Eli’s Mile High Club, a legendary but long-troubled music venue in West Oakland, is going out of business.

“Hello beloved community, it is hard to announce that Eli’s Mile High Club will be closing its doors at the end of October,” the club announced on its Instagram page.

Eli’s — which hosts concerts by artists from numerous types of genres but is best known for its weekly Monday night blues music showcase — has been experiencing dire financial woes for years.

“We haven’t made a profit in years,” Matthew Patane, one of the club’s owners, said in a 2025 interview. “We are operating at a huge loss — just dumping money into it.”

Yet, things went from bad to worse at the tail end of 2024, after City of Oakland officials decided to close the close the club’s large back patio area

“We have been operating day-to-day since November (2024),” Patane said in that same itnerview. “The loss of our back patio has taken away over 60 percent of our business.”

The issue actually began a few years before that, Patane explained, when the owner of a nearby property filed a complaint with the city about the club. Eli’s apparently lacked the zoning required to have a back patio — even though it’s had been hosting customers in the patio area for many years.

“It’s how it’s always been,” Patane said. “(City officials) haven’t said anything for the seven years we’ve been doing this. These restrictions are just coming out of nowhere.”

Eli’s hasn’t just experienced rough years — it’s experienced rough decades — and the club’s history is littered with all kinds of financial woes, closures, ownership changes and massive drama. Could this be yet another major bump in the road that Eli’s has hit and will recover from in the weeks/months/years to come?

Owners are certainly hoping for some kind of 11-hour save and have once again asked patrons and music fans to mount a charge in the name of Eli’s.

“We could still use your support, by writing to the Oakland city council and the Mayor’s office,” the Instagram post continues. “Let them know how much this place means to you. If you have ever played a show, thrown a benefit, been an artist in our markets, adopted a dog from OAS, watched the baseball team ‘the Beers,’ danced at Blues nights, played pool, grabbed a bite to eat with friends, are homies with this amazing staff, or simply slapped your sticker or tag on our walls, let them know that 50 years of community culture is important and you do not want to see another Oakland treasure disappear.

“We will be working hard to reopen, but your continuous support would help us keep going! With LOVE, all of us at Eli’s Thank you.”

For more information, go to www.elismilehighclub.com.