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Solarpunkification 2026 Brings Creativity, Regeneration, and Joy to San Francisco’s Historic Mabuhay Gardens

For Immediate Release // Transmission Incoming

Solarpunkification 2026 Poster

SOLAR
PunkiFicAtiOn
’26

MARCH 6–8, 2026
435 / 443 Broadway San Francisco, CA

Solarpunkification 2026 is a once-a-year collision of art, ecology, and radical optimism. We are transforming the historic Mabuhay Gardens into a working laboratory for the future we actually want to inhabit.

For decades, the “Fab Mab” served as the undisputed epicenter of West Coast punk rock—a raw, subterranean proving ground where marginalized voices and visionaries built a DIY culture from the ground up. Today, we bridge that rebellious energy with the regenerative ethos of the solarpunk movement. We are building the future from the underground up.

This is not a passive conference. It is a three-day, immersive convergence of solarpunks, artists, musicians, technologists, and community builders treating imagination as serious infrastructure. When we fuse the planet’s oldest Indigenous systems thinking with modern cryptography, mycelial economics, and unapologetic joy, we rewire what is possible.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

AIME IMAGINE Film

U.S. PREMIERE:
IMAGINE

Experience the United States premiere of the groundbreaking animated feature film, IMAGINE. Co-created by over 400 people during the pandemic and guided by Indigenous Australian systems changers, featuring an all-star voice cast including Taika Waititi.

Professor Hope

INDIGENOUS
SYSTEMS THINKING

Jack Manning Bancroft (CEO of AIME) and “Professor Hope” lead sessions on the IMAGI-NATION framework. Dive into the “Ancient Futures Dialogue” with Steve DeAngelo, exploring Afro-futurism and ancestral knowledge as our collective path forward.

POST-CAPITALIST
PROTOCOLS

Hacking the financial system for life on Earth. Join Jeff Emmett and Richard Ng to decode MycoFi and IndigiDAO—economic structures inspired by mycelial networks. Then, watch Ron Turetzky demonstrate the “Post-Capitalist Vending Machine,” using cryptographic smart contracts to facilitate sustainable, collective ownership.

+ FIRESIDE CHAT WITH RAMAN FREY

RADICAL ART
& SOMATICS

Get out of your head and into your vessel. The venue will pulse with immersive installations, live visionary painting by Evelisa (giving birth to the “Vision Oracle” era), large-scale soap bubbles by Sterling Johnson, and the Gamelatron Sonic Sanctuary. Cap it off with somatic improvisational dance, live poetry from Via the Messenger, and a late-night Afro-futurist dance party.

+ WARM DATA LABS WITH JESSICA & SAHRA

THE OPEN SPACE UNCONFERENCE & WORKSHOPS

On Saturday afternoon, we throw out the schedule. The Fab Mab becomes an open laboratory where *you* propose and lead the sessions.

PRE-FESTIVAL (MARCH 6)

Regenerative Workplaces: Leadership consultant Leanne Holdsworth kicks off the weekend by teaching us how to shift our daily work environments from extractive to regenerative through deliberate micro-moves.

POST-FESTIVAL (MARCH 8)

Deep Dives: Stay Sunday for an experiential science-based workshop on the healing power of Compassion with Dr. Daniel E. Martin (Stanford University), and an intensive Advanced Imagination session with Jack Manning Bancroft.

SOLARPUNKIFICATION SCHEDULE

Events take place at Mabuhay Gardens unless otherwise noted. Subject to chaos, rhythm, revision, and surprise.

  • Entire Venue
    ALL WEEKEND

    ENTIRE VENUEVENUE

    Sonic Sanctuary

    A sound-thread runs through the whole weekend, with the Gamelatron Sonic Sanctuary looping in the downstairs west exhibition space as the rest of the venue shifts around it.

  • Regenerative Workplaces
    FRI 1:00-3:00 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE & ATRIUM (All Ages)THEATRE + ATRIUM

    Regenerative Workplaces

    A slow opening for the weekend: work, care, pace, and what becomes possible when extraction loosens its grip.

  • Mabuhay Gardens
    FRI 3:00-4:00 PM

    MULTIPLE ROOMSMULTI

    Pre-Mixer + Directions

    The doors open, the field gathers, and the first frequencies of the weekend begin to find each other.

  • Upstairs Theatre and Atrium
    FRI 4:00-4:30 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE & ATRIUM (All Ages)THEATRE + ATRIUM

    Invocations + Welcome

    A threshold of voice, smudge, and welcome — clearing the room, tuning the room, becoming a room together.

  • Ground Floor Lounge
    FRI 4:00-5:30 PM

    LOUNGE 21+LOUNGE

    Psychedelic Integration

    A quieter current running beneath the opening hour — reflection, integration, and meaning-making as the rest of the building comes alive.

  • Professor Hope
    FRI 4:30-5:30 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE (All Ages)THEATRE

    Professor Hope Intro

    A conversation that sets the philosophical temperature for the weekend — imagination, governance, custodianship, and what has been missing all along.

  • Mabuhay Ground Floor Theatre
    FRI 5:30-6:00 PM

    MABUHAY GROUND FLOOR THEATREMABUHAY

    Creative Reset

    Step out of autopilot and into coherence with Monique Nguyen in a mini workshop on aligned visioning, nervous system regulation, and creative flow.

    Read More


    Facilitated by Monique Nguyen — systems magician, creative facilitator, and Stanford-trained strategist. A reset for clearing creative friction, regulating the nervous system, and returning to center so energy, work, and life can emerge from a state of true alignment and flow.

  • Multiple Rooms Friday Evening
    FRI 5:30-7:00 PM

    MULTIPLE ROOMSMULTI

    Previews + Dialogues

    The festival widens: portals, placemaking, civic overlays, adjacent futures, and bubbles drifting through the threshold between seriousness and play.

    Room lineup


    Upstairs Theatre: Roxi Shohadaee / Design Science Studio, Steve DeAngelo, Ancient Futures Dialogue, Inside Bubblescape.
    Upstairs Atrium: Nicole Klau Ibarra, then Daveed Benjamin.
    Mabuhay Theatre: Monique Nguyen — Creative Reset: Embodied Alignment & Flow (5:30-6:00), followed by Sara + Roxi’s adjacent-possible futures thread (6:00-7:00).
    Lounge: Manifesting Utopia with Ryan Hartnett, Sheridan Tatsuno, David Munir Nabti, and Aaron.
    Outside: Sterling Johnson, The Bubblesmith.

  • AIME IMAGINE Film
    FRI 7:00-8:50 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE & MABUHAY OVERFLOWTHEATRE + MABUHAY

    IMAGINE: US Premiere

    A feature-length collective imagining, followed by conversation while the feeling is still warm in the room.

  • Friday Evening Multiroom Programming
    FRI 8:50-10:00 PM

    MULTIPLE ROOMSMULTI

    Performances + Dialogues

    Music upstairs, civic imagination downstairs, philosophy in the lounge — the night begins to braid itself into many futures at once.

    Room lineup


    Upstairs Theatre: Via the Messenger, then Inti Mystica live.
    Upstairs Atrium: Charley Hasenbeck.
    Mabuhay Theatre: Democracy 2276 with David Munir Nabti.
    Lounge: Dr. Howard Whitehouse.

  • Friday Dance Party
    FRI 10:00 PM-2:00 AM

    ALL ROOMSALL

    Ancestral Futures Party

    A late-night opening rite of movement, rhythm, memory, and speculative joy, held across the building.

  • Offsite Hike
    SAT 10:00-11:50 AM

    OFFSITEOFFSITE

    Walk In

    A guided walk into Day 2 — arriving by foot, by city, by conversation, and by noon.

  • Sharp Joy Session
    SAT 11:45 AM-12:45 PM

    MABUHAY THEATRE 21+MABUHAY

    Sharp Joy

    Disaster communities, a slow rolling book report, and some reflection with Alan Tabor. Exploring LittleUSA’s work in Alabama, Rebecca Solnit’s book on disaster communities, and resilient systems in Tennessee.

  • Saturday Opening Plenaries
    SAT 11:55 AM-12:40 PM

    ALL ROOMSALL

    Day 2 Opening

    Day 2 opens with invocation, short transmissions, and previews of the worlds about to unfold.

    Room lineup


    11:55 AM — Future Journey Workshop with Malcolm Turnbull
    11:55 AM — Via the Messenger — Music and poetry to awaken the soul
    11:55 AM — Image-in-Action Intentional Art Imagery Workshop with Donna Marchesano
    11:55 AM — Post-Capitalist Vending Machine with Ron Turetzky
    12:05 PM — Welcome to Solarpunkification Day 2 — With Bobby Fishkin & Saskia Verraes
    12:05 PM — Civic Imagination Station — With Aaron Haldiman
    12:10 PM — Jeff Emmett — MycoFi — Exploring economic systems inspired by mycelial networks—where cooperation, redistribution, and mutual aid create resilient, regenerative communities.
    12:20 PM — Regenerative Adhocracy Preview with Nik Bertulis
    12:20 PM — Richard Ng — IndigiDAO — We draw upon our ancestral knowledge and connection to the land and look at the DAO and its members as a mycelial network
    12:30 PM — Radical Collaboration Conversation — Professor Hope, Jeff Emmett, Richard Ng, Saskia

  • Saturday Opening Workshop
    SAT 12:40-1:00 PM

    MULTIPLE ROOMSMULTI

    Opening Workshop

    Exploring positive deviance, Goldilocks zones, and designing conditions for individual and collective flourishing with Bobby Fishkin, Saskia Verraes & Professor Hope.

  • Saturday Unconference
    SAT 1:00-6:00 PM

    ALL ROOMSALL

    Open Space + UnPlug/Play

    The venue becomes an open laboratory: you propose sessions, you lead them. At 1pm we will open in circle, hold three sessions of an hour each, and close in circle again. Whatever matters most to the people in the room becomes the curriculum. Bring any idea, however half-formed, a question you can’t stop thinking about, or something you need help imagining. Come if you are a tinkerer, a dreamer, an ecologist, an artist, a systems thinker, a community weaver, or simply someone who suspects that the world we want is more possible than the world would have. Come ready to offer something.

  • Saturday Evening Talks
    SAT 6:00-8:00 PM

    ALL ROOMSALL

    Evening Previews

    Short sparks, long arcs, and evening momentum — stories of place, strategy, care, sound, and decentralized futures moving room to room.

    Room lineup


    6:00 PM — Via The Messenger — an invocation
    6:00 PM — Cultivating our Multidimensional Creative Core Through Playful Movement and Poetical Synthesis with Leylani Kyleiaa Angeluccio
    6:00 PM — A New Story Unfolds (Micro/Meso/Macro) with Dan Martin
    6:10 PM — The Regenerative Adhocracy with Nik Bertulis
    6:20 PM — Post Capitalist Vending Machine with Ron Turetzky
    6:20 PM — Gaiapolis Workshop Preview – Sheridan Tatsuno
    6:30 PM — Squiggly Line Life with Saskia Verraes and Jack Manning Bancroft, exploring our lives and career paths as a hopeful response to the BANI world (brittle, anxious, Non-linear, incomprehensible).
    7:00 PM — Preview of Claudia Brenner’s Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Workshop
    7:00 PM — Elemental Sound Journey with Clare Hedin
    7:00 PM — Human Included Ecology with Ryan Hartnett of Earthlight Institute — How small paradigm shifts have major impacts on how we understand and solve the existential challenges of our time, as well as improve our personal health in subtle but powerful ways
    7:00 PM — The Give Hub Presentation with Chris and Kat — a transparent, community-powered fundraising platform designed to strengthen local economies and regenerative initiatives.
    7:10 PM — An integration with Dr. Howard Whitehouse
    7:10 PM — Lunar Punk/ Decentralized Solar Punk Future with Jack Manning Bancroft, Richard Ng, Chris & Kat, Jeff Emmett, Ron Turetzky, Nicole
    7:20 PM — Donna Marchesano’s ‘Image-in-Action’ preview
    7:20 PM — Solarpunk Futures Field Guide with Ramona Tudorancea — Exploring how to connect personal agency with legal frameworks, how the theory of values lies within new economic models, and how to align all this with Solarpunk ethos using AI artwork as a means of expression.
    7:40 PM — Multidimensional Creative Core Activation

  • Saturday Parallel Workshops
    SAT 8:00-10:20 PM

    ALL ROOMSALL

    Parallel Workshops

    The night deepens into movement, values, utopia, resilience, and sound.

    Room lineup


    8:00 PM — Solar Punk Values Workshop with Jack Manning Bancroft, Sara Olsen, and Saskia Verraes
    8:00 PM — Fluid Dance: Reggae Flow with Juliana Mendonca and Zane Groshelle — A somatic movement practice rooted in activating water intelligence through flow. Through contact improvisation, breath, rhythm, and weight-sharing, we explore fluidity, relational awareness, and embodied connection, followed by an open reggae jam.
    8:40 PM — Regenerative Disaster with Claudia Brenner and Alan Tabor
    9:20 PM — Image-in-Action Intentional Art Imagery Workshop with Donna Marchesano
    10:00 PM — An Evening of Magic & Imagination with Jack Manning Bancroft
    10:00 PM — IMAGINE Film — Showing 2

  • Saturday Theatre Late Music
    SAT 9:30 PM-1:00 AM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE (All Ages)THEATRE

    Reggae Open Jam

    The upstairs theatre stays alive after the workshop block — first an open jam, then a looser, later reggae current into the night.

  • Saturday Evening Magic and Imagination
    SAT 10:00-11:20 PM

    UPSTAIRS ATRIUM (All Ages)ATRIUM

    Magic + Imagination

    A late-night gathering with Jack Manning Bancroft, leaning into imagination as practice rather than ornament. Honoring mentoring knowledge, custodial nature knowledge, and imagination not being scraped into current programs.

  • Saturday IMAGINE Screening
    SAT 10:00-11:20 PM

    MABUHAY THEATRE 21+MABUHAY

    IMAGINE Screening

    A late-night screening held downstairs while the atrium stays in conversation.

  • Sunday Morning Programming
    SUN 8:00-10:30 AM

    MULTIPLE ROOMSMULTI

    Morning Sessions + Screening

    Sunday begins in fragments and convergences: economics, ecology, sovereignty, music, film, and practical resilience all unfolding in parallel. Reconsidering the nature of our consciousness as energy and creativity as how we intersect with our highest potential.

    Room lineup


    Upstairs Theatre: Via the Messenger, Rebecca Pan, Gina of Kinlia, The Mosaic Vision case study, Bobby Fishkin. 9:00 AM — Creativity Is Part of Your Body with Clare Hedin.
    Upstairs Atrium: The morning ecology-and-sovereignty thread includes Ryan Hartnett and Erik Katz in the 9:10 window, as listed in the latest schedule.
    Mabuhay Theatre: Real Post-Capitalist Business Models with Sara Olsen, followed by a morning IMAGINE screening.
    Lounge: Regenerative Disaster Prevention / Resilience & Recovery, then Nik Bertulis — Regenerative Adhocracy.

  • Move as a Living System
    SUN 10:00 AM-12:30 PM

    UPSTAIRS ATRIUM (All Ages)ATRIUM

    Move as a Living System

    A living system isn’t controlled by a single part. It’s made of interdependent elements that influence one another, adapt to change, and generate intelligence. In this improvisational dance workshop with Rebecca Strull, we’ll embody that reality. Open and accessible to anyone with a body! No dance experience needed.

  • Sunday Parallel Sessions
    SUN 10:30-11:30 AM

    MULTIPLE ROOMSMULTI

    Wildfire + IMAGI-NATION

    The morning sharpens into practical imagination: wildfire, fungi, invocation, and the work of unlocking collective possibility to summon new intelligence.

    Room lineup


    Upstairs Theatre: Claudia Brenner Wildfire Workshop, then Professor Hope Presents: IMAGI-NATION.
    Upstairs Atrium: Move as a Living System continues.
    Lounge: Jeff Emmett — MycoFi Workshop, then Playful Prayer & Embodied Invocation.

  • Sunday Midday Programming
    SUN 11:30 AM-1:00 PM

    ALL ROOMSALL

    Fireside + Lunch

    FIRST STEPS: How do we start where we are and build a regenerative economy and civilization? Join Jessica and Raman Frey for an energized discussion around the metacrisis, root causes of our current predicament, and movement towards life-affirming paradigms.

    Room lineup


    Upstairs Theatre: Raman Fireside, Lunch, Via the Messenger.
    Upstairs Atrium: Move as a Living System continues into lunch.
    Mabuhay Theatre: Manifesting Vision with Ryan Hartnett, Sheridan Tatsuno, and Aaron.
    Lounge: Richard Ng — IndigiDAO Workshop, then The Mosaic Vision case study.

  • Emotional Awareness Workshop
    SUN 12:50-2:30 PM

    LOUNGE 21+LOUNGE

    Emotional Awareness

    If Solarpunkification is a laboratory for the futures we want to inhabit, this session becomes a working lab for the emotional and relational capacities required to build those futures sustainably. Cultural skill-building for people actively building new systems with Chelsea Borruano.

  • Warm Data Lab and Design Science Studio
    SUN 1:00-3:30 PM

    THEATRE & MABUHAYTHEATRE + MABUHAY

    Warm Data + DSS

    Warm Data Lab experiences have been described as a “kaleidoscope of conversation,” packed with enriching stories, laughter, and insight. They nourish the soul, transform the way we approach life, work, and our communities, helping us hold complex issues.

  • Closing Circle
    SUN 3:30-4:00 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE (All Ages)THEATRE

    Closing Circle

    A final gathering to bring the weekend back into the body — with one more offering from Via the Messenger before everyone disperses.

  • Protopia Playshop
    SUN 4:30-5:30 PM

    UPSTAIRS ATRIUM (All Ages)ATRIUM

    Protopia Playshop

    SolarPunk, the opposite of fascism — a late-afternoon session with Sandra Kwak on how cultural imagination can become civic counterforce.

  • Compassion Workshop
    SUN 4:30-6:30 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE (All Ages)THEATRE

    Compassion Workshop

    A science-based and experiential workshop with Dr. Daniel Martin on what compassion is, what it is not, and what it might repair. Explore how it heals from the individual, to work, to global scales, and learn to foster safe equilibrium.

  • Sunday Open Jam
    SUN 4:30-6:30 PM & 7:00-9:00 PM

    MABUHAY & LOUNGE 21+MABUHAY + LOUNGE

    Open Jam

    Bring your instruments. Jesse Elliott hosts a downstairs jam that opens, pauses, and returns as the night turns over.

  • Via the Messenger Mini Performance
    SUN 6:30-6:45 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE (All Ages)THEATRE

    Via Mini Set

    A brief bridge of music and presence between the late-afternoon workshop and the final evening session.

  • Advanced Imagination Workshop
    SUN 7:00-9:00 PM

    UPSTAIRS THEATRE (All Ages)THEATRE

    Advanced Imagination

    A final plunge into imagination as method, worldview, and shared practice with Jack Manning Bancroft and Professor Hope.

RECLAIM THE LEGEND

Mabuhay Gardens Venue

Mabuhay Gardens (435 / 443 Broadway, SF) has long been a vital incubator for cultural transformation. The very walls that hosted the raw, world-changing energy of The Dead Kennedys, Iggy Pop, and Robin Williams will now serve as the physical infrastructure for radical belonging and collective growth.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Bobby Fishkin

bobby@reframeit.com

Continue reading

The Bay Covers the Rebirth of The Mab

Alright, here we go — it’s official, the story of The Mab’s return is out in the world.

KQED’s podcast The Bay just dropped an episode — The Rebirth of Mabuhay Gardens, SF’s Legendary Punk Venue — and it hits straight to the heart of what this place has always been about: community, risk, humor, sweat, and sound.

Looking Back

The episode walks you through the old room — the purple curtains still hanging, the small stage that somehow held giants like Blondie, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, and Black Flag. You’ll hear from V. Vale, who published Search and Destroy, remembering how punk turned the Mab into an international crossroads. You’ll hear about Francesca Valdez, who spent decades trying to keep this space alive, and whose spirit still fuels what’s happening now.

Looking Forward

This isn’t just an obituary for what once was. It’s an introduction to what’s next. As the podcast makes clear, The Mab was never just about music — it was about lowering the bar so anyone with something to say could grab a mic and say it. That ethos matters as much today as it did in the late ‘70s. Maybe even more.

So yes — we’re bringing shows back. We’re keeping tickets cheap. But we’re also opening the floor to film, comedy, poetry, workshops, and whatever creative energy you’ve been holding inside waiting for the right room.

The Bay captured it well: this is a rebirth, not a rerun.

Listen to the Episode

Take a listen, share it around, and if you haven’t yet — follow along on Instagram for what’s next. The curtains are still here. The roof is ready to be lifted again.

The Fab Mab Returns: Community Campaign to Resurrect Mabuhay Gardens as a Nonprofit Arts Hub

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Fab Mab Returns

Community Campaign to Resurrect San Francisco’s Legendary Mabuhay Gardens as a Nonprofit Arts Hub
Where Punk Rock History Meets Future Creative Revolution at 443 Broadway

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — September 2025
The walls of 435–443 Broadway have absorbed the fury of Black Flag, the innovation of Devo, the chaos of the Dead Kennedys, and the defiance of thousands who transformed a Filipino supper club into the epicenter of West Coast punk.
Now, a coalition of artists, neighbors, and community leaders is fighting to ensure these walls continue to echo with creative defiance for generations to come. The campaign to resurrect Mabuhay Gardens — the legendary “Fab Mab” that defined San Francisco’s punk scene from 1976 to 1987 — represents more than nostalgia. It’s a battle for the city’s creative soul at a time when venues are shuttering and artists are being priced out.

A CALL TO ACTION

“We’re going for it; we’re not holding back. Mabuhay Gardens was such an important venue for so many people, and bringing that back as soon as we can is the least we can do for our community here.”

— Tom Watson, Revival Leader
The team has launched an urgent GoFundMe campaign to help acquire the 12,000-square-foot building and transform it into a nonprofit arts and cultural center. The goal: $4.5 million for acquisition, debt resolution, and essential renovations.
This is not corporate entertainment — it is community ownership. Every dollar keeps the space that birthed punk rock in the hands of the people who understand its true value. Donations are fully tax-deductible through fiscal sponsor.

LEGACY & FUTURE

Under legendary promoter Dirk Dirksen — the abrasive, brilliant “Pope of Punk” — the Fab Mab hosted more than 3,600 shows that shaped global music. The Avengers. Patti Smith. The Police. Iggy Pop. A young Metallica in 1982. Robin Williams once joked that hell was “opening for the Ramones at the Mabuhay Gardens.”

The new Fab Mab will honor that legacy while evolving for the future:

  • Dual performance venues on two floors

  • Recording studio and listening lounge

  • Youth workshops and mentorship programs

  • Artist residencies and exhibitions

  • Community-first pricing — access, not exclusivity


FRANCESCA’S VISION LIVES ON

This revival also honors Francesca Valdez (1955–2025), who owned the building from 1989 until her passing in July. A Filipina immigrant who began as a cleaner before buying the property, Francesca fiercely protected the space from commercial interests.

“These buildings tell you what they want to be. It’s not my space — it’s the community’s space.”

— Francesca Valdez

Her legacy lives on through this effort, carried forward by Tom Watson (philanthropist and creative space builder), Michael Sturtz (founder, The Crucible), Bobby Fishkin (community organizer), Joanna Blanche Lioce (nightlife veteran), and a coalition of artists and neighbors.

PROOF OF RETURN: UPCOMING EVENTS

  • September 6, 2025 — Opening show with Anthony Arya
  • October 3, 2025Kelley Stoltz, Federale, The Boars on both Mabuhay and Ballroom stagesand ballroom upstairs)
  • October 2025 — Tech Week co-working activation
  • Grand Opening Party — Date TBD

About Mabuhay Gardens: From 1976–1987, Mabuhay Gardens was the epicenter of West Coast punk rock, hosting legendary acts that defined a generation and launched a global movement.

About Broadway Studios: A coalition of local investors, artists, and community advocates working to preserve and activate cultural spaces in San Francisco through community ownership and creative programming.

Continue reading

San Francisco’s legendary punk club Mabuhay Gardens could make a comeback

By Aidin Vaziri · Published Aug 25, 2025
Originally published by San Francisco Chronicle

A group of San Franciscans is rallying to bring back one of the city’s most storied music venues: Mabuhay Gardens. A new GoFundMe campaign aims to raise $4.5 million to purchase 435–443 Broadway — the former nightclub that defined West Coast punk in the 1970s and ’80s — and reopen it as a nonprofit arts and cultural center.

From 1976 to 1987, the “Fab Mab” hosted seminal punk and new wave acts including the Dead Kennedys, Avengers, Ramones, Blondie, and Black Flag under promoter Dirk Dirksen. Its legacy as the beating heart of San Francisco punk continues to resonate nearly four decades after its closure.

The revival effort comes as other beloved independent venues face closure across the city, underscoring the importance of community ownership to preserve cultural history. Organizers envision a multipurpose hub with live performances, workshops, residencies, and youth programming.

Top Image Credit: Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys crowdsurfs at a San Francisco club in 1979. A community group has launched a campaign to bring back Mabuhay Gardens, the legendary North Beach club that defined West Coast punk in the 1970s and ’80s, by reopening it as a nonprofit arts hub.
(Photo: Vici MacDonald / S.F. Chronicle)

Legendary SF Punk Club Mabuhay Gardens Is on the Verge of Reopening

By Jessica Lipsky · Published Aug 25, 2025 · Updated Aug 29, 2025
Originally published by KQED Arts

Few institutions in San Francisco are as crucial to punk as Mabuhay Gardens. The legendary venue and Filipino restaurant at 435–443 Broadway was ground zero for the Bay Area’s punk scene in the 1970s and ’80s, hosting acts like the Dead Kennedys, Devo, Iggy Pop, and Blondie until its closure in 1987.

On August 25, a group of local investors, nightlife veterans, and North Beach neighbors launched a crowdfunding campaign to purchase and reopen the building as Mabuhay Gardens, this time as a nonprofit arts and culture hub with live music at its core.

The first show is scheduled for September 6 with local artist Anthony Arya, followed by October 3 performances from Kelley Stoltz, Federale, and The Boars. Musicians will perform on both the original downstairs stage and the upstairs ballroom.