Last Song
After more than three decades of hosting music, Bottom of the Hill will close at the end of 2026.
The 350-capacity 17th and Missouri streets venue announced the decision in a Facebook post last month, saying its final night will be New Year’s Eve 2026. Opened in 1991, Bottom of the Hill has been an early stage for artists who would go on to headline arenas, including Green Day, Oasis, Alanis Morissette, the Strokes and the White Stripes. “As the owners of Bottom of the Hill, we (Ramona Downey, Kathleen Owen, and Lynn Schwarz), are three women in different phases of our lives (and a sad RIP to Tim Benetti, our beloved fourth, whom we recently lost),” they shared in a joint Facebook statement. “Several of our team have been with us for well over a decade and some the whole time, making this decision to shutter extra difficult.” Over the years, the venue’s intimate room has had notable moments. In 1996, a near riot broke out when the Beastie Boys attempted to perform a secret show under the pseudonym Quasar. Two years later, Green Day broadcast a set from the club for MTV’s “Live at the 10 Spot.” One of San Francisco’s last small venues not booked exclusively by a major promoter, Bottom of the Hill built its reputation on giving emerging artists a place to play — and be treated well — in an increasingly corporatized live music landscape. Over the years, it’s held benefits, weddings, school recitals and memorials.
College Replaced
Vanderbilt University has acquired the California College of the Arts’ Potrero Hill property and plans to establish a full-time academic campus there beginning in the fall of 2027. The campus, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to serve about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. CCA, Northern California’s last remaining nonprofit art and design college, which has long struggled financially, will continue instruction through the 2026-27 academic year. Vanderbilt officials said CCA students can apply to the university but won’t be automatically transferred. Vanderbilt intends to operate a CCA Institute at Vanderbilt which will include, among other things, the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts, maintain CCA archival materials, and serve as a vehicle for CCA alumni engagement. CCA’s announced a $45 million donation from the founders of tech giant Nvidia nearly a year ago, which university officials hoped would help stave off financial ruin.
More Bagels
Bagel Daddy opened in Showplace Square in December, offering five varieties of bagels — plain, everything, sesame, poppy, and salt — and nine flavors of house-made cream cheese, including plain, scallion, blackberry mint and garlic chili crisp. Also available are bacon, egg, and cheeses, and a classic open-face lox sandwich featuring sushi-grade smoked salmon. Owner Benjamin Simon is a software engineer and founder of yoga app Down Dog. After moving to San Francisco more than a decade ago, he couldn’t find what he considered to be a good bagel, so he started making his own. There’s hardly a hole in San Francisco’s bagel scene today, with Wise Sons, Schlok’s, and Boichik, among others, competing to be the perfect vehicle for butter or cream cheese.