The EndUp

Coordinates: 37°46′38.2″N 122°24′13.92″W / 37.777278°N 122.4038667°W / 37.777278; -122.4038667

The EndUp exterior as seen from Harrison Street

The EndUp is a dance club in San Francisco, California that was founded in November 1973. It is located on the corner of 6th and Harrison, in the SoMa (South of Market (Street)) district. The EndUp has two bars, a lounge with fireplace, a dance floor with mirrored columns, and a large open-air deck with plants and seating. The club is renowned for its powerful high-end sound system, and for usually being the only club open throughout the night and well into the next day. The venue has hosted a variety of benefits, events and clubs and each night has a unique dance focus catering to subsets of the dance community. The club reflects the changing nature of gay, dance and San Francisco cultures.

History

1970s

When the nightclub first opened in November 1973, the owner was Al Hankin. The dance floor was made of translucent plastic with flashing lights below. The sound system was a discrete 4 channel custom made creation with Cerwin Vega speakers rear loaded into the ceiling to enhance the subs. The EndUp was originally an entirely gay dance club, catering mainly to Asian-Americans and their admirers. It was famous as the location of the Sunday Afternoon Wet Jockstrap Dance Contest from about 1974 to about 1992, with host Randy Johnson and DJs—Steve Newman and Peter D. Struve (google petermixt). Entering this contest is how many San Francisco Go-Go dancers began their go-go dance careers. This contest was made famous in the 1976 book Tales of the City, the first volume of the six-volume series (hexalogy) Tales of the City by San Francisco author Armistead Maupin and recreated on the PBS made for TV mini-series of the same name.

In 1979, after the opening of the neighboring Trocadero, DJ Wayne approached Al Hanken (owner of the Endup) to open the Endup at 6am for those people leaving the Troc in the early morning. Al initially thought it a silly idea, finally agreed to give it a try. The first morning Al scheduled one bartender. Church was an instant hit. By 10am the bottled water was gone. Wayne would continue to DJ Church on Sunday mornings until Steve Fabus took the reins in early 1980.

Eddie Garetti, manager of Greg's Blue dot later opened his club at 6am doing Church in Los Angeles.

1980s

The EndUp continued opening at 6am on Sunday morning in 1980 for a party originally called Church with DJ Steve Fabus. Those who had been up all night dancing at the Trocadero Transfer and still wanted to dance more, came to for morning "Church" when the Trocadero Transfer closed at 6am. The EndUp is famous among DJs as the place where high-energy disco music began with the DJ Patrick Cowley at the Menergy parties in 1982. Over a period of three weeks once a week, culminating on Valentines Day (February 14) 1984, a contest called Go-Go's Wild was held at the EndUp in which the person who was judged by the audience to be the best go-go dancer in a wooden cage (with four vertical poles—shaped like a telephone booth) got a prize of $100. Many people entered this contest and it inspired many to begin their go-go dance careers.

Early 90s

Club Uranus

Created by DJs Lewis Walden and Michael Blue, Club Uranus was not only a very fun club but also fostered a community of artists and "freaks" who celebrated excessive creativity and encouraged others to flex their creative energies by go-go dancing, performing as performance art dancers, and performing as drag queens. The Club Uranus was held every Sunday night from December 1989 to December 1992, with special events such as the Miss Uranus drag queen contest continuing on an occasional basis until April 1994. With co-MC Jerome Caja and a cast of Club Kids, drag artists and performance artists like Trauma Flintstone, Diet Popstitute, Steven Maxxine, Kitty Litter and performers like Pussy Tourette and Elvis Herselvis, Club Uranus was the place to be a part of the bohemian underground scene. The annual Miss Uranus Pageant became widely known in the larger LGBT community when a contestant, a performance art dancer named "Betty" fed a hamster with carrot sticks. She threw a carrot hitting an audience member in the eye. She had been feeding the animal by holding the carrot between her butt cheeks. The local gay media ran a series of letters attempting to get any legal names of the performers but no one cooperated. The winner of the first Miss Uranus pageant was Dede Astor, performing a cover of Bela Lugosi's Dead on glasses. Second place went to Agina LaVey, performing a live "birth" (to the bastard child of club hostess Ggreg Taylor) to the theme of Rosemary's Baby.

Klub Dekadence

The Klub Dekadence, another avant-garde queer dance club, took place every Friday night from December 1991 to December 1993. DJ Bugie was the DJ. It had a reputation for having the sexiest go-go dancers and performance art dancers who wore the most unusual go-go dance costumes.

2005 ownership change

In August 2005, the club was sold by Carl Hankin, the brother of the founder, to a group of six owners with eclectic backgrounds.

The new owners of the EndUp have brought most of the promotions in-house. The parties at the venue still have a lot of variety including the gay disco and early underground house music sound that helped create the uniqueness of the club. These classic sounds can still be heard Sunday mornings and into the afternoon. Music styles at the club have evolved as well. Today the club sounds include reggae, mash-ups, breakbeat, techno, tech house, electro house and more. DJ's from around the world still appear including Derrick Carter, Doc Martin, Tommy Sunshine, DJ Sneak, Josh Wink. With the departure of Fag Fridays DJ Hawthorne's Ghetto Disco has been added to the lineup. Thursdays are (((Phonic))) with a harder more international sound of techno, tech house and electro house. First Saturdays are KONTROL, one of North America's most respected techno events,[1] featuring minimal techno and micro-house with an emphasis on live performance. Second Saturdays are Reggae Gold featuring reggae and dancehall. Third Saturdays is now The Show providing a huge variety of music: breakbeats, electro, hip hop hybrids, hyphy, glitch, acid bass, dubstep house, tech house and progressive house beats. It is very clear the club is committed to diversity. Sydney Leung, one of the new owners emphasized that the EndUp is committed to keeping the place "legendary".

From November 2005 to August 2006, the Revolutionary Club featuring DJ Keoki, hosted by night club promoter Jim "Astroboy" Williams, was held at the End Up on the last Saturday of each month.

The EndUp today

Today the most popular parties at the EndUp are the daytime Sunday T-Dance, Sunday Mass, KONTROL, (((Phonic))), Ghetto Disco, The Show and Reggae Gold.

Awards

The club has been repeatedly acknowledged with industry awards. These awards include "Best DJs",[2] "Best After-Hours Club",[3] "Best Dance Club",[4] "Best Outdoor Bar",[5] and "Best Gay Club"[6] "Night stalker Award"[7] and more.

References

  1. ↑ Techno Tear Up with Kontrol S.F, XLR8R Magazine, November 20, 2008
  2. ↑ Best DJs, Citysearch 2008
  3. ↑ Best After-Hours Club, Bay Guardian Best of the Bay 2008
  4. ↑ Best After-Hours Club, Bay Guardian Best of the Bay 2008
  5. ↑ Best Outdoor Bar, Citysearch 2008
  6. ↑ Best Gay Bar, SF Weekly 2000
  7. ↑ Night Stalker Award, Club World Awards 2004
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