A building that has been home to a generic nightclub and venue for years, but which was once home to the local epicenter of the Bay Area punk scene, is back in play with a group of investors looking to revive it as a music venue.

That building is 435-443 Broadway, the former Mabuhay Gardens, and more recently known as Fame, an event venue and club. The Fab Mab, as it was known, saw legendary performances by the Dead Kennedys, The Sex Pistols, Black Flag, and more. But it has been in limbo for a number of years, after the Chronicle reported it was heading for auction in 2023.

As KQED reports, a group of "local investors, nightlife veterans and North Beach neighbors" are working together to revive Mabuhay Gardens, using that original name — it was originally a Filipino restaurant that gave itself over to punk shows. (Back in 2019 we heard that Awkwafina was attached to a film project about how Asian restaurants in California were the backbone of the burgeoning punk scene, but who knows where that stands.)

Tom Watson, a designer and civil engineer who is part of the collective hoping to revive the Fab Mab, tells KQED this week, "We’re going for it; we’re not holding back." The group is hosting its first show in the venue on September 6, featuring local singer Anthony Arya. Watson says they want to get more people to come through the space and experience it in the coming months.

The group does not yet own the building and has launched a GoFundMe to help with acquisition costs. Watson tells KQED that about 10 people had already invested undisclosed sums, and they are hoping to raise $4.5 million in total. Former owner Francesca Valdez, who passed away in July, had reportedly agreed to sell 49 percent of the building to Watson and his group. Now, he says, others are circling to try to buy it, and Valdez's sister is handling the sale.

"This address was home to the Mabuhay Gardens, a.k.a. 'The Fab Mab,' the beating heart of the punk movement in San Francisco," the group says. "Under promoter Dirk Dirksen, the Mab launched and hosted era-defining acts and countless local bands, making 443 Broadway the epicenter of West Coast punk. That legacy lives in the walls. We believe it must belong to the creative community of the city."

This was a place that saw performances by the Avengers, Patti Smith, Devo, The Police, and many more. Occasionally comedians would perform as well, with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg both doing sets there in the 1908s. Sid Vicious cut himself on stage at the Mabuhay on January 15, 1978, the day after the Sex Pistols split up, trying to upstage an LA upunk band called Bags. And punk musician, poet and Basketball Diaries scribe Jim Carroll wrote about doing cocaine in the manager's office with Nico and one of the GoGos.

The venue's downstairs was the punk venue, while the second floor ballroom has a more formal stage.

Mabuhay Gardens closed in 1987, after which Valdez became the owner. In the 1990s it was home to a dinner theater.

Watson tells KQED that the investor group, if they raise enough funds, intends to make the new Mabuhay a communal venue, with a recording studio, listening lounge, and record label attached that would be “a whole circle for musicians."

Top image: American singer Jello Biafra of punk band Dead Kennedy performing live at their first show ever at the Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco, California, US, 13th August 1978. (Photo by Ruby Ray/Getty Images