San Francisco’s Bottom Of The Hill To Close After 35 Years

The 360-capacity venue, Bottom of the Hill, located in Potrero Hill, announced that it will be shutting its doors after 35 years of operation. Announced on social media on Jan. 2, the venue shared plans to continue operations through 2026, with its final night taking place on New Year’s Eve.

Bottom of the Hill was an early stomping ground for Green Day, Oasis, Alanis Morissette, the Strokes and the White Stripes after its opening in 1991 on 17th and Missouri streets.

“As the owners of Bottom of the Hill, we (Ramona Downey, Kathleen Owen and Lynn Schwarz), are three women in different phases of our lives (and a sad RIP to Tim Benetti, our beloved fourth, whom we recently lost),” the venue’s owners wrote in a joint statement shared to social media. “Several of our team have been with us for well over a decade and some the whole time, making this decision to shutter extra difficult.

“This legendary business will have lived to the ripe old age of 35, a long stretch in San Francisco for an independent rock ‘n’ roll venue of our size,” the statement continued. “We have hosted tens of thousands of musical artists and have been a community partner as well.”

Bottom of the Hill remained one of San Francisco’s last small venues to not be operated by a major promoter. The venue also served as a community space, hosting benefit, weddings, memorials and more, in addition to being cemented in legend with a near-riot in 1996 after Beastie Boys attempted to perform a secret show under the pseudonym Quasar, and Green Day’s performance at the venue in 1998 that was broadcasted from the club to MTV.

The venue stressed it plans to continue operations for 2026, with plans to end with a splash.

“We will curate one more year of great shows, enticing bands that make up our history to come back for one final play on our stage,” the statement read. “Let’s celebrate, for one more spin, how far we came, how many bands we hosted, how many amazing people we worked with. We want to thank the bands, their agents, managers, and roadies for always bringing the most exciting shows to our intimate room, with the analog board at the helm. And most especially, we wish to thank our loyal customers who kept us in business for this long and told us, in so many ways, that we were doing things right.”