Founded on Folsom Street back in 1966 and then relocated to the northeast corner of 9th and Harrison in the late 80s, San Francisco’s iconic Stud bar will be relinquishing its lease at the end of this month, hobbled by the pandemic related shutdown and slated to be marked by a drag funeral on May 31.

That being said, while the 399 9th Street location will be shuttered, the cooperatively-owned LGBT bar is positioning to rise like a phoenix from the flames in a new, yet to be determined, location, the plans for which will be announced in a press conference this afternoon.

With respect to the corner building, it was sold for $1.875 million in June of 2016, prior to the bar being acquired by the Stud’s collective. And yes, while the building has been tagged as a historic resource, the parcel is zoned for development up to 55 feet in height.

12 thoughts on “Pandemic Fells the Stud in Western SoMa”
  1. I keep thinking if something is a historic resource and possibly not sublime, perhaps the planning department could consider recycling only various building “fragments,” for subsequent installations various places. thusly, monuments in parks, in plazas, etc, could arise, and the actual new taller building (inevitable) could go ahead without keeping the facade.

    1. In fact, being tagged a historic resource doesn’t preclude redevelopment (unlike being landmarked). But it does raise the bar, no pun intended, with respect to what’s required for said resource to be razed.

      1. Can’t (even) landmarks be redeveloped ?? I mean even aside from the ethically dubious “un-landmarking” process.

        It will be…uhm, interesting – i’m avoiding other possibilities like “sad”, “scary” or “depressing” – to see how bars and ‘clubs” come thru this in general. Neighborhood bars, that presumably depend upon a relatively small group of clients who can stagger their attendance – both spacially and time wise – might be OK; but dance clubs and bars that depend upon…ahem…lots of personal contact would seem to be in real trouble.

    2. It’s also worth asking what the important thing here to preserve is. If we want to make sure what people love sticks around it’s honestly not the building itself, it’s the community the bar is built around. I’m glad they will be able to live on, and keeping communities together is what really matters if the goal is to keep SF’s culture alive.

  2. I remember the Stud when it was at its other location on Folsom. Why hasn’t that been idealized? Why this bldg which has hosted its occupants for only a couple decades?

    Too many special interests.

  3. the zoning needs to be raised here. I hope this goes residential and they use the density bonus. walk to new central soma business district, 10 minutes to downtown, 1 minute from freeway for commutes. A 12-15 floor residential would be perfect.

          1. Yeah I don’t think anyone’s walking to work in that area in meaningful numbers over the next 5-7 years.

            The Mid-Market plan was a flop. The area is still bad despite the tech companies around. Now, Twitter is fulltime WFH, and it makes sense that they won’t be taking new office space. Square is also fulltime WFH and has a brand new building in Oakland that it solely controls.

            Throw in the Benioff homeless tax and perhaps we’ve seen peak Mid-Market?

  4. The prolonged shutdown/social distancing is going to crush the bar/club industry in general, but it could benefit the Stud in the long-run. The bar has a strong brand and loyal clientele; and rents – which almost put them out of business three years ago – are going to drop along with competition.

    1. Here’s hoping. I know they were looking for a new space before the pandemic, so hopefully this does open up more options!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *