Amado’s in the Mission is Closing

Amado’s, the much loved underground music venue, bar, and restaurant on Valencia Street in the Mission District, is closing.  Owner David Quinby told Mission Local this week that Amado’s was closing due to dwindling sales, which he blamed on the Valencia center bike lane.

Quinby cited demands from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency that he close his Valencia Street parklet as part of the bike lane improvement project. Amado’s is not the first business to complain about the forced removal of parking and parklets in front of their businesses in order to serve the bike lane project.

Removal of parking, he said, brought his sales down to 80 percent of what it was before the lane was there.

Last June a massive flood in Amado’s basement destroyed their underground music venue, a stage that frequently hosted local musical talent as well as traveling acts. The damage was estimated to be in the $500,000 range, but perhaps worse was that it forced them to close the stage and essentially cut the venue in half.

 

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Amado’s was always fun.  I personally never had a bad night there, it was always full of local heads, art kids, dirty musicians, friendly banter, and affordable drinks and ticket prices. It truly was a great neighborhood joint for the last 8 years, hosting everything from poetry readings to punk rock.

Quinby named the bar after Amado Espinoza, a musician and a storied local bartender at the former Cava 22, and a dear friend of Quinby who is himself from San Francisco.

“Amado’s is gone. It’s gone,” Quinby told Mission Local. “Nobody can get to the place. It’s really sad.”

Amado’s
998 Valencia St.
amadossf.com