Slim’s site to reopen as dance party space
Proprietors of club in Sunnyvale share plans for longtime S.F. live music venue
The new owners of the building that housed Slim’s, the famed San Francisco rock music venue that shut down in March, plan to reopen the space as a dance music club called YOLO.
In a virtual meeting with the city’s Entertainment Commission this month, proprietors Michael Hu and Peter Lin outlined their plans for the 11th Street nightclub formerly owned by rocker Boz Scaggs, making it clear that there would no live music hosted at the venue.
Instead, they would use the space to host corporate events and weekend dance parties, with an entertainment roster similar to that of Pure Nightclub, their 8yearold venue in Sunnyvale that features VIP lounges, bottle service and a lineup of international electronic dance music DJs.
They did not provide a timeline for YOLO.
“Due to the current situation with COVID19, everything is moving slowly,” Hu told The Chronicle on Friday, Aug. 14. “We are not ready to talk yet. We will talk once we are getting closer on opening.”
When YOLO does open its doors, it will mark a major shift in the San Francisco nightlife scene. The club will carry over a dress code from Pure that would leave most of the bands that performed at Slim’s in its former incarnation out in the cold: no flannel, ponytails, hoodies, neck tattoos or “extreme body odor.”
For more than 30 years, the 600personcapacity Slim’s was the home base for many Bay Area bands and the first stop in town for touring acts on their way up. It has hosted bigname acts like Pearl Jam, Snoop Dogg, Foo Fighters, Sheryl Crow, Prince, Beck, Bruno Mars, No Doubt and David Bowie.
YOLO’s booking will “tagteam” with Pure, Hu said during the Aug. 4 permit approval meeting, meaning the DJs they book will play both of their Bay Area venues. In the past, Pure has hosted the likes of Cheat Codes, Gryffin, Keri Hilson, Fetty Wap and DJ Pauly D of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” fame.
But the room will largely remain the same. “We’re not planning to do any major remodeling,” Hu said. “It’s going to be purely cosmetic.”
The new owners, who said they had been in search of a venue for two years, were encouraged by the commission’s members to engage in neighborhood outreach before moving forward any further with their plans.
“Slim’s went through quite a battle with neighbors,” Commissioner Laura Thomas mentioned during the Aug. 4 meeting. “It would probably be good to familiarize yourself with some of the concerns of the neighbors and reach out to the folks who have been most involved.”
For several years, Slim’s was involved in regular skirmishes with the California Department of Alcoholic
Beverage Control and the city over a barrage of noise complaints from encroaching neighbors. But Hu reassured the commissioners that YOLO would be less likely to draw complaints due to its ability to control the volume of the venue’s sound system. “Live bands produce a lot more dB, a lot more sound level, but we’re not doing any of that,” he said.
With more than half of the city’s storefronts shuttered, according to data analyzed by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Hu and Lin received support from the commission members.
“I appreciate how hard it is to be in your shoes and opening this during a pandemic,” commission President Ben Bleiman told the new owners. “We need more people just like you coming in and bringing life and energy.”
“Due to the current situation with COVID-19, everything is moving slowly . ... We will talk once we are getting closer on opening.”
Michael Hu, new coowner of building that housed Slim’s