Mabuhay Gardens

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The Mabuhay Gardens (aka The Fab Mab) was a San Francisco nightclub located at 443 Broadway, on the Broadway strip of North Beach, an area best known for its strip clubs.

Originally a Filipino restaurant and club owned by Ness Aquino, it featured many Filipino celebrities, including Miss Amapola Cabase. Aquino and Amapola also co-hosted a weekly television program, The Amapola Presents Show on KEMO-TV Channel 20.[1]

In 1976, Aquino agreed to have rock promoter and television producer Dirk Dirksen book punk and new wave bands there; it soon became one of the main venues for punk rock in San Francisco in the late 1970s and early 1980s (a sort of west coast CBGBs). Virtually every early Bay Area punk and new wave band performed there at one time or another, and it was an important touring stop for bands from beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. Among the bands that performed there were the Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Romeo Void, Black Flag, The Dictators, The Nuns, The Mutants, The Avengers, The Damned, DEVO, Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Hüsker Dü, D.O.A., The Screamers, Minutemen, DRI, Redd Kross, JFA, and Metallica. Comedian Whoopie Goldberg also made early appearances at the venue.[2]

Dirksen had a unique style as emcee, deliberately baiting and trading insults with audience and band members, which had the effect of raising the energy of audience and performers alike. Dirksen's abrasive persona (which was largely a performance) was a central part of the atmosphere of the Mabuhay.[3]

The Mabuhay Gardens shut down in 1986. As of 2006, the building now houses the The Velvet Lounge, a "yuppie" nightclub. The Velvet Lounge booked a few punk shows in 2003 with the intention of promoting them as "Fab Mab" shows, however, Dirksen denied them permission to use the name, which he holds copyright on. A "Fab Mab Reunion" emceed by Dirk Dirksen took place on April 8, 2006 [4] [5], however, this was held at The Fillmore and not at The Velvet Lounge.

The upstairs part of the building housed the equally legendary On Broadway nightclub, also run by Dirksen.