Announcer: It’s gonna half for a lady. I believe Patti died. I’m gonna get her for this.
Katrina Schwartz: Initially a Filipino supper membership, Mabuhay Gardens was a part of the small however vibrant neighborhood referred to as Manilatown. Redevelopment, gentrification, and different elements within the late Nineteen Seventies pressured lots of the Filipino residents of Manilatown out. They moved to different neighborhoods or out of town totally. However Mabuhay Gardens remained and took on a stunning new life as a punk membership.
Audio from Mabuhay Gardens: Are you prepared for some breakdancing proper now?
Katrina Schwartz: I’m Katrina Schwartz, and also you’re listening to Bay Curious. Immediately on the present, we’re transporting you again to the epicenter of San Francisco’s ’70s punk scene. And we’ll study why Mabuhay Gardens was such an necessary place to so many individuals. Stick with us.
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Katrina Schwartz: Legendary punk music venue Mabuhay Gardens, identified to followers because the Fab Mab, has been closed since 1987. Nevertheless it reopened this month to nice fanfare from native music lovers. To know what this place meant to San Francisco’s punk scene, we’re immersing you in Nineteen Seventies North Seashore. Producer Brandi Howell brings us this story, which first aired on the Kitchen Sisters Presents podcast.
Penelope Houston: The Mabuhay was not your common rock membership.
Denise Demise Dunne: Right here was this little membership rapidly attracting the power.
Ron Greco: The Dills, Detrimental Pattern, The Avengers…
Denise Demise Dunne: So, in fact, you will say, “Oh, what’s going on over there?”
Penelope Houston: Increasingly folks began coming to city. The Ramones performed there. Blondie performed there. It simply turned the punk mecca.
Ron Greco: Once I was actual younger, I’d go by and see this place. It was there for years.
The music itself was nothing actually developed but within the very starting. It was only a supper membership. Folks would do the Mabuhay dance and stuff like that.
Denise Demise Dunne: Dirk was serving to Ness with the Amapola present. Amapola was this Filipino night time membership singer, and he or she was common throughout the Filipino neighborhood and had a TV present on Channel 26 and a lot of characters from The Mab had carried out there. My identify is Denise Demise Dunne. I used to be Dirk’s assistant on the very starting of The Mab.
V Vale: Hello, welcome to The Counter Tradition Hour. I’m your host, V Vale, and I revealed beginning in ‘77 Search and Destroy, the punk publication chronicling the rise of the punk rock cultural revolution. My visitor tonight is Dirk Dirksen, the impresario of The Mabuhay Gardens.
Dirk Dirksen: We have been open for 10 years, did 3,600 plus live shows.
V Vale: The factor was on the time, issues have been so conservative that no membership needed something to do with punk rock till Dirk Dirksen confirmed up and made The Mabuhay Gardens accessible.
Dirk Dirksen: Ness downstairs at The Mabuhay was having a tricky go of it, so I got here in and mentioned, Look — how about should you give us Monday nights as a result of that’s your darkish night time. Let me attempt that, and I’ll assure you $175 an evening on the bar. I didn’t have $175 on the time, however I figured there are sufficient folks I do know that if I say, “Hey, c’mon down,” and in the event that they every drink two beers, we’ll meet the assure. And inside a really quick time, we have been grossing extra on the Monday than he was grossing on the weekend with identify Filipino acts.
Mindy Bagdon: My identify is Mindy Bagdon. My movie’s identify is “Louder Sooner Shorter”. At one level on Mondays, which was a useless interval on the Broadway strip, Dirk satisfied Ness Aquino, who owned the membership, to let him placed on totally different acts. Little by little, it went from form of vaudevillian selection acts to the place The Nuns, who have been one of many first teams to play there, apparently, they went as much as Dirk they usually discovered this venue was accessible they usually mentioned, Properly, can we placed on a present? And I bear in mind I used to be strolling up Grant Avenue and Vale’s then girlfriend was coming down, and continuing me was the drummer for The Nuns and he was handing out flyers.
V Vale: My girlfriend who appeared like a rocker — I assume I appeared like one too, with platform footwear and spiked hair and all that junk, simply superficial fashion — my girlfriend was strolling down the road and a extremely quick man mentioned, Hey…really feel like coming to our band’s debut at The Mabuhay Gardens, which none of us had heard of as a result of it was Filipino. I’ll put you on the visitor listing! These are the magic phrases for any so-called actual punk rocker. So we went, after which the remaining is historical past.
Mindy Bagdon: The primary time we went to The Mabuhay, there have been extra folks on stage than there have been within the viewers, as a result of it hadn’t gotten round. However inside two weeks, it was packed. I imply, phrase bought round city. Don’t overlook that is earlier than the web, earlier than smartphones; it was actually person-to-person or on the phone or snail mail to say this venue was doing this. And like I mentioned, inside two weeks, it was jammed. The joke was Bruce Conner, the well-known artist, mentioned — You’d be watching a band and also you mentioned, effectively, I can do that too. So that you’d go residence and study a minimum of one chord in your bass and also you’d get on the stand and also you have been the viewers one week and now you might be on the stage.
Kathy Peck: I’m Kathy Peck, bass participant for The Contractions and the co-founder and government director of H.E.A.R., Listening to Training Consciousness for Rockers. I got here right here with Don Peck and he was taking part in drums with Mary Monday. She truly began the punk scene at The Mabuhay Gardens. She was like the primary one. There have been different those that performed there, however she was the one that actually…she was wonderful.
Kathy Peck: She got here from a dancer background, however she was actually punk. She was simply wild! And I’d hear stuff at The Mab and see it being performed. I cherished the music. I bought impressed by Mary, and I had a bass — a Hofner Beatle bass. I used to be studying to play. I used to be self-taught. Yeah, it was actually thrilling. Folks have been like, they name it pogo-ing or no matter, slam dancing. It was like very crowded and electrifying.
Denise Demise Dunne: Dirk at that time requested me to be his assistant, and it was like, Yeah, however I can’t kind. As a result of I mainly prevented typing as a result of as a feminine you get pigeoned-holed into being somebody’s assistant. And he mentioned, Properly, you don’t need to kind that a lot, and also you get to do a number of issues round there.
John Seabury: Fairly typically through the night, he can be sporting what appears just like the Groucho Marx nostril with the glasses and eyebrows, besides this one had a dildo as a substitute of a nostril.
Denise Demise Dunne: Mustache, glasses, a bit chubby. I bear in mind the beige jacket, the beret on his hair, and the poodle in his arms. The was the primary time I met Dirk.
John Seabury: On the finish of the evenings, in fact, he’d come out on stage and inform everybody to get out, which nobody is ever being attentive to. So he had an actual police whistle which he would blow as exhausting as he may by way of the PA til folks would depart. His favourite line was “We will’t make any extra money off you, so get out!” I’m John Seabury. I began out taking part in in a band, Psychotic Pineapple, again within the ’70s, and I’m a graphic artist. I did all the graphics for the band.
Ron Greco: I went to this nightclub referred to as The Night time Break, I assume you go downstairs on Columbus. This man walks as much as me. This huge eye ball T-shirt and this huge hen hawk hair, crimson flaming hair, and he appears at me and says, Do you play guitar? And I say yeah. And so we discuss for just a little bit, and inside 30 days, we every get Marshall stacks. That’s how fast it was. Zoom, zoom, zoom. Earlier than we have been Crime, we have been the House Invaders. Ron Greco, Ron “The Ripper” Greco. I had a Gibson Ripper Bass and everyone goes — Man, you rip lots! Ripper!
Denise Demise Dunne: I took the job and would are available in and assist him undergo all of the paperwork. Hearken to a few of the demo tapes of the bands that got here in. Get their press announcement, like Devo. I nonetheless bear in mind it saying, Achtung, De-Revolution has begun!
Ron Greco: I bought the band members collectively and mentioned, Let’s stroll in and discuss to the proprietor. We had fun there speaking to him, and so we organized a present to play.
Penelope Houston: In 1977, I moved all the way down to San Francisco to go to the Artwork Institute in North Seashore. And after I bought there, I began to see these posters round city for this band referred to as Crime. They usually have been actually intriguing posters they usually weren’t like something I’d ever seen. They have been at a membership referred to as The Mabuhay. I used to be 19 on the time, however they let folks in 18 or older, however they let folks in as a result of it was additionally a Filipino restaurant, so that they have been in a position to let minors in. My identify is Penelope Houston, I’m in a band referred to as The Avengers. We began in 1977. That was my first band. I’d been going to those reveals and bumped into Danny Livid, who ended up being The Avengers drummer. He had a good friend in Los Angeles, Greg Ingraham, and he introduced Greg to SF to be in a band with him. Danny had rented a part of a warehouse out in Dogpatch, they usually had a PA arrange for his or her rehearsals. I used to be staying over there in the future, hanging out, and everyone was gone, and I placed on some data and began singing by way of the PA. I simply fell in love with the facility of amplification. I used to be like, that is so superior. I’m so loud, after which after they bought again, I mentioned, I’m going to be your singer.
Liz Keim: When I discovered the membership, I felt at residence. I might be precisely who I used to be and nonetheless be a part of it. I used to be freed. My identify is Liz Keim and together with Karen Service provider, we created the movie, In The Crimson. It’s a punk doc of the late Nineteen Seventies, largely filmed at The Mab. For the final 40 years, I’ve additionally been working on the Exploratorium. I’ve been the director of the Cinema Arts program, and I’m one of many senior curators.
Denise Demise Dunne: Oh, it was fabulous. There have been those that got here in for the primary time to discover they usually have been nonetheless wanting hippie. Then there have been people who had taken on the persona. Leather-based jacket, denims, black pants, ripped T-shirts. You’d stroll down the hall, and there have been all these little crevices with folks hanging on the market.
Liz Keim: You’re an evening creature, in search of that place to be that looks like residence.
Denise Demise Dunne: I used to be a kind of creatures cuz you’re simply sort of there and also you’re watching.
Liz Keim: I went as much as UC Davis to check artwork and that was a sort of isolating expertise, after I got here again into San Francisco I used to be in search of an intimacy in some methods. On the lookout for these smaller landscapes. I began filming. I favor observing and critically assessing the place I’m at, and I used to be drawn to the experimental movie style, so I wasn’t in search of one thing that adopted a bell-curve narrative or, , was scripted outdoors of any expertise I used to be residing in. So for me, it was simply capturing a sort of method of being in San Francisco. There have been every kind of relationships that didn’t need to really feel everlasting, the place you didn’t need to have names, there was simply one thing a couple of recognition.
Denise Demise Dunne: There was simply this pleasure. There was the power again to that phrase.
Liz Keim: It was about being within the mosh pit. It was about hanging on to somebody I didn’t know only for counterbalance, and it was tremendous as a result of my counterbalance was as into me as a counterbalance as I used to be into her or him as a counterbalance. You didn’t have to speak. You understand, in some methods, we simply talked by way of our our bodies. Possibly The Mab was an analog expertise for me.
Denise Demise Dunne: I used to be at KSAN at that time, and Lou Reed got here in for an interview; he was taking part in on the Outdated Waldorf. And he introduced this man in with him, and the DJ didn’t need to cope with him and mentioned, Properly, present him round. So we’re speaking and I’m displaying him round and I’m telling this man about The Mab and what’s occurring cuz Lou has his present and I mentioned, Oh, I’ll take you there. You understand, and this was Jim Carroll.
John Seabury: As soon as we bought within the Mabuhay, Dirk was actually good to us. He had the humorousness, he sort of bought us. So generally he would have us open for somebody actually inappropriate, just like the Jim Carroll Band or someone like that, simply because he was being perverse about it. We opened for Jim Carroll twice. And the second time phrase was out that Patti Smith was on the town taking part in the previous Waldorf and he or she might be going to point out up and jam. So the Mabuhay was double-packed that night time.
Denise Demise Dunne: Patti Smith, Patti Smith, Patti Smith!
John Seabury: After the set, we have been backstage and Dirk comes up and goes, Hey, , Patti Smith is coming. We have been like, Yeah yeah, we heard. Properly, she must borrow a guitar and we have been like — No! As a result of we all know she goes to interrupt the guitar.
Denise Demise Dunne: When Patti performed the Mab, it was mesmerizing.
John Seabury: In fact, many of the gamers within the scene on the time would have run residence and gotten a guitar simply to provide to her to smash. Dirk goes off, and he comes again 10 minutes later and goes, Please guys, please….actually, only one guitar for Patti. And we have been like, No — overlook it! So the band was on and Patti did present up, and it was actually mobbed and all I may see of the band was the tops of their heads after which I simply see the guitar overhead going smash, smash, smash and that was it. And it’s most likely in a museum someplace now.
Denise Demise Dunne: It was awestruck. Like, wow! I imply, these are silly phrases to provide you with as a result of it was simply there and right here’s this persona mixing this punk with poetry. It was like, yeah, that is it. That is simply taking it to a complete totally different stage. As a result of there have been so many ranges. There was the enjoyable half, there was the political half, and right here is the poetry — right here is the artwork.
Liz Keim: Hanging outdoors was just like the preamble or no matter. You bought your sense of whether or not it was going to be crowded and what the power was like. You didn’t simply rush in. It was a lingering. The sort of gradual meander and then you definately would hope to only squeeze in and get by admissions. And perhaps having sufficient cash for a beer.
Mindy Bagdon: Early on, folks would throw beer bottles on the stage and that was very harmful. So they really thought perhaps we’ll put a display screen up between the band and the viewers however that didn’t sound like a good suggestion. So then he bought the thought, Ah ha — I’m going to make 55-gallon drums of popcorn!
V Vale: All of the tremendous salty popcorn you can eat. I notice later the speculation is that this makes you purchase drinks.
John Seabury: Free popcorn on the tables. It was actually previous popcorn and it wasn’t for consuming — it was for throwing on the bands.
Penelope Houston: There can be this huge mess of popcorn and jumbled chairs and tables knocked over and it was sort of like a catastrophe zone.
Denise Demise Dunne: I bear in mind being in my home and rapidly simply having this paradigm shift. The music was taking part in and rapidly, WHAP! Like — actuality will not be the identical anymore. Unexpectedly one thing wakened inside me. I didn’t even know what it was referred to as at the moment, however it was like, Oh, one thing — one thing simply modified right here.
Liz Keim: Not having a lot cash, it was like, get into these locations with out it. You possibly can generally climb in by way of the entrance window at The Mab and one time somebody got here and grabbed me and mentioned, Dirk desires to speak to you in his workplace. So he goes, You don’t suppose I see you sneaking in all the time! You understand, no extra of that. Nevertheless it didn’t cease you. It was a part of the tradition. We have been there to only get it nonetheless we may.
Penelope Houston: The primary present we performed at The Mab, we had been requested two weeks earlier than if we’d play this present — an after-party for The Nuns. Between once we heard concerning the gig and once we performed it, we went to LA and have been visiting with pals of mine from Seattle, The Screamers. Tomata du A lot and Tommy Gear. And I bear in mind Tommy and Tomato saying to me, Oh, you’ll be able to’t do cowl songs. You guys want to jot down your individual songs. So we bought again from LA and we had a couple of week to go and have been like, all proper, let’s write some unique songs. So we sat down and wrote “Automobile Crash”, “I Imagine in Me”, “Teenage Insurgent” — perhaps six songs, unique songs, in that week. Then, once we bought as much as play our first time on an actual stage in entrance of an actual viewers — for me anyway — and somebody had written the setlist improper and so the guitar participant was taking part in a distinct tune from the bass participant and the drummer. And when the music began, I used to be like, Oh my god. Oh my god. I can’t do that. I don’t even know what tune that is. It simply feels like an enormous mish-mash. I can’t bear in mind the lyrics and I used to be so confused and we stopped taking part in just a few seconds later and was like what? What tune are we taking part in? After which they figured it out, and we began taking part in the identical tune and I used to be like, All proper, OK. Right here’s the way it goes and I can truly do that. However for 10 lengthy seconds there, I believed, Oh, it’s all gone out of my head. I can’t do that. It is a nightmare. So then we simply piled by way of the set and a few individuals who have been there have been like, that was actually wonderful. And we have been like, Oh my god. That was such a automobile crash. Jan. 14, 1978, we’d been invited to assist the [Sex] Pistols. We bought there and the place was completely bought out. Between 5-and-6,000 folks. The largest present The Intercourse Pistols ever performed and like 10 occasions greater than the largest present we’d ever performed. So when The Nuns have been up there performing the stage bought coated in issues folks have been throwing, and spit, it was simply fairly tough. So we walked out after they have been achieved to take our place on stage and the very first thing that occurred to me was I slipped on the stage as a result of there was a lot spit. And I nearly hit the bottom however I sort of caught myself and made my method rigorously to my microphone. There’s a video of the entire night time. And you may see how once we begin we have been just a little frightened and shaky and scared. After which as are set progressed we simply bought increasingly more assured and bought stronger til on the finish we have been feeling fairly superior. It was loopy as a result of there have been so many individuals there they usually have been all mashed collectively. Folks have been getting squeezed out of the viewers like pimples. And handed overhead like they have been passing out. You’d look out on the sea of faces and see somebody you knew and make eye contact with them and a second later they might disappear into the group. So it was intense, particularly for us. We have been used to seeing a number of our pals proper up entrance singing together with us and this was like an enormous quantity of people that had by no means seen punk earlier than and have been there for the spectacle. You understand, the circus. Lots of people on the market, it was a reasonably intense expertise. I believe the throwing of issues elevated when the Intercourse Pistols bought on the market as a result of Johnny Rotten egged them on. Somebody threw a digicam on stage. He was like, Oh, thanks. Like he was actually egging them on to throw stuff. It began out terrifying for us and ended up feeling superb. There have been rumors that Sid’s bass was not even plugged in for that set. And I assume I must return and take heed to it to see if I may inform, however I believe the band was fairly used to creating their method by way of the set with out relying on him.
Janet Clyde: I’m Janet Clyde. I’m one of many homeowners of Vesuvio Cafe in North Seashore. I moved right here in 1978 after I was 21. I bought my first job in San Francisco at The Mabuhay Gardens. I knew waitress, I knew cocktail, and so it was mainly decide up a tray. Dirk proper there, he can be on the entrance, insulting folks — What are you sporting, rat fur? He was simply the funniest man. By no means took himself or anyone too significantly. And actually good to the bands, like actually good. You’d are available in and it was this lengthy, rectangular room with a low ceiling. Darkish, cave-like — actually darkish — barebones, tables and chairs, bar within the again. You’d stroll in and within the entrance a stage that was only some ft excessive. And there was a again seating space that was raised just a little bit.
V Vale: After they eliminated all the tables and chairs and seating and all that junk then much more folks may slot in. Legally, you can perhaps cram in 200 folks. Essentially the most crowded night time I bear in mind was some present with each Iggy, Blondie, and David Bowie have been there within the viewers. And in some way everybody discovered about it, and that was probably the most crowded I’ve ever seen The Mabuhay.
Janet Clyde: We’d go in at 10. There can be nobody there at 10 at night time, no person there. However by 11–11:30 it might be packed! And I noticed 999, Lene Lovich — I imply, extra folks than I can rely — SVT! It was a lot enjoyable, a lot enjoyable! Two folks stand out — ready on Invoice Graham, who terrified me — and ready on The Conflict, who additionally terrified me! The Conflict, although, when Joe Strummer is asking you for a beer and you might be identical to, OK, and providing you with cash and you are attempting to consider make change for this. Like, my mind has simply disappeared. It was wonderful! He gave me a $50 invoice for the beers. I gave him again like $150 in change. I simply couldn’t rely — I couldn’t suppose! And the supervisor, I’ll always remember, he simply took the cash out of Strummer’s hand, put the cash again into my hand. After which such as you would with a baby, counted again the change. Like, how a lot are the beers? They’re this…OK then…right here’s $12, $13, $14, $15, $20, $30, $50, increase. I’ll always remember that, it was the funniest factor.
Kathy Peck: Properly, what occurred was Dirksen began to do some gigs upstairs on the On Broadway. That was fairly profitable for some time.
Denise Demise Dunne: This was when MTV was coming in, so there was a complete new chapter.
Kathy Peck: When the massive earthquake and the freeway collapsed, that actually minimize folks off from coming there actually shortly.
Janet Clyde: I left The Mabuhay after just a few years, and time modified on Broadway they usually moved the golf equipment off Broadway.
Mindy Bagdon: Venues like [924] Gilman Avenue in Berkeley developed round that point.
Janet Clyde: I don’t actually know what it was like on the very finish. I believe it simply bought tougher, it simply bought tougher for them. And , the scene simply modified. And so will we, so will we.
Mindy Bagdon: If it wasn’t for Dirk, punk rock would have began in San Francisco in some unspecified time in the future or different anyway, however Dirk actually facilitated its rise. He understood what was occurring, , and he knew let or not it’s free.
Liz Keim: It felt intimate to me. I simply bear in mind being excited. And that’s a very good place to be generally when you’re that younger. Longing and pushed — eager to be nowhere else — after which additionally simply eager to go loopy, in no matter method that was.
Mindy Bagdon: In America, while you get to a sure age, you’re all of the sudden instructed by the city setting, What are you doing there pogo-ing? You’re 45 years previous, try to be on the PTA assembly. You must need to discover out one thing about your life to go to those scenes. I’ve a Philippine good friend and it seems that “Mabuhay” means “welcome”. And it additionally means “good life”. So it’s humorous in that context as a result of that’s what actually occurred at The Mabuhay, . You have been welcome — and it was a very good life! When Dirk died, I referred to as Bruce (Conner) and instructed him as a result of the three of us have been going to make a movie concerning the totality of the punk scene in San Francisco. That died with each Bruce and Dirk dying. It was very unhappy for me. I’ve not recovered from that to at the present time as a result of Bruce was a really inventive artist and Dirk had each connection essential on the planet.
Kathy Peck: I believe lots of people and musicians and artists and everybody contributed. It was a neighborhood, though it was a misfit neighborhood. Dirksen was like an entertainer actually, undoubtedly the emcee. He was the ringmaster. I had seen that they’d named a road in North Seashore after the Beat folks, so I believed — Properly, punk rock man. It was wonderful that the punk rockers bought a road named. It was proper on Broadway and Rowland, like, who’s going to get that achieved with no cash? I needed it to be Dirk Dirksen Alley. Joel Selvin from the [San Francisco] Chronicle helped. It’s a historic plaque. It’s within the floor proper within the alley, to allow them to’t actually ever take it out. It talks about Dirk and Ness and The Mabuhay Gardens. It says, Shut up, you animals! He’d be thrilled.
Dirk Dirksen: You will have roughly 290 seconds by which to soak up our Filipino household supper membership within the…
Katrina Schwartz: That was Kitchen Sisters producer Brandi Howell. The reopening of the Fab Mab remains to be in its early phases, so keep tuned for extra reveals on the venue. Particular because of Denise Demise Dunne, Liz Keim, Penelope Houston, Ron Greco, John Seabury, V Vale, Janet Clyde, and Kathy Peck. The archival interview with Dirk Dirksen is from Vale’s Vale’s RE/Search Conversations 13. Manufacturing assist from Mary Franklin Harvin. Bay Curious is produced at Member Supported KQED in San Francisco. Our present is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. Bay Curious is made by Gabriela Glueck, Christopher Beale and me, Katrina Schwartz. With further assist from Maha Sanad, Katie Sprenger, Jen Chien, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everybody on workforce KQED.
