Just six days before its scheduled permanent closure, popular SoMa nightclub Oasis has been saved with a seven-figure donation to keep the club open, though it’s still closing for the next few months for renovations.

We’ve been sadly counting down the final days until the closure of the popular queer nightclub and cabaret venue Oasis, which was scheduled to happen after a New Year's blowout — a closure that was announced way back in July of this year. But now, just six days before that final bow, the Chronicle reports that Oasis will actually be staying open, thanks to a last-second, multi-million-dollar gift from Bay Area arts benefactors.

“It’s very exciting and not what I was expecting at the 11th hour, but also a reminder that magic can happen at any time,” Oasis owner D’Arcy Drollinger told the Bay Area Reporter. “Saving Oasis is more than keeping a venue open, it’s about protecting space for marginalized artists to take risks, share their stories, and build sustainable careers.”

We will note that this Wednesday night’s New Year’s Eve show is still the final show at Oasis for a while, as the club is still going to undergo renovations and reorganization for the next several months. But with the generous grant, Oasis will now reportedly enter negotiations to buy its 298 11th Street building outright — and will likely want to fold the nightclub business into the non-profit Oasis Arts that Drollinger had already established.

We do not know the size of the charitable donation, but the Bay Area Reporter says that it is at least “several million dollars.” But we do know that the donation is from local philanthropists Mary and Mark Stevens (whose son Sky Stevens is apparently an Oasis regular). Mark Stevens is a managing partner at Menlo Park VC firm S-Cubed Capital.

As Drollinger tells the BAR, "Our nonprofit has really become more of an integral part of what Oasis is," explaining that Oasis Arts produced 352 events last year, and gave around $800,000 to artists.

Drollinger adds, "I feel like this [grant] will give us an opportunity to reframe who we are as a performing arts institution, not just a drag bar. And yes, we have big, fabulous parties. But people see who we are as part of the artistic culture of San Francisco."

Oasis opened back on New Year’s 2015, in the home of what had been Club Caliente. The Bay Area Reporter adds some historical footnotes that it became a queer bar in 1968, first as The Covered Wagon, and then as The Leatherneck. The place actually had a swimming pool when it became The Plunge in 1979, and then in 1980 it turned into a queer bar called, you guessed it, Oasis.

It is unclear when Oasis will open again in 2026. The Chronicle says the club will close for renovations “for at least six months,” while the Bay Area Reporter says that events could be scheduled as soon as March or April.

But we’re not about to quibble with the timeline, because the saving of Oasis is such great news for SF nightlife to close out the year 2025, and will surely give the community such uplifting hope and optimism for 2026.

Related: These Are the Last Seven Shows at Oasis Before It Closes Permanently on New Year’s Eve [SFist]

Image: SF Oasis via Facebook