DNA Lounge

DNA Lounge

Type of Venue:	Dance club, Convention, Event
Founded:	1985
Current status:	Active (as of 09/2021)
Address:	375 Eleventh St, San Francisco, CA 94103 (map)
Phone #:	Calendar: 415-626-1409
Website:	dnalounge.com/

DNA Lounge is a late-night San Francisco nightclub in the SoMa ("South of Market") district, owned by former Netscape programmer and open-source software hacker Jamie Zawinski. The club features DJ dancing, live music, burlesque performances, and occasional conferences, private parties, and film premieres. It is located at 375 Eleventh Street, near Harrison Street.

The club maintains a number of unconventional features, including several publicly accessible Computer terminals (Running Fedora Core Linux) with a wireless network for internet access and a large scrolling, LED sign with a publicly accessible web interface. The club also provides continuous audio and video webcasts of all events free of charge.

Facilities

The club consists of a large main dance floor and stage, surrounded on three sides by a balcony, open to below. There is also a back room with its own dance floor and separate sound system. There are three full bars, and a full kitchen, serving Mexican food.

Events

The space functions as a venue for both live music and regular dance nights. Popular regular events at DNA Lounge include:

Remedy, a popular weekly dance night featuring deep house and hiphop
Bootie, a monthly all-mashup dance night
Meat, an industrial dance night featuring free barbecued meat
New Wave City, San Francisco's longest-running new wave and 1980s event
Pop Roxx, a modern alternative and indie rock dance night featuring a different live band each night
Bohemian Carnival, featuring eclectic dance music and circus performances

Notable bands and DJs who have performed at DNA Lounge since its re-opening in 2001 include:

Afrika Bambaataa
Aphrodite
Bad Manners
Digable Planets
The Fixx
Front 242
Garaj Mahal
Genitorturers
Goldie
Grandmaster Flash
Groovie Ghoulies
GWAR
Incredibly Strange Wrestling
Infected Mushroom
KMFDM
KRS-One
Lee Presson and the Nails
Mark Farina
Marques Wyatt
Miguel Migs
Mixmaster Mike
Neurosis
New Model Army (band)
Nina Hagen
Pigface
DJ Q-Bert
S.U.N. Project
Spinderella
Swingin' Utters
Talib Kweli
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
VNV Nation
Z-Trip

The DNA Lounge has also hosted several notable tech-industry events, such as CodeCon, a hacker convention. The release of Mozilla 1.0 was celebrated there in 2002.

Notable bands who have performed at DNA Lounge prior to 1994 include:

Alien Sex Fiend
American Music Club
Arrested Development (hip hop group
The Contractions
The Del Rubio Triplets
DOA with Jello Biafra
Dread Zeppelin
El Vez
Flipper
Chris Isaak
Jesus Jones
The Jim Rose Circus
Legendary Pink Dots
MCM and the Monster
The Mutants
Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark
Patsy Cline and her Memphis G-Spots
Primus
Prince
Steelpole Bathtub
A Subtle Plague
Swans

History

The venue first opened for business in 1977]] as a Leather subculture bar called Chaps, owned by Chuck Slaton. In 1985 it was purchased by Jim English, Jeff Mason, and Brian Raffi who opened for business under the name DNA Lounge on November 22, 1985. The name was rumored to be an acronym for "dancing, not art". The earliest regular DJs were Ted Cousens, Adam Fisher, and Brian Raffi. One of the early doormen was Doc Martin, who later became a popular house music DJ. Some nights were genre-specific, with both live bands and DJs. Notable nights and resident DJ's included DJs Blackstone (who spun hip-hop and rap on Wednesday nights) and Kelly Spencer (who played Punk rock and New Wave music on Tuesdays). Many of DNA's posters and flyers were designed by the San Francisco-based artist, Rex Ray.

In 1994, the club was purchased by Tim Dale, John Schneider, and Rob Schneider, but quickly fell in to disrepair.

In April 1999, the club was purchased by Zawinski, who spearheaded a successful grassroots effort to maintain its late-night permits, facing opposition from several neighbors and the SFPD. The club was closed for extensive remodeling and soundproofing from April 1999 until it re-opened on July 13, 2001 (Friday the 13th.)

Comment

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External links

NOTE- The above article is a VERY interesting read for anyone living in the Bay Area!!

References

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