Underground rave culture was flourishing, the experimental art scene was thriving, spoken word was all the rage, and Queer Nation and ACT UP had just formed. In other words, these so-called “dark days” were the perfect breeding ground for creativity and change. That was before all the money flowed in from the dot-com bubble of the 1990s.
Rents rose slowly and more and more artists were pushed out. Back then, I was in a band and watched my fellow musicians move to Los Angeles one by one to get more gigs, better connections, and, most importantly, cheaper rent. Sure, the tech scene flourished, but at what cost to the creative community? Sound familiar?
Photo of San Francisco in 1998 by Simon Sees.
We all know what happened next. The dot-com bubble burst and a whole bunch of corporate employees scrambled to get jobs at Starbucks just to pay the rent. During this time, many high-end venues closed. So-called “ultra lounges,” which offered bottle service customers and VIP experiences, were the first casualties in the nightlife industry — but bars survived. And thrived. So I got my first DJ gig in a bar in 2002.
And during this time, opportunities arose that were not there before. It was around this time that I ended up starting a successful nightlife business and realized a few years later that if you keep prices reasonable, people will go out partying even during the Great Recession.
