DNA Lounge

Sound check, 2009

The DNA Lounge building in 2020 (seen across Eleventh Street); with DNA Pizza on the lower left

The club's main room has a stage at one end and a bar at the other, with a wall-to-wall dance floor in between. Benches and cocktail tables line the walls downstairs. Above this, a balcony looks down on the dance floor and stage from three sides.

Behind the stage on the second floor is a large lounge consisting of two connected rooms, with its own dance floor and sound system.

Next door is a smaller live music venue with its own stage and a pair of dance floors in two rooms, known as "Above DNA". This space has its own entrance to the street as well as a connecting door to the DNA Lounge main room. On some nights, the main room and Above DNA operate separately, with different events in each; but for larger events, all four rooms are connected together into one large venue. The entire second floor is not wheelchair accessible; there is no elevator.

For live shows, the capacity of the main room is around 800, and Above DNA is around 300.[2]

The venue first opened for business in 1983[3] as a leather bar called Chaps, owned by Chuck Slaton.

In 1985 it was purchased by Jim English and Brian Raffi who opened for business under the name DNA Lounge on November 22, 1985. The name was rumored to be an acronym for "dancing, not art".[4][5] Jim English left around 1988 to open Club Townsend, while restaurateur Jeff Mason became Raffi's new partner. The earliest regular DJs were Ted Cousens, Adam Fisher, Michael Snyder, and Brian Raffi. One of the early doormen was Doc Martin, who later became a popular house music DJ after a residency on Monday nights as a DJ (and spinning a lot at Townsend, thanks to English, as he became a star).

Some nights were genre-specific, with both live bands and DJs. Notable nights and resident DJs included DJs Blackstone (who spun hip-hop and rap on Wednesday nights), DJ Pause (who spun hip-hop and rap on Monday nights), DJ Damon and DJ Matt (who spun Rock on Tuesdays), and were preceded by Kelly Spencer (who played punk and new wave). Many of DNA's posters and flyers were designed by the San Francisco-based artist, Rex Ray. There were wildly psychedelic, fluorescent murals of strange and twisted monsters with stretched perspectives on the otherwise black downstairs walls and a black and white motif in the upstairs VIP lounge that was painted by celebrated late graffiti artist Keith Haring.

During the late '80s, the DNA offered a black membership card for $10 that offered free entry most nights. Employees got a gold card which allowed up to four guests at no charge, and there was a rumored 'platinum' card that was said to be a free pass to unlimited entry, guests, and drinks. In the early '90s, the club hosted many rave-themed nights with acts including Right Said Fred, the Hardkiss Brothers and Tasti Box, and afterhours events such as Lift- it was an important venue in San Francisco rave history. The DNA Lounge was also one of the few bars in San Francisco that would serve the Flaming Dr Pepper, an ignited drink.

In 1994, the club was purchased by John Schneider, his brother, comedian/actor Rob Schneider (who was not an active partner in club operations), and restaurateur Tim Dale. From 1995 until 1998, the DNA was a popular late-night destination, featuring unpublicized shows by such top pop musicians as Prince and Metallica, and weekend dance parties headlined by retro bands Grooveline and the M-80s. But, starting in 1996, John Schneider had to devote the bulk of his time running their family hotel and resort business. They left the daily operations of the club to subordinates, and it fell into disrepair.[6]

The club was purchased by Jamie Zawinski in 1999. The club was closed for extensive remodeling and soundproofing from April 1999 until it re-opened on Friday, July 13, 2001.[7]

From 2001 through 2009, the club provided several publicly accessible computer terminals (running Fedora). They were eventually removed due to maintenance difficulties, and a belief that the prevalence of internet-enabled phones made them obsolete.[8]

In 2011, Zawinski purchased the pizza restaurant next door to DNA Lounge, renaming it DNA Pizza, and announcing his plans to expand DNA Lounge into that space, combining the two businesses into a single all-ages nightclub, restaurant and cafe.[9] That merger was completed in 2012, and the expanded club debuted on October 23, 2012.[10]

DNA Lounge won "Best Dance Club" in the San Francisco Bay Guardian's "Best of the Bay" readers' poll in 2008,[21] 2009,[22] 2010,[23] 2011,[24] 2012,[25] 2014, 2016,[26] 2017,[27] 2019,[28] and 2020,[29] and "Best Bar Staff" in 2011[24] and 2012.[25] DNA Lounge won "Best Dance Club" in SF Weekly's "Best of SF" readers' poll in 2011,[30] 2013,[31] 2014,[32] 2017,[33] 2018,[34] and "Best Live Music Venue" in 2017.[33] A number of regular DNA Lounge events are perennial winners as well, including Bootie ("Best Party Producers", "Best Dance Party"), Smash-Up Derby ("Best Cover Band"), Hubba Hubba Revue ("Best Burlesque"), Bohemian Carnival ("Best Circus Troupe"), Trannyshack ("Best Drag Show"), Bearracuda ("Best Club for Queer Men") and Fog City Wrestling ("Best Body Slams").

On November 22, 2010, the date of DNA Lounge's 25th anniversary, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors issued a resolution proclaiming that day to be "DNA Lounge Day",[35] "to convey the City's sincere respect for their ability to successfully run an entertainment business for the past 25 years."

On the same day, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom presented the club with a Certificate of Honor, stating that the club "contributes to the rich cultural history of San Francisco's entertainment scene and our beloved historic South of Market District."[35]

On December 11, 2017 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and San Francisco Small Business Commission granted DNA Lounge Legacy Business status,[36] stating that such businesses are "the bedrock of our communities and a draw for tourists from around the world. Preserving our legacy businesses is critical to maintaining what it is that makes San Francisco a special place."[37]

Luxxury at DNA Lounge, March 17, 2007

The space functions as a venue for both live music and regular dance nights.

Popular regular events at DNA Lounge include:

• Bootie, a weekly Saturday all-mashup dance night
• Death Guild, the longest-running weekly gothic/industrial dance night in the country.
• Hubba Hubba Revue, a weekly burlesque show, featuring classic striptease, vaudeville comedy, variety acts, and live music.
• Mortified,[38] an event where adults read from their most embarrassing adolescent journals.
• Hoodslam, a profane and absurd underground professional wrestling event.
• So Stoked, a dance party featuring hardcore, trance, drum and bass, and other rave music DJs; it is also one of the city's few all ages dance parties (as opposed to 18+).
• Turbo Drive, an event featuring performers and DJs in the burgeoning synthwave scene.
• 8bitSF, an event featuring chiptune and video game music.
• Sequence, a weekly 18+ dance party showcasing dubstep and riddim DJs.
• Wasted, an 18+ dance party showcasing trap, bass house and dubstep DJs.
• Acid Rain, a psychedelic dance party featuring both live and DJ performances of psytrance, downtempo, and a range of other dance genres.
• The Cocktail Robotics Grand Challenge, an annual competition for Rube Goldberg-esque robots that create and serve cocktails.[39]
• Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, a monthly life-drawing event.

DNA Lounge has also hosted several notable tech-industry events, such as CodeCon (a hacker con), Ignite (a technology conference), and BSidesSF (a computer security conference). The release of Mozilla 1.0 was celebrated there in 2002,[40] and the 10th anniversary of FreeBSD was celebrated there in 2003.[41] Cypress Hill's music video for "Insane in the Brain" was filmed at DNA Lounge in 1993.[42][43] In the background of some shots can be seen parts of the Keith Haring mural that used to adorn the walls of the upstairs lounge. The title sequence of the SingStar Amped video game was shot at DNA Lounge in 2007.[44][45]

DNA Lounge has been well known for both DJ dance nights and live concerts. Since the club was purchased by Zawinski, they have been focusing more on live music,[46] and in 2008 they procured an all-ages liquor license to facilitate this. Live concerts are all ages, and most other events are 18+.[47] Concert highlights since 1985[48][49] include:

• Official website