Berkeley, best known for its genteel university campus, was perhaps not the most obvious place for a punk rock revolution. The coastal city, just across the bay from San Francisco, has in fact long held a rebellious spirit, perhaps most notably along central Telegraph Avenue in the 1960s and ’70s — back then, it was a bohemian boulevard of hippies, free-speech activists and anti-war protesters. It was here, among the galleries, theatres and boutiques, that the spirit of punk emerged.
By the late ’70s, punk pioneers Iggy Pop and the Ramones were gigging in venues such as the Mabuhay Gardens, a San Francisco nightclub. But punk music fans across the Bay Area soon bemoaned the lack of local opportunities. In the mid-’80s, a punk-metal crossover finally took place at Berkeley venue Ruthie’s Inn, and from here regular performances led Bay Area bands such as Metallica and Slayer to become the thrash behemoths they are today.
Now, 924 Gilman is still the kind of gritty, graffiti-filled room where new bands thrive. Worn sofas and an indoor basketball hoop flank the bar, and anyone can get free entry in return for some volunteering — working the door, perhaps, or sweeping up. It remains the only venue of its kind left in California — a place with no owner, where takings are split evenly between bands and young children can watch their older siblings perform.