San Francisco’s darling jazz bar in Haight-Ashbury would close
Club Deluxe, a beloved jazz bar in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, is closing, said supervisor Dean Preston, whose neighborhood includes the live music venue.
Preston told The Chronicle in a text message on Wednesday that he learned of the closure a day early and asked the owner how his office could help. Preston said his team is considering how Club Deluxe could stay open on Haight Street, including the company’s potential nomination to receive heritage status in San Francisco.
“Club Deluxe is an incredible venue and an important part of the fabric of the Haight and San Francisco live music scene,” Preston said.
Reports of the closure began circulating on social media on Tuesday after local musicians shared what appeared to be a letter from the owner to musicians about the closure. It was not immediately clear when the venue would close for good.
Club Deluxe staff did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“It is with sadness and a hint of disbelief that I must let you know that Deluxe will be closing,” owner Sarah Wilde wrote in the letter.
Wilde said the company did not need a monetary donation. Instead, she said she needed the “multi-billion dollar real estate company that owns our building to allow a fraction of their portfolio to remain occupied by small businesses, artists, the unsigned musician , the carpenter, the waitress and the single parent,” Wilde wrote.
Wilde wrote that she wanted to move the concert hall but did not know how or when.
Percussionist Maria Medina Serafin performs at Club Deluxe in a photo from 2006.
Deanne Fitzmaurice/The Chronicle“Please know that it has been a huge honor for me to lead Deluxe for the past 7 years,” she said. “I feel more grateful to you all and to my staff than I can express.”
Cathy Lemons, a San Francisco blues singer of duo The Lucky Losers, shared the letter in a Facebook post, urging fellow local musicians to “get involved in politics and activism or we will lose the last vestiges of our livelihood, locally. ”
The Lucky Losers are scheduled to perform at Club Deluxe on Sunday, according to the venue’s programming schedule.
“Please support live music. Hope Club Deluxe can find a new home,” Lemons wrote in another Facebook post.
Jessica Flores (her) is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.comTwitter: @jessmflores
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