This story aired on the October 17, 2024 episode of Crosscurrents.
Live music is quintessential to any city's nightlife. But increasing rents and impacts of the pandemic have made it difficult for small venues around the Bay Area to stay open.
Slim’s, Amado’s , and Starline Social Club are among the number of beloved local concert spaces that have closed in recent years. But today, we visit a venue in San Francisco that’s been keeping local music alive in the Bay Area for over a hundred years.
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REPORTER: In a basement in the Castro, there’s a concert space that’s introduced audiences to performers who have gone on to world-wide fame.
Mumford & Sons played there in 2008.
Then, two years later, Janelle Monae came through.
And in 2012, Sara Bareilles performed at the venue.
The place is Cafe du Nord. I meet up with show manager Dan Strickland when the club is quiet.
DAN STRICKLAND: It's pretty common people come here for the first time…they're like, oh, this place feels like it's haunted. And I don't believe in ghosts.
REPORTER: But he’s heard some weird sounds here, too.
STRICKLAND: But I think what they're picking up on is more of just, it kind of feels, you can feel the history. I think that's what people, they're feeling that sort of energy that a space has, and this place has a lot of it.
REPORTER: It’s existed on Market Street for over 115 years! Cafe du Nord served as a speakeasy during the Prohibition era, a Scandinavian restaurant, even a gentlemen's club – allegedly.
STRICKLAND: When you open the door, it's like stepping back in time. It's like stained glass and these big high back, I call them Viking chairs, but I don't think that's what they're called. But it just kind of has that Viking air about it.
REPORTER: It kind of does have a Viking air – it was the Swedish Society of San Francisco who constructed the building in 1907, and it’s had Scandinavian ties ever since.
STRICKLAND: I've also seen a Christmas ceremony in here too; like, with girls in white robes with candles on their head. First time I saw that I thought I'd step straight into a midsummer, you know, kind of ritual.
REPORTER: This was a place for the Scandinavian community to gather.
STRICKLAND: This is a city that's always drawn immigrants. So coming to a foreign place and having some of your people from your country to help you get a job and get housing and, you know, and gather in your community. That's pretty cool.
REPORTER: But what has allowed Café du Nord to stay alive for so long? Well, the community ethos the space was built on has been carried forward because of the venue's emphasis on supporting artists from the local community.
“Do you miss me when you think of San Francisco?...”
REPORTER: On the night I'm here, the opening act is the band Mare. Jess Konye is the lead singer.
JESS KONYE: Playing Café du Nord is huge to me. I mean, I feel like this represents a leg up in Mare's ability as an artist. And I hope that it will be remembered as like a turning point for us on our road to bigger things.
REPORTER: Local music has always been an integral part of du Nord's history.
GRAHAM LEBRON: As long as I've been here since you know as far as I know even from the late 80s early 90s. It's always been in a spot for local music.
REPORTER: This is Graham LeBron, Café du Nord's production manager. He's been coming to the venue since 1999, when he first moved to California.
LEBRON: We do a lot of outside shows, we do a lot of touring bands, but I do think a key part of it is making sure that we're still connected to the city of San Francisco and the surrounding areas
LEBRON: I want to make sure that we're supporting local artists. I want to make sure that those people have a place to play. So that they can open for a touring band. And maybe next time they're headlining, and then they can have their friends in the younger bands. And it's just this ecosystem of building artists. And, just building a community that keeps sustaining.
REPORTER: Part of how they keep this ecosystem going is by keeping it accessible.It's right in the middle of the city, they offer underage shows, and have comparatively low ticket prices. And, the small size of the venue might actually work in Café du Nord's favor.
KAT: I really love the intimacy of the space.
REPORTER: This is Kat. She's a 41 year old living in the Soma neighborhood of San Francisco.
KAT: There's no bad spot to stand, no matter where you are, to be able to see the music. You can hear the band, you feel close to the band. And it feels like a site with history.
REPORTER: And intimate is the right word to describe tonight’s headlining act, In the Valley Below.
“Working on a feeling…”
REPORTER: It’s Du Nord’s small space that allows In the Valley Below to come down from the stage to the floor, where people gather to watch them perform.
“We’re gonna come out in the crowd and sing a couple of songs acoustic. You know, campfire style. So if you could make us a little space in the middle.”
REPORTER: The duo’s stage is set like a dining room in a home with candlesticks on white tablecloths, and glass chalices. Singer and keyboardist Angela Matson has her hair in pigtails. Her movements are amplified by her flouncy white dress. Jeffrey Mendel, who sings and plays guitar, wears a cream colored suit, his brown hair falling to his shoulders.
The performance brings me back to show manager Dan Strickland’s description of the Christmas ceremony he’s seen here. If you took away the duo’s instruments, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine them fitting into that Midsommar ritual-like scene.
“Hold me down, I’m breaking open…”
REPORTER: The disco ball started turning and splaying flecks of light all around the basement. Couples were dancing with each other, friends linked arms, swaying in a rare moment of peace and contentment.
“Surrender all your dreams to me tonight…”
REPORTER: Maybe something like this could have happened at other venues, but there’s something special about being huddled together on Cafe du Nord’s tiny dance floor, just inches away from these musicians pouring out so much love through their craft.
In this moment, it feels like we as the audience are engaging in this shared experience that can never quite be replicated.