{"id":118905,"date":"2026-01-03T17:55:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118905\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T17:55:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T17:55:48","slug":"bottom-of-the-hill-legendary-san-francisco-live-music-venue-to-shutter-in-2026-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118905\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottom of the Hill, legendary San Francisco live music venue, to shutter in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

Iconic San Francisco music venue Bottom of the Hill announced it will close by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

Rolling Stone in 1999 called it the “best place to hear live music in San Francisco.”<\/p>\n

The independently-owned and operated venue has been around since 1991. The three women owners told a news outlet they wanted to end on a good note.<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco<\/a>‘s legendary live music venue, Bottom of the Hill announced on Friday that 2026 will be its final year in business.<\/p>\n

End of an Era<\/p>\n

What we know<\/p>\n

In a post on social media, the owners of the iconic, 35-year-old Potrero Hill venue said that New Year’s Eve in December 2026 will be their final day.<\/p>\n

The owners consider themselves lucky to have lasted so long for an “independent rock \u2018n\u2019 roll venue” of this size.<\/p>\n

“It has been a wonderful trip, and we are full of stories and memories. We have hosted tens of thousands of musical artists and have been a community partner as well, holding numerous benefits, school recitals, weddings, birthdays, and memorials,” the post read. “Let\u2019s have one more solid year of memories together and bid a fond farewell to a legendary venue.”<\/p>\n

In 1999, Rolling Stone once called BOTH, the affectionate shorthand for the venue, “the best place to hear live music in San Francisco.”<\/p>\n

The club’s website<\/a> shows their calendar is full of diverse live music events most nights of the week. They say you can catch up-and-coming acts from around the globe as well as local favorites, spanning genres such as alternative, rock-a-billy, punk, and hard rock, to funk and pop.<\/p>\n

Patrons of this National Independent Venue Association<\/a> member can enjoy bar-food favorites like the Bottom Burger, vegan chili, quesadillas, and the staff favorite \u2013 Three-cheese Mac & Cheese from the kitchen, as well as a lively and social outdoor patio space in between acts.<\/p>\n

While the social media post doesn’t elaborate on the reason for the closure, they do post a link to an article by Coyote Media<\/a>, where they say the tough decision was partially due to rising costs, but also due to shifting demographics in the city amongst an increasingly corporate media landscape.<\/p>\n

In the end, the owners told the outlet they want to end on a high note and take time to work on other personal projects.<\/p>\n

‘Final revolution’<\/p>\n

Bottom of the Hill owners Ramona Downey, Kathleen Owen and Lynn Schwarz branded the venue’s last year as its “final revolution” and said 2026 is their big victory lap.<\/p>\n

The owners are self-described as “three women in different phases of our lives.” They are all from three different generations and backgrounds \u2013 something that has given their bookings and business outlook a unique perspective since 1991. They also acknowledged Tim Benetti, a fourth owner who recently passed.<\/p>\n

“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,” they wrote.<\/p>\n

The owners thanked the bands, their agents, managers and roadies they have worked with over the years.<\/p>\n

They talk about the intimacy of the smaller-sized venue. Anyone who has taken in a show in this space would surely note how up-close you are to the musicians and how special it is to be on the same wavelength with a like-minded community crammed into one room listening to music.<\/p>\n

Several people with ties to the Bay Area’s legendary music scene lamented the news on Friday night, some calling it one of the greatest venues in the states.<\/p>\n

“Played here many-a-time, including just a few months ago. Sad news,” posted Andy Duvall from the psychedelic rock outfit, Carlton Melton.<\/p>\n

Many on the team of employees at Bottom of the Hill have been working with BOTH for well over a decade, the owners wrote, making their decision all the more difficult, they said.<\/p>\n

What’s next<\/p>\n

You can catch the final shows<\/a> throughout 2026.<\/p>\n

As the owners insist, “Please come celebrate with us. Not with a whimper, but a bang!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Iconic San Francisco music venue Bottom of the Hill announced it will close by the end…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[62998,62996,62997,27524,1918,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-118905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bottom-burger","tag-bottom-of-the-hill","tag-independent-rock-n-roll-venue","tag-music-venue","tag-potrero-hill","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}