page_title: 924 Gilman Street
section_title: Establishment
hierarchical_section_title: 924 Gilman Street / History / Establishment
caption_attribution_description: Operation Ivy photographed at the Gilman club
context_page_description: The Alternative Music Foundation located at 924 Gilman Street, often referred to by its fans simply as "Gilman", is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club. It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California, about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San Pablo Avenue, at the corner of 8th and Gilman Streets.
  Gilman is mostly associated with being the springboard for the '90s punk revival led by bands like Green Day, Operation Ivy, Rancid, and The Offspring.
  Gilman showcases mostly punk rock, specifically pop punk and hardcore punk acts, as well as heavy metal, industrial metal, grindcore, ska punk and, most recently, hip hop.
context_section_description: As early as 1984, punk rock fan and Maximumrocknroll founder Tim Yohannan began thinking about establishment of an all ages music space in the San Francisco bay area where bands could play and interact with audience members free of the structure of conventional music promotion. Actual organizational work began in 1985, with Yohannan joined in the effort by Victor Hayden, who had previously started a parallel project to start a punk club in Berkeley and who had already located a promising space in an industrial section of Berkeley. Although Yohannan initially had misgivings about the 924 Gilman Street location spotted by Hayden, he was ultimately persuaded that the building was a suitable space for the project which was envisioned. Negotiations began with the landlord and in April 1986 a lease was signed.
  The organizing circle was expanded with a view to raising the $40,000 needed for rent and remodeling and for generating the volunteers necessary to make the construction project happen. Yohannan made use of his political connections and experience gained as a campaign volunteer for Berkeley Citizen's Action Group, an organization which had won majority control of the Berkeley City Council, and was able to call upon friends sitting on various city boards, urging their cooperation with the new venture. Berkeley mayor Gus Newport was supportive and project organizers crossed their t's and dotted their i's in winning the tacit approval for the project from businesses and residents of the area. The landlord also proved himself reliable and supportive of the goals of his new tenants.
  Tim Yohannan later recalled:
  
  "We didn't know shit about construction, and people were coming out of the woodwork, just showing up and helping—people who had the skills we needed, carpenters, plumbers, electricians. We had to build new bathrooms, etc., and pass the inspections. We got our final approval from the city the afternoon of our first show, which was New Year's Eve, December 1986."
  Rent on the 2,000 square foot building was $2,000 per month at the time of the club's launch—regarded as a reasonable and manageable rate.
  On December 31, 1986, the first musical performance was held at 924 Gilman. Since then, it has been one of the longest-running independent music venues in the United States. The club slowly progressed as a mecca for punk youth to get away from everyday issues at home, work, government, etc.
  In its initial phase hardcore punk shows were held three days a week—on Friday and Saturday nights as well as Sunday matinees. This quickly proved to be overwhelming for club volunteers, however, and as an alternative non-hardcore shows began to be run on Fridays by a separate crew of organizers. These Friday shows were more poorly attended than the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon hardcore extravaganzas but nevertheless served their purpose of providing an alternative venue to bands seeking to escape the grim reality of 21-and-over bar shows while allowing core volunteers to avoid the burnout associated with excessive event scheduling. This necessary scheduling adjustment had the serendipitous effect of diversifying and broadening the base of support for the 924 Gilman space.
caption: Operation Ivy playing at Gilman
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