Valencia Being Valencia

Elbo Room to Close by November 1st, Will Be Replaced by Condos

It turns out that the Elbo Room is, in fact, closing. And rather soon at that. The building that houses the venue is set to be demolished in order to make room for a five-story condo development. In advance of this demolition, the building’s owners decided they will not renew the bar’s lease when it expires on November 1st of this year.

The announcement was made earlier this evening, via a post to the Elbo Room’s Facebook page: 

Hey Everyone. There is finally news. [Building owners] Dennis and Susan Ring had a meeting with the powers that be and they seem quite confident that their condo project will be able to move forward. As a result, they have decided not to renew our lease which expires Nov. 1st, 2015.

Yes, we are in shock.

What’s next? We will be looking for a new space to continue what we are doing. With hopefully as little lapse as possible.
We own the liquor license, the business and all contents inside (except for pinball/pacman). Hopefully we can find something soon.

If you have any leads on a space for us, or wish to help… please email mattshapiro@mac.com

Thank You for your ongoing support

Matt Shapiro/ Erik Cantu and the staff of Elbo Room

The impending closure of the Elbo Room marks the loss of yet another of the Mission’s rapidly dwindling live music venues. But on the bright side, at least no one has tried to blame it on the minimum wage

[Photo: Darius Lock]

Comments (18)

Fingers crossed that Elbo Room will find a new space, but is the Mission actually losing live music venues? We’ve seen a couple new ones in the past few years. 

Nitpick: Cafe du Nord was also an amazing live music venue but it was in Duboce Triangle’s Castro corner – not the Mission. 

Honestly with a full liquor license and everything else they own, I’m confident they’ll be able to find a new location.  There are empty locations in the excelsior all day that could house a new elbo room.  I know no one wants to do that, so maybe Bernal Heights area, ideally around St marys pub but I can’t think of an empty property off the top of my head.

Of course what will probably happen is a move to Uptown or Temescal after they sell the liquor license. *shrug*. 

“Excelsior”?! No!!

I paid $2 million for a condo just down the street on Valencia specifically to be near the nightlife and hustle and bustle of Valencia. In fact, that’s how the condos were promoted,”you”ll be footsteps from the upscale boutiques and edgy nightclubs of the City’s hippest and trendiest shopping corridor. After you disembark from your SV shuttle bus and enjoy dinner at one the City’s hottest eateries, you can enjoy barhopping and live music until you return home to code.”

Can I get my money back?

You can definitely get your money back - and a few hundred thousand more. Someone will buy it in less than a week.

REKT

they should look at 3rd st in Bayview. That’d be an edgy/cool move. Mission is done. 

Hell yes.  The only positive turnout of the would be they move to the Excelsior.  Doctor’s Lounge is for sale.  

“rapidly dwindling”? I see a net gain over the past few years, including the Chapel and Viracoche.  And as noted above, no map of the Mission would include Du Nord (beloved and missed (by me) as it may be). I know the neighborhood narrative is “the sky is falling,” but let’s not try to shoehorn everything to fit.

The Chapel is a great spot—no arguments there. And it’s nice that Viracocha is alive and well. But SUB-mission is clearly on the ropes, Inner Mission (previously Cell Space) is almost done, and many of the smaller venues (Engine Works for example) are either not doing shows or have greatly cut back their ambition.

Oh is that still a thing?  I guess I don’t run in such circles anymore

Oh I can’t wait for more condos. Not music, not art. Condos Condos Condos. Keep em coming, and while were at it, more tech buses, and more people. We need to pack more people into this city! Yeah. More.

The city I moved to was great before all these other people started moving there for the exact same reasons.

Any word on how much will those condos will cost? Ideally my company will have IPO‘d by the time they are built. I really like that location.

Hey everyone, look at me and all my make believe money!

I remember when I use to tie my horse to a tree on that lot back in the day. Now this? Horseshit – really.