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Disco Music > Discotheques and Clubs Index > I-Beam
I-Beam
San Francisco, CA
The I-Beam actually came before the Trocadero Transfer and was San Francisco's first big disco in 1977. The I-Beam was ordained as the high church of R & B Disco in San Francisco. (SF's version of the Paradise Garage).
The I-Beam was the place to hear Loleatta Holloway, Jackie Moore, Lenny Williams and of course the Trammps... Years later people would call this music House or Garage. Thanks to Steve Fabus for the scan of the ticket.
DJ's:
Michael Garrett
Steve Fabus
Timmy Rivers
Photos and description below submitted by Steve Fabus:
1. Zulema performs in the I-Beam's main room.
2. I-Beam lounge/game room.
3. Three Degrees in I-Beam main room.
Please feel free to link to this page by using this URL:
http://www.discomusic.com/clubs-more/3187_0_6_0_C/
COMMENTS ON THIS DISCO / DISCOTHEQUE / NIGHTCLUB
The I-Beam had the legendary music team of Tim Rivers, Michael Garrett, and Steve Fabus keeping it REAL.
It's opening on Haight Street was a major event and truly started the disco era in San Francisco.
A very hot (mostly male) crowd danced under two huge silver colored mylar i-beams that hung over the dance floor.
It was a nicely designed masculine club with the best music in the city.
Wow! I never saw the I-Beam mentioned anywhere before. I missed the disco era of the "Beam" since I didn't get to SF until 1982. But coming from the NYC disco scene it was inevitable that I'd find it. The I-Beam was essentially a New Wave club by the time I got there, but it was as close to a NYC house/disco club as I have been able to find in California.
Does anybody know when it finally closed?
Hi there
The I-Beam was my home 4-5 nights a week in the mid to late 80's (1986-1990), at a time when I desperately needed a home away from home. Having moved to the East coast since, I recently found out that the club burned down sometime in the late nineties, which was heartbreaking news to me as I always thought that I would someday go back and take a trip down Memory Lane.
Having been a regular there for many years, I would love to get in contact with anyone who used to be a regular during those years and share memories. Please post back on this board as I will be checking it on and off. Although most of the memories of my I-Beam friends have long faded away, I can still remember DJ Jeff Burkes (Tuesdays and Wednesdays, lol), Adrian Henriquez with his latino posse on stage wearing the cool hat and doing the sax player routine (Adrian, where are you buddy????), Mark and Ted, Sailor Hat, K.C. at the door, and many many other blurry memories... Hope to hear from one of you people soon and hoping that life is good to all of you out there!
Peace
Helen
Before the I Beam there was another notable dance club, "The City". It was on Montgomery just down from Broadway. Upstairs was a disco. Downstairs a cabaret. I worked there in it's heyday. Upstairs I saw amongst many divas of those days, Donna Summers perform about a month before her first hit on the charts. Downstairs I met Charles Pierce, Jane Olivor, Wayland Flowers and Madam, to name a few.
Although I worked there at the really true start of disco in San Francisco, my heart belongs in the I Beam more than any other venue in San Francisco. With absolute clarity I remember a myriad of sight, sounds, people. The red laser beam over head, illuminating the steam rising from the crowd of men, stripped to the waist, their torsoes glistening with a veneer of sweat. I remember dancing with the chorus from Santa Esmeralda when they performed there. On special event nights, I remember pools tables transformed into vast banquet layouts which included whole turkeys and carved hams. I remember beautiful Gary Roverano the bartender (formerly of "the City") and his friend, equally beautiful, Robert Pentossi(also from The City) But most of all I remember a man I met on the first night, David Artim. A man that I went to Yosemite with one week later and was never parted from until his death, from AIDS 17 years later. We were a fixture at the I-Beam, often he with a tambourine and me with castenets. We were there most evenings of the week until we moved to Guerneville to work at Fife's and the Woods. Wow!! What memories!! It was exactly17 years ago today (Oct 27/28)that we met!!
Hi Rell,
Welcome to I-Beam Central, it's nice to hear a voice!!!!!! ;o)
I'm sorry to hear about your lifelong partner passing away. It sounds like you had a very special love there.... you two sound like quite an item!!! I've been picking my brain but no castagnet / tambourine couple jumps to mind, lol.
Anyone not familiar with the I-Beam may say "how on earth could you NOT remember such a colorful sight?" But as you and I well know, the I-Beam was such a stage for so many colorful, larger-than-life, theatrical characters playing out their inner personality, such a feast of color and costumes, that you and David would have fit right in!!!! ;o)
But this was a long long time ago, a different lifetime. You mentioned that you used to be there every night during the week? When was the last year you were there? I moved to the East Coast in late 1989, a month after the big earthquake. Were you there for that? Eeeesh, what memories....
For years I kept memories of the I-Beam close to my heart because I will never experience ever such a feeling of a tightly woven community, folks from all walks of life, all ages and sexual preferences, races, you name it. If you were a regular (as I was), you just knew everyone there and you knew that they knew just how special that place was. When I found out a few years ago that the I-Beam had been torn down, I was surprised by how distraught I felt. Such a feeling of irreparable loss... visions of chunks of the deep red pool room walls dangling into thin air, disgracefully exposed like roadkill while the whole place was going up in smoke. HOW COULD THEY?!?!??! and just so they could build freaking condos???????
Sigh
I always thought that when the time was right, I would go back to SFO and pay my old friend the I-Beam a long overdue visit. Sadly, this day will never come. Maybe it's for the best??? Some memories are best preserved when left untouched.
Hope you're doing well, Rell!
:o)
Helen
What a time it was! My first trip the the I-Beam was by accident. After dancing in an SF club South of Market (SOMA), I desperately needed a ride back to my first apartment in San Francisco (I was just weeks old in this trippy and wonderful city). My "hitched" ride was in a car with some very fast friends who knew just where to go for a great time -- I was hijacked! It was 1982 and the I-Beam was celebrating its 5th anniversary party! I walked in among a sea of men (I think there were 5 woman in the place that night) and saw those banquet tables full of all sorts of delectable goodies mentioned by Rell's earlier posting. The music was booming and the men were stomping in what was the first tribal rite I would ever come to witness. Moments later a woman appeared on stage (now there are 6 of us in this great palace), and I'm thinking who is she? Pretty soon the music begins and she belts out Gloria! Turns out it was disco diva Laura Brannigan. The guys went wild. One of my fast friends knew the manager so we got back stage & I got to press palms with Ms. Brannigan, may she rest in peace. The beauty of it all is I discovered one of best clubs I had ever been to. I became addicted and returned there for what seemed like every Sunday T-Dance until it closed. I was usually the lone woman on stage (wearing a white cap) and dancing like crazy to Michael Garrett (he never stopped jumping). I think it was Steve Fabus that spun the tables around 10pm to the great New Wave grooves of the time. I wanted to live at the I-Beam...I wanted to get married there...it was my church, my Sunday Service. I still have a stack of dance passes foolishly awaiting its return. Michael Garrett, Dr. Sanford Kellman (former owner) -- if you are still out there please bring back what were some of the greatest club moments of all time (54 was nothin')!
The I-Beam was my first nighttime home in San Francisco, too.
Skinny, dark with big eyes, the gay boys used to scream "Diana!" at me when I walked in. I used to dance til I was dizzy! I truly miss those days.
I went to the I-Beam back in 1978? 79? I forget but I do remember going there-- what a great place that was! I stayed with some friends from the bay area, I love San francisco!
The I-beam was a great place in the late 1980s. By 1984, it was all disco and new wave - no annoying live bands, so you could really dance. No seating, so it was all serious dancers.
By then, the gay crowd was dying off and retreating to the Castro, and the I-beam often had more women then men. Everyone wore black; on Thursdays, admission was free if you were in black leather.
Did you know that the I-beam was owned by a retired astrophysicist? He was responsible for all the astronomical photographs on the walls.
That is pretty interesting! I would have loved to have lived there during that time. Thanks, Beth
I was in the Navy and stationed in Alameda from mid 83 until the end of 84. I Beam was the best club in the area at the time, IMHO. As John n mentioned it was mostly disco and New Wave by then. Most of the time they had a DJ. I do remember going there one night and there was a live band. It was the Meat Puppets. This was before they had gotten much national recognition.
Another time I went there and they had posters plastered all over the place for an upcoming show. It was for a band called the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Who?, I said. This was before they blew up too. Unfortunately I didn't go back on the night they were there.
The IBeam was the best place for me in all of San Francisco, especially from 1981-84. I would go to the gay disco nights and tea dance with all of my friends and go to see the bands on Monday nights with my brothers. It was such a blast. I remember seeing such diverse performers as X, Flipper, Divine, Nick Cave, The Red Hot Chili Peppers (doing their sock number..), Chris Isaak, etc. It was also great in that you could go get your drinks at the bar right by the dance floor or else go to a more quiet place by the pool tables and chat and order drinks there too. It was a perfect set up. I still live in the Haight and was saddened to see it torn down and replace by some rather sterile looking condos. In the San Francisco of today I can't imagine a noisy club being allowed to operate in the Haight, but god knows it was the last thing back on my mind in those fun days...
Was stationed in Alameda from 84 to 87. I had a click of friends back than who were real night owls, and we hit tons of bars and clubs on the Bay area in this time, and I-beams was one of the best of them. As a sailor, i could outdrink the best of them, but i must say this, the Long Island Ice Tea's served here were the strongest drinks i ever had in a nightclub. I held the record with my friends with drinking 6 in one night. Saw 10,000 Maniacs here. When I think of the 80's i think of clubs like Das Club, I-beams, The Stone and Wolfgangs in San Fran. Those were the days.
Here I am again. I just got home from work and found an email informing me of Paul's posting here. Rereading all of the postings I was struck by the fact that nearly all of them (except LeeAnne and Beth) refer to the 80's. And at first I was puzzled at the absence of postings about the 70's. And then as the clock reached midnight, I realized that so many of those that were there at the beginning are no longer among us. And I also remembered that this is World Aids Day.
Although I cherish the wonderful memories of those times, they bring tears to my eyes, a strange tightness to my throat and chest, and a deep, abiding ache to my heart for those many men that I knew, and more than a few that I loved. We shared a brotherhood, a comradery that, according to a number of educated texts that I've read, has rarely been equaled in all of history. And it has left an unhealed scar. On my soul as well as on the soul of much of the Gay community.
They were beautiful, joyous, souls who embraced life and all humanity, they still were flashing peace signs. To this day I still go dancing nearly every Sunday night. And the crowd around me seems to get younger every year. The dwindling few friends around me are 15-20 years my junior. My peers. And I will say goodbye to many of them prematurely.
It's World AIDS Day. It's important to not forget, whether we remember in joy or in pain. It's equally important that we renew and commit ourselves to seeing an end of this pandemic. If you can't participate actively, you can always make a contribution. In July I completed my 19th AIDS Walk. I'm humbled by the genious, the beauty, the vitality, and the courage of those who are now gone. However I'm not too humble to accept a pledge for a donation for the next walk.
I love the disco music and hearing it allows the curtains of dimmed memory to part, and, for a brief moment, I can recapture the essence of those heady days. But I can't get stuck in the past lest it make me age more quickly than at the current breakneck speed. So I'm also counting on the music that I now hear these Sundays, to at least take the chill off if not warm me in some dim, unseen future.
Respectfully,
Rell
In my posting it actually says that I was there in 1982. I began my I-Beam T-Dance dancing days on the 5th anniversary night in 1982 and continued dancing there until it closed in the 90's. I lost an entire stage (where we danced)of dance partners; they were my comrades and among them was my very good and wonderfully energetic friend, Richard. The 80's are very bittersweet for me. I loved that period since it was full of great music and interesting people; however, the incredible losses we sustained were devastating. On World AIDS Day I bow my head and remember those special souls who have never really left me. And, one day I shall too be dancing with them in heaven or that special place where I know we will all reconnect and feel so good again. Michael Garrett -- I hope you will still take my requests the next time I see you! I owe you so many good memories.
My I-Beam years were '84 - '87 when the New Wave music was big. I'd moved from London to SF and the I-Beam was the only place playing the real stuff. What I loved most was that you could dance -- as a group with friends, with a partner, or all alone. It just felt so good to DANCE. I met a cute boy there one night (a sailor from the USS Enterprise) and ended up marrying him...going on 20 years now. Funny thing is that since then, I've met a guy in Portland, Oregon who met his wife there and just found a blog written by an American woman living in Paris who notes on her "about me" page, that she met her husband at the I-Beam! Thanks for keeping the place alive through this site!!!
Hi all
It's been a while since I posted.... It's great to see that the memory of the I-Beam lives on. I wonder if I would ever be able to find some of the folks I used to hang out with back in the I-Beam days through this website. The fact that I do not remember anyone's name is not going to help my search, lol. The timeframe was 1987-1990. Adrian Henriquez is the only name I remember and he was my dearest friend so Adrian, if you're out there, I would LOVE to hear from you, drop me a line. Adrian would always have that routine he did frontstage with his latino posse, pretending he was a saxophone player, bumping his head up and down, always a smile on his face. I remember a guy that I nicknamed "sailor" because he looked like one, kind of short stature, I think that he might have had a scarf wrapped around his neck all the time or maybe it was the type of jacket he would wear that made him look like a sailor. I seem to remember that he was a single father... There was Madeline (friend of Adrian).... Mark, K.C. and the BEAUTIFUL Jeff Burke who DJ'd on tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays, if I remember correctly. If anyone has any info on how I can contact any of these folks, would you please drop me a line?
Thanks ever so much!!!
Helen
I so miss the I-Beam. I saw KC and the Sunshine Band there and also the Village People on Halloween night. I used to always go with my brother to the Sunday Tea Dance and would love the DISCO. It's kind of depressing to think about how fun those days are compared to now -- in our politically correct, hypersensitive world. I was so upset when I saw the I-Beam in a shambles one day my eyes got watery. Thank God I had the privilege of going there and enjoying the Disco era and the height of the sexual revolution. Still alive to talk about it which is good. Greetings to all you I-Beam and Disco lovers out there.
Sincerely -- AL IN LA
I found an old wallet of mine the other day and it had basically nothing in it but i did see a ticket stub for Das Klub dated 1987. And that brought me back to my clubbing days in the 80's. So i did some net surfing and wouldn't you know it, I see I-beams on this site. I used to hit Bay Area scene hard in those days. Like a few people before me, I also was stationed in Alameda. Aboard the USS Enterprise. I like to explore the city and often went to Golden Gate Park. One day i stumbled (literally) into this place and it became one of my favorites. Good drinks, cool people, great music and that classic 80's scene. Oh, how i miss those times. I hate today's music and i never venture to the nightclub scene anymore. Guess i don't have to. I'll always have memories of some of the great places in the bay area to remind me of those days. The ones i remember are Stargaze in Fremont, Berkeley Square in Bezerkly. The Stone, Wolfgangs, Oasis, Paladium, Das Klub and I=Beams in Frisco. And a bar in my old town of Alameda called Crolls. Not quite a nightclub, but did some late night dancing there to there video jukebox.
I was looking at some Haight-Ashbury stuff online today, when I ran across the "I-Beam". I totally forgot about that place. Not living in the city, my girlfirends would often club it in S.F. We saw Chris Isaak at the I-Beam. It was such fun.. no matter when you were there.. and what music was playing.. it seams the I-Beam was a 'fav' for many!
I loved the I-Beam. I was there throughout the 80's, getting in with my fake ID when I was 17. I loved the old movie videos synch'd to the present music, the Divine video jumping on the trampoline, Pit Sniffer (the guy who looked like Peter Frampton who lip-synch'd and sniffed his armpit on stage), Baby Doll Man (the guy who wore a pink baby doll negligee while lip synch'ing), the group line dances, meeting my very first boyfriend Michael there (I was 19, he was 18), my hunky ex-boyfriend David the doorman in his LITTLE gym shorts at the door (all 6'3" of him - YUMMM), Sylvester live, Die Hard Lover by Loverde, the Halloween Party with the guy dressed as a coke bag and his partner was the spoon, my friend Christian the bartender, and my beautiful best friend Dennis who died of AIDS in '93 at the age of 30. Yep, those were the days!
I used to love the I Beam. I moved to SF in '79, but vactioned out there in '78. Of course, the I beam was on the tour. It was a really great dance bar, with lots of men dancing without shirts. The guys there were more of the "A list gays", gym bunnies, and mustachioed Castro clones, but not really attitude, everyone was very friendly. I saw Jim Carroll appear there, as well as the original drag diva, DIVINE, singing her hit at the time "the name game". I used to go there dancing bi weekly with eith my lover or friends. We lived on Waller st., about a ten minute walk from the Beam. There were some great clubs then, "the City" was already mentioned, and I too saw Charles Pierce there, plus the dazzling Harlettes. The End Up, south of Market, was always fun for Sunday afternoons, stretching into the evening.A much funkier crowd, was the STUD, a gay pseudo western, but disco dancing, then new wave bar. Janis Joplin used to frequent it when she was alive. The STUD since changed locations, so it wasn't as fun anymore. Hamburger Mary's restaurant was cruisy and a great place to get a burger before or after dancing. There was another nice little bar right on Market street, i can't think of the name, just before the freeway overpass heading towards Van Ness. Dancing was good there, too. Ahh, life was great, and people who didn't experience gay life during the disco era, and pre-AIDS, missed a lot. I treasure those days, and my old haunts.
I think the other bar on Market Street that roger mentioned was Alfie's. It was sort of small but it could be a hot place to dance.... Getting back to Haight Street, another small venue only a couple of blocks from the I Beam, toward GG Park, same side of the street, was Bones which was opened by Jack and Jerry, who were the owners of the famed gay eatery, Mommy Fortuna's. which was opposite the I Beam, but down 2 blocks heading toward downtown. Peaches LaTour, a female who was one of my housemates, was their chief bottle washer, and staunch defender. She was also, along with many of the first I Beam denizens, a fixture at the original Rainbow Cattle Company which is now called Zeitgeist. Those were some wild and heady days!!
I am 3rd generation born and raised in SF. In high school I met David Polizzi, fabulous SF designer/textile artist, also a native. (David was doing hand painted kimono's in the late 70's, Sylvester wore one of his designs on the cover of Cashbox magazine back then) David took me to my 1st gay bar, called The Mindshaft. I was only 18 but always got in without id. Then David turned me onto the IBeam. I think I was one of the very 1st females in the club, as I got past the "no open toe shoes" policy... I spent many a night twirling to the great music over the years. I also met a very special friend, Andre Valiquette at the Ibeam. I am very sad the club is gone, it seemed like it would last FOREVER! I welcome anyone who remembers me to email me back as I am homesick. Vancouver is a wonderful city, but San Fran is HOME. ps I was also an early pioneer at the Troc, the End Up, and the decadent Headquarters. April.
One more thing...does anyone remember the small dive after hours called "Headquarters"? In the early 80's everyone would go there from The Stud. It was pretty decadent after 3, when the "up all night crowd" held court. I cannot remember the name of the small alley it was on...it was off another alley in SOMA...Minna? does anyone remember?
April
The alley was, and is, called Clementina.
Someone brought up Oasis. I also remember Club 9. It was often from Club 9 to the Stud for me. Can't remember much after that but somewhere....
First and only time in IBEAM was April 9, 1983; two germans I met on the plane invited me and I saw the best disco I have ever seen....I'm going to go this winter to Frisco with my two children and I wanted to bring them, but I understood it does exist no more....I will explain them the fabolous feeling I felt and I still feel .... Riccardo (Italy)
I live in Sacramento and would head to the City Friday or Saturday nights. I loved the size of the club and all the men! My most vivid memory is of a fan-dancer dancing shirtless. I was mesmorized by his arms flying about as his body twisted and turned to the strobe lights. He never seemed to stop. He would go all night long.
I also used to go to the Parade in SFO. The I-Beam's "truck" always ended the parade and everyone would follow it (those who couldn't get up on the flatbed) down Market Street dancing.
Someone mentioned Alfies. This reminded me of The Balcony on Market and also a New Year's eve party at Alfie's in '82 or '83. My partner and I had intercourse on the dancefloor at the stroke of 12. Talk about memories. He's long gone, but they live on with me.
Take care all and peace!
I went to the I-Beam on two separate occasions in mid-1984 with a very hot woman with whom I was trying desperately to connect. We danced all night to some great new wave and alternative dance music. I had a lot of great memories of those two nights.
I thought I would look the I-Beam up on the net to see what happened to it, only to discover two things:
One, that it sadly burned down; and
Two: that it was a gay club.
Now, I have been to many gay clubs before and since (with women) and have had a great time. The music is always better and, if I can be so bold to generalize, gay people are a whole lot cooler than most of the straight people I know.
The reason it came as a surprise is that I was there twice and I had no idea it was a gay club. Not that it would have mattered, but I think this is something I think I would have noticed.
My question is: Am I that oblivious or was the I-Beam a "straight" club in 1984 or did it have "straight" nights?
The I-Beam had straight nights, too. I thought it was straight on Tues, Thurs, and Sat.
Another interesting note to go along with this thread: Milk (a feature film biography about Harvey Milk with Sean Penn) is being filmed on Castro Street. The setting is the 70's and the studio has brought back many store signs of bars and businesses long gone along with extras dressed in really bad clothing. I don't recall us looking that bad. Maybe all the good stuff got destroyed. I keep hoping to see Sylvester walk down the street with his afghan dogs in his gold caftan again.
I missed the days of the I-Beam since I didn't move to San Francisco until 1999. I only know of it from friends sharing their fond memories. A few years before the building was torn down there were rumors around the Castro that it would be opened for one last farewell party but that never happened. I wish it had.
I moved to SF during the height of Universe and Pleasuredome at Club Townsend. Those were amazingly fun times although I did see a lot of friends fall victim to crystal. Most of them survived though and are doing OK today.
I imagine the sadness i feel at the demolition of Club Townsend is the same many of you feel for I-Beam. Different generation, different club...but many of the same memories and feelings.
"My question is: Am I that oblivious or was the I-Beam a "straight" club in 1984 or did it have "straight" nights?" I didn't make to the I-Beam but did frequent 'The City' on Montgomery as a very straight Berkeley frat rat with my sorority/Mills College dates circa 78-80. Plus a visit to a somewhat leatherish "Buzby's" with a very cool stainless-steel dance floor. As a I recall Saturday Night Fever had a certain impact and created a certain tension in the gay club scene, which , of course, pioneered the music long before Travolta got fitted as an ice cream salesman. Every regular straight venue with a dancing permit rebranded itself as a disco and was soon filled with people imitating SNF moves. Some of the original gay discos felt themselves beseiged by straights (like me) seeking a hipper experience and in danger of being 'taken over' . 'The CIty' was. In fact I think circa '80 when Urban Cowboy came out it actually went C&W for a while before folding!
By then I was into Talking Heads...
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