The Uptown Is Reopening, Will Stay A Music Venue

Image: Seller on CraigsList

This website was shocked around three months back when we discovered that Oakland’s Uptown Nightclub was for sale on Craigslist. But that sale listing has been deleted, and the club just announced they found a buyer who will reopen it and maintain it as a music venue.

“Dear Uptown Community,” the club said in a Facebook post last Thursday night. “We are happy to announce that the Uptown will be reopening as a music venue!  It will have a new name and new ownership, but we hope that it is soon filled with all of your familiar faces. Stay tuned for updates…”

Rachel M. via Yelp

That’s wonderful news, but is merely four sentences, and we cannot be sure if those words were written by the new management or previous management. But let’s read the tea leaves — the post says the club will have a “new name,” which could mean curtains for the iconic guitar-neck neon sign. Note also that it says “reopening as a music venue,” but does not say “live music venue,” so we cannot be sure it will have the same eclectic live music programming of the bar’s previous incarnation.

But there is a sly reference in the comments to SF’s no live music, DJ-only venue YOLO. One commenter notes, “If it’s YOLO Oakland, no one‘s coming 🤣.” To which the club social media account responds, “You know we would never let that happen!!!” This indicates, but does not prove, that there will be live music or stage shows at the rebooted Uptown.

The Uptown opened in 2005, and has hosted a who’s-who of Bay Area and nationally known musical acts over the years. It closed in 2007, and then again in 2014, before its latest permanent closure in September. All of these closures have led to reopenings under new ownership, and we’re delighted to see that the beat will go on again here this time.