When the San Francisco Entertainment Commission held its annual nightlife summit in May, the room at the city permit center on South Van Ness Avenue was packed with the folks who make the city hum after the sun sets — nightclub owners and impresarios, party promoters and publicans.
On the agenda was a panel exploring a pressing post-pandemic question: “Where did our customers go and how do we get them back?”
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In a city that is rapidly aging, it was the youngest panelist, 22-year-old party promoter Caden Velasquez, who was the center of attention. The recent UC Davis graduate was bombarded with questions about Gen Zers in their 20s: Why are they mostly missing from the city’s struggling bars and nightlife scene? When they do show up, why don’t they drink alcohol like the generations before them? What would it take to get them back to San Francisco and out in the bars and clubs?
“There was a three-year period during COVID that people my age didn’t learn how to party,” Velasquez said. “People my age are just realizing things — like going to trivia night on a Tuesday night is a fun thing to do. Because it is! Everyone here is welcome to tell Gen Z how to party.”…