San Francisco club Mezzanine set to close after losing its lease

San Francisco club Mezzanine will close after losing its lease, with the final parties set for late-2019. 

The independent venue has been a staple of the region's club scene since opening in 2003, hosting names ranging from LCD Soundsystem to Rusko, Paul Oakenfold to Lena Willikens and Floating Points. 

The announcement was made on Twitter after the building's landlords refused to negotiate new terms. A major loss for Californian nightlife, it comes just under two months after a new bill to allow the sale of alcohol after 4AM was vetoed in the state, contrasting New York, which elected its first Nightlife Mayor earlier this year to help protect the local nocturnal economy. 

“I was disappointed that the owners of the building didn’t give me an opportunity to renegotiate a new lease," said Mezzanine owner Deborah Jackman in a statement. "What I find most disturbing is that Mezzanine, like so many other cultural institutions, has fallen victim to corporate greed and commercial development.”

The owners are looking to turn the address into commercial office space in a bid to maximise rent in a city widely considered the least affordable in the US. The club now has less than one year, with plans already in place for a 16th Birthday session in April, now dubbed 'Bittersweet 16'. 

"We have 10 months, and I’m going to make sure we have the most fun that we can," Jackman said. "We’re going to go after some artists that have outgrown Mezzanine — but hopefully have some attachment to us —  that will come and play and help us celebrate what we’re now gong to call our ‘Bittersweet 16’ in April and have a whole month celebration for that.

“I’m also hoping that maybe there will be a rallying cry,” she added. “My dream — and it’s only a dream — is that there’s enough pressure from our fans and the community that maybe it buys us a few more months and that they would let us have New Year’s 2020.”

“Mezzanine is at its best when we have live electronic music. Simian Mobile Disco back in the day, LCD Soundsystem, the Cut Copy New Year’s — there’s so many. Flight Facilities this year was really good," Marketing Director Chris Sanders told SF Weekly. 

“It’s that venue that a lot of artists play right before they get huge,” he adds. “And we get underplays: Galantis played right after selling out Bill Graham. People get a chance to see a really big artist in an intimate setting.”