Valencia Tool & Die

Valencia Tool & Die, which to a passerby appeared to be an empty store front with no signage to identify it other than the street number, was located in the Mission District at 974 Valencia. The interior space consisted of a street level gallery/performance space and a subterranean cellar performance space. The cellar space was reached through a trap door and a narrow staircase, which led Damage Magazine publisher Brad Lapin to label it "the black hole of Calcutta." Performances often took place on both levels simultaneously, and usually featured Bay Area talent. VT&D was often open after hours and many of its best performances took place after San Francisco's 2 a.m. curfew in the cellar performance space which had been insulated with sand to dampen the sound. VT&D's location was only a few blocks from the Valencia police station, but the after hours performances continued uninterrupted for the first two years. During the third year the club was overrun by hardcore punks who made the location more conspicuous with graffiti and the club was closed for fire code and alcohol violations shortly afterward. Although VT&D did not exclusively book punk shows, most of the artists that appeared there ascribed to the DIY (do it yourself) philosophy of punk.

By mid-1981 Valencia Tool & Die had begun to book hardcore punk and thrashcore shows featuring three bands for three dollars, a policy which had disappeared years before [elsewhere in San Francisco]. The Die was a street-level storefront with a semi-sound proof basement, a seven-foot ceiling laced with pipes, brick walls and a concrete floor. The bands stood on the same floor face to face with the crammed sweltering audiences. Beer could be had for a dollar, and gigs would begin after San Francisco's curfew, when bands like L.A.s Social Distortion and other touring bands would appear unannounced after performing elsewhere in SF earlier in the evening. Upstairs people would drink, smoke, socialize, graffiti the walls, scream, fight or curl up for some sleep. Outside on the sidewalk there would inevitably be a dozen or two skulking kids in the nearby doorways, or leaning on parked cars while catching a breath of smokeless air."^[1]

Bill Mandel, in his article "In defense of punk rock: It's the liveliest art-form of the '80s",^[2] went on to say of the Bay Area punk scene: "The clubs aren't cushy, to say the least. Such venues as Mabuhay Gardens (still the purest), Sound of Music (heavy-duty punk), the (I-Beam, Dreamland, California Hall, the Russian Center, the American Indian Center, Valencia Tool & Die, and Berkeley Square, among others, are raw and industrial."

Tim Yohannon of Maximum Rock and Roll described VT&D several times in reviews of shows in the basement venue. In an article in August 1982 bemoaning the lack of hardcore shows being produced on Broadway Yohannon wrote "Outside of Ruthies (probably the best venue for H.C., the "guerilla" shows remain the most true-to-form punk. Gigs at Barrington Hall in Berkeley, New Method Industries in Oakland, and the occasional party at Valencia Tool & Die are the rowdiest (the heart of the scene) with a full cast of day-to-day regulars." In another article reviewing a show at the Die he wrote "Great show! Lot of yahooing downstairs and lots of yakking upstairs. Plenty of people at this gig arranged by MDC, and the crowd was pretty friendly - no real fights (which seem to be on the decline), and a lot of women thrashing." At the end of 1982 and throughout 1983, the Tool & Die was managed by Jak's Skateboard Team member, Bill Halen aka Bill McCracken who also was one of the owners of Government Records at The Compound. During his tenure, Halen worked with Timmy Yohannon, Dirk Dirksen, Paul Rat, Kevin Thatcher of Thrasher Magazine, Dream manager of The Circle Jerks just to name a few fellow promoters and supporters of the underground music scene throughout the U.S. These were the most prolific years of the club with shows booked every Friday, Saturday nights and some Sunday afternoon matinees.