The Stud, a stalwart San Francisco bar that hosted events and provided support to the city's LGBTQ community for decades before closing during the Covid pandemic, is slated to reopen this year in a new location.
A worker cooperative that owned the bar plans to announce details about the new location Tuesday and promote an online fundraising campaign to cover the cost of renovations. The reopening plans were first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The new location will be at 1123-1125 Folsom St. in the South of Market neighborhood, just a few blocks from its last location on Ninth Street. The cooperative said on its fundraising page that it had signed a contract to purchase the new space last month.
The campaign's page outlines the collective's hoped-for renovations—including the installation of dressing rooms, two bars, a dance floor and DJ booths—and outlines the building's previous uses.
As of Monday, donors had contributed about $8,100, or 1.5% of a $500,000 goal.
The Stud nearly closed in 2017, when the rent on the Ninth Street location shot up. The collective formed at that time. However, the bar shut down in May 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
Collective member Nate Allbee, a communications director for Assemblymember Matt Haney, told The Standard that the bar's third move since its 1966 opening should allow it to display many historic items.
"There were decades of treasures, paperwork, flyers, art" in a basement nook beneath the dance floor at the Stud's former location at 399 Ninth St., Albee said Monday.
"One of the major things we're doing is bringing back that history and art," Allbee said. "There's a lot of things that were forgotten and misplaced."
In the interim, an immersive experience tribute to the popular Tim Burton film The Nightmare Before Christmas will run Thursdays through Sundays at the new venue starting this week through Oct. 29.