Blow Buddies, which has operated for decades in semi-secret with no street signage at 933 Harrison Street, could be in danger if the building it's housed in sells to owners who don't want a sex club there.
As Socketsite reports, the owners of Blow Buddies hope to stay on, but the building is on the market for $3.25 million, and who knows what could happen.
One reason the building hasn't sold sooner in white-hot SoMa is perhaps the fact that it's zoned for only 30 feet in height and it's in a Service/Arts/Light Industrial (SALI) District. This means, per the city, the only thing that can move in here without a change of use is "commercial, manufacturing, home and business service, and light industrial activities, with an emphasis on preserving and expanding arts activities." So, probably no condos.
Calling itself the "largest sex club in San Francisco," Blow Buddies opened almost 31 years ago, in August 1988, and it's a private club for men over 21 with glory holes, play rooms, and such. Membership costs $13 for six months, and there's a $17 entry fee on top of that — cash only.
Along with places like The Eagle Tavern and Powerhouse, Blow Buddies is a vestige of a time when SoMa was a more desolate neighborhood at night populated primarily by gay men into leather and fetish gear. These days, while those bars still remain, SoMa is becoming more of a playground for the well compensated workers who can afford to live there — given that it is regularly listed as one of the most expensive neighborhoods for rentals in what's already an expensive city.
The ad for the building notes its proximity to the freeway and says the neighborhood is an area of "expanding Tech and Entertainment."