Green Day pitches in to help Bay Area bar on verge of closure (Eli's Mile High Club)

Last week, the owner of Eli’s Mile High Club, an anchor of the East Bay music scene, started a GoFundMe to keep the venue’s doors open. On Monday night, Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong posted on social media to show his support, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) “I just donated,” the singer wrote on his Instagram story, alongside a screenshot of the GoFundMe. “We can’t afford to lose another great venue in Oakland.”
Armstrong’s name doesn’t appear in the list of GoFundMe donors, but the fundraiser lists an anonymous $2,000 donation around the time of his Instagram post.
As the club’s owner Matthew Patane explained during a community meeting, the venue is at risk of closing after Oakland officials red-tagged its back patio, which included outdoor seating, a pool table, a kitchen and a second bar, in November last year. The patio was a vital income stream for the venue, Patane wrote in the GoFundMe; since then, Eli’s has had to cut its hours.

2 comments

Last week, the owner of Eli’s Mile High Club, an anchor of the East Bay music scene, started a GoFundMe to keep the venue’s doors open. On Monday night, Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong posted on social media to show his support, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) “I just donated,” the singer wrote on his Instagram story, alongside a screenshot of the GoFundMe. “We can’t afford to lose another great venue in Oakland.”
Armstrong’s name doesn’t appear in the list of GoFundMe donors, but the fundraiser lists an anonymous $2,000 donation around the time of his Instagram post.
As the club’s owner Matthew Patane explained during a community meeting, the venue is at risk of closing after Oakland officials red-tagged its back patio, which included outdoor seating, a pool table, a kitchen and a second bar, in November last year. The patio was a vital income stream for the venue, Patane wrote in the GoFundMe; since then, Eli’s has had to cut its hours.
- I love Eli's so the closing of the patio was a huge blow. I only wish Bay Area cities would stop fucking up their culture.