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Originally a Filipino restaurant and music club, The Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco\\u2019s North Beach transformed into a mecca for Bay Area punk and New Wave bands in the 1970s and 80s. The Avengers, the Nuns, The Dead Kennedys, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, The Tubes, and so many others performed regularly at the club on Broadway.
\\n\\nAs the original Mabuhay Gardens, which featured Filipino celebrities and musical acts, fell on hard times, promoter Dirk Dirksen convinced club owner Ness Aquino to let him book bands on Monday and Tuesday nights. Soon the nights expanded and the club was packing in a growing young punk rock audience.
\\n\\nDirkson, the \\u201cPope of Punk\\u201c was the abrasive MC, whose insults baited the audience to heighten the energy of the club. He lured in big names like Nico, The Dead Boys, Patti Smith, the Runaways and connected the Mabuhay Gardens with the English punk scene helping to spread punk rock globally.
\\n\\n\\u201cTo play, you need a place \\u2013 be it where you live, the street, a venue.\\xa0 For unrestricted play, you need an unrestricted playground.\\xa0 Dirk Dirksen envisioned The Fab Mab just as such a playground.\\xa0 Without him and The Mab, there might not have been the great punk scene in the late 1970s in San Francisco.\\xa0 The San Francisco punk scene was fun.\\xa0 I miss it.\\xa0 But as Iggy Pop said, \\u2018Let\\u2019s Sing.'\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0
\\n\\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\xa0 \\u2014 Mindy Bagdon
Special thanks to Denise Demise Dunne, Liz Keim, Penelope Houston, Ron Greco, John Seabury, V Vale, Janet Clyde, and Kathy Peck. The archival interview with Dirk Dirksen is from Vale's RE/Search Conversations 13.
\\n\\nWe would like to dedicate this story to Mindy Bagdon (1934-2022), who brought warmth and kindness to every community he touched throughout his many years in San Francisco.\\xa0\\xa0
\\n\\nProduced by Brandi Howell with production support from Mary Franklin Harvin.
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