Since 1974, Oakland venue Eli’s Mile High Club has been a hub of the Bay Area’s alternative music scenes. Punk bands play weeknight gigs on its stage, and its Monday blues nights bring in an intergenerational mix of students and older blues fans.
One of the venue’s major draws is its sprawling back patio, a club within a club boxed in by corrugated metal walls. In between bands’ sets, patrons would spill out to the area to cool off, shoot pool and order crunch wraps. If they looked up at the right time, they could spot a rogue cat slinking around the balcony. Now, complications surrounding that patio have left the future of the venue in jeopardy.
When the city of Oakland closed down the area over zoning violations in November, the news came as a surprise, with fans left to wonder what the issue could be…