS supporter, named Amer Alhaggagi, suggested hitting nightclubs and other popular places in San Francisco and while suggesting that all San Francisco nightclubs were crowded, City Nights was the club which the news reported Alhaggagi planned to bomb. [21]

Legacy and reception

A local DJ performing at 715 Harrison's front room Club X Front DJ Booth December 2022.png
A local DJ performing at 715 Harrison's front room

City Nights and Club X are well known by locals as a club which people "love to hate" and as a club which people no longer attend after turning 21. Kamaiyah, a Bay Area native, has described City Nights and Club X as a "rite of passage" for all who grow up or go to college in the Bay Area, a description shared by Time Out journalist Ivy McNally. [22] Similarly, journalist Dianne de Guzman from SFGATE has noted that the events the venue host are "timeless" with regard to the energy from the youth that 715 Harrison hosts. Guzman further notes that despite returning attendees experiencing nostalgia after marking their 21st birthday many people tend to refute and hate on the club once they turn 21. [2]

The design of the facility has no consistent theme and contains a large LED screen, stripper poles, large DJ booths, go-go cages, lasers, "decent" lighting, and sofas. Spoken of as a venue which looks more for utility as opposed to elegance, the poles are also described as being designed for inexperienced audiences. [7] The venue has also been criticized for having overly-crowded lines and dance floors at times, and has been reported on for being the location of men dancing with women without asking. [14]

Notable performers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabuhay Gardens</span> Nightclub in San Francisco, California, U.S.

The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway Street, in North Beach on the Broadway strip area best known for its striptease clubs. It closed in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DNA Lounge</span> Nightclub and pizza restaurant in San Francisco, California

DNA Lounge is an all-ages nightclub and restaurant/cafe in the SoMa district of San Francisco owned by Jamie Zawinski, a former Netscape programmer and open-source software hacker. The club features DJ dancing, live music, burlesque performances, and occasionally conferences, private parties, and film premieres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of San Francisco</span>

The culture of San Francisco is major and diverse in terms of arts, music, cuisine, festivals, museums, and architecture but also is influenced heavily by Mexican culture due to its large Hispanic population, and its history as part of Spanish America and Mexico. San Francisco's diversity of cultures along with its eccentricities are so great that they have greatly influenced the country and the world at large over the years. In 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek voted San Francisco as America's Best City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The EndUp</span> Nightclub in San Francisco, United States

The EndUp is a nightclub in San Francisco, California. Opened in 1973, the club is located at 6th Street and Harrison in the South of Market district. Known for its status as an afterhours club, the venue has hosted a variety of benefits and events during its time as part of San Francisco's nightlife community.

The Holy City Zoo, which called itself "the comedian's clubhouse", was a small but influential comedy club in San Francisco that operated from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.

The I-Beam was a former popular nightclub and live music venue active from 1977 to 1994, and located in the Park Masonic Hall building on the second floor at 1748 Haight Street in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. The I-Beam served as one of San Francisco's earliest disco clubs, as well as serving as a "gay refuge".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trocadero Transfer</span>

The Trocadero Transfer, or The Troc, was an after hours dance club in operation from December 1977 to the late–1990s in San Francisco, California, U.S.. It was located at 520 4th Street at Bryant in the SoMa neighborhood. The club has been compared to Studio 54 in New York City, and their patrons would travel from other cities to attend the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forbidden City (nightclub)</span> Asian-themed cabaret in San Francisco, California

Forbidden City was a Chinese nightclub and cabaret in San Francisco, which was in business from 1938 to 1970, and operated on the second floor of 363 Sutter Street, between Chinatown and Union Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heklina</span> American drag queen and actor (1967–2023)

Stefan Grygelko, best known by the name Heklina, was an American actor, drag queen, LGBT rights activist and entrepreneur based in San Francisco, California. Born in the Minneapolis area, Grygelko's mother was Icelandic; he lived in the Nordic country for a period of three years in the 1980s, with the name "Heklina" being created after an Icelandic volcano, Hekla. Heklina founded the iconic San Francisco LGBT/drag nightclub and live show Trannyshack in 1996.

I think that drag queens are still the eunuch clown that's safe to laugh at. It's definitively not shocking anymore. So I don't know if America's really embraced it. The early 90s was when RuPaul [was becoming famous] and it was the first time any drag queen had mainstream exposure. I don't really see a drag queen breaking out like that [again].

Audrey Joseph is an American record executive, nightclub owner and manager, and LGBT rights activist.

Death Guild is the oldest continually operating gothic/industrial dance club in the United States, and second in the world. Death Guild opened on March 15, 1993, and is currently held every Monday at DNA Lounge in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chase Center</span> Indoor arena in San Francisco, California, U.S.

Chase Center is an indoor arena in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The building is the home venue for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Golden State Valkyries of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and occasionally for the University of San Francisco men's and women's basketball teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Warriors, who have been located in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1962, played their home games at Oakland Arena in Oakland from 1971 to 2019. Chase Center opened on September 6, 2019, and seats 18,064 for Warriors games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esta Noche (gay bar)</span> Bar in San Francisco, California, USA

Esta Noche was the first Latino gay bar in San Francisco and notably contributed to queer Latin culture. It operated from 1979 to 2014, and was located at 3079 16th Street between Valencia Street and Mission Street in San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D'Arcy Drollinger</span> American actor, writer, musician, director, producer & choreographer

D'Arcy Drollinger is an American actor, writer, musician, director, producer & choreographer known for his high-camp / vaudeville-style stage productions and films that combine slapstick, farce and often drag. He was a founding member of the post-punk art band Enrique. He is the owner of the San Francisco nightclub Oasis. Drollinger is also the creator of the dance-fitness brand, Sexitude. D'Arcy was appointed the San Francisco Drag Laureate in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badlands (San Francisco)</span> Defunct gay bar and nightclub in San Francisco, California, U.S.

Badlands is a gay bar and nightclub in San Francisco's Castro District, in the U.S. state of California. The bar opened in 1975 and closed in July 2020. It reopened in October 2023.

Lynn Mahoney is an American university president, author, and social historian. Mahoney is the president of San Francisco State University (SFSU) since July 2019, and is the first woman to hold this role. Her scholarly work has focused on United States history, women's history, feminism, race studies, and ethnicity. She is the author of Elizabeth Stoddard and the Boundaries of Bourgeois Culture ; a book about novelist and poet Elizabeth Stoddard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel Utah (San Francisco, California)</span> Historic building in San Francisco

The Hotel Utah is a historic mixed-use building known as a saloon bar, live music venue, and residential hotel, built in 1908 and located in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It is known for its diverse open mic nights, which have historically attracted some people who have later become famous. It is also known as The Utah Inn, The Hotel Utah Saloon, and simply The Utah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple (nightclub)</span> Nightclub in San Francisco and Denver, United States

Temple is a nightclub first established in San Francisco, with an additional location in Denver. With a San Francisco location south of Market Street near the Salesforce Tower and Salesforce Transit Center, the club was opened in 2007 by entrepreneur Paul Hemming. Temple has been notable for being among the highest-grossing nightclubs by revenue in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 2010s. The club is seen as a primary gathering place for technology industry figures in and near Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Star Theater</span> San Francisco Chinese opera house

The Great Star Theater, formerly known as Great China Theater, is a 410-seat theater located at 636 Jackson Street in San Francisco's Chinatown. It was built in 1925 for the Chinese opera and is the last Chinese theater in any Chinatown in the United States.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Legacy Business Registry Staff Report" (PDF). sfosb.org. August 10, 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 de Guzman, Dianne (December 11, 2019). "I returned to City Nights, the nightclub people love to hate — it's still thriving after 34 years". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  3. ↑ Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (September 3, 1999). "Teenagers Come Out in Droves To Mourn a Gay Nightspot". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Grand Opening ClubX Saturdays, Club X, San Francisco, 25 September to 26 September". stayhappening.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  5. ↑ "715 Harrison – Club X – Dance Club, Gay Club – Phone Number – Hours – Photos – 715 Harrison Street". SF Station. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Student Night (Biggest College Party in the Bay)". Eventbrite. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  7. 1 2 "City Nights". joybeat.com. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  8. ↑ "How to get to 715 Harrison in Soma, Sf by Bus, BART, Light Rail or Train?". moovitapp.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ Spinelli, Adrian (April 25, 2020). "'The anti-radio DJ': Aaron Axelsen reflects on 23 years of rock". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  10. ↑ Alex Bennett tour new Live 105 studios , retrieved June 17, 2023
  11. ↑ "715 Harrison Event Space". 715harrisoneventspace.com. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  12. ↑ "City Nights, San Francisco". cityseeker. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  13. 1 2 "Thousands Have Disco Mania". SFGATE. March 3, 1996. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  14. 1 2 "Just Dance: Reviews of some of the hottest 18-and-over clubs in the Bay Area – The Campanil". Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  15. ↑ Lynch, April; Chonin, Neva (February 5, 1999). "Dancing on the Dark Side / S.F. at the forefront of '90s revival as Goth world lures mainstream". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  16. ↑ visityerbabuena (September 11, 2023). "Sweet Adventure at City Nights". Visit Yerba Buena. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Copy of Ritmo Latino: ILLUMINATED | 715 Harrison St, San Francisco, CA | August 11 to August 12". happeningnext.com. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  18. ↑ Bay City News (February 29, 2004). "Three injured, including cop, in South of Market melee". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  19. ↑ Derbeken, Jaxon Van (January 8, 2008). "Summit aims to stem bloodshed at S.F. nightclubs". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Pair Sentenced For 2008 Tourist Robbery, Murder In Bayview". SFGATE. March 16, 2016. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Oakland man convicted of supporting ISIS has sentencing continued until next year". ABC7 San Francisco. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  22. ↑ McNally, Ivy (February 26, 2016). "City Nights". Time Out San Francisco. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  23. ↑ "ClubX: Student Night Ft. AWICH LIVE PERFORMANCE". Eventbrite. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  25. ↑ Justin Bieber "One Less Lonely Girl" @ Movin 99.7's Justin Bieber Experience SF, CA 2/16/10, archived from the original on April 13, 2023, retrieved April 12, 2023
  26. ↑ "BoomBox (UKRAINE) North American Tour 2023 – San Francisco". Bomond. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  27. ↑ ROBINS, CYNTHIA (May 29, 1998). "Benefit lets it all hang out for good cause". SFGATE. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  28. ↑ Robinson, Ellie (July 7, 2022). "Eurovision 2022 winners Kalush Orchestra announce North American tour". NME. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  29. ↑ "So Stoked for Love 2023 at 715 Harrison, San Francisco/Oakland". Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  30. ↑ Young, Kerri (April 22, 2020). "Four Legacy Businesses Recently Approved by the HPC". San Francisco Heritage. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  31. ↑ "Club X SF on Instagram: "We are happy to announce Martin Jensen will be @clubxsf @djmartinjensen Get your pre sale tickets before they sell out ! 🤟🏽 #edm #sanfrancisco #18andover #clubX#martinjensen"". Instagram. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  32. ↑ "MARTIN JENSEN LIVE @ CLUB X". dothebay.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.