The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway, in the Broadway strip club area of North Beach. It closed in 1987.
- Venue
- Mabuhay Gardens
- Town
- San Francisco, US
The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway, in the Broadway strip club area of North Beach. It closed in 1987. The building housed other nightclub and event venues in subsequent years. In 2025, a new operator reopened the venue under the name Mabuhay Gardens. The Mabuhay Gardens was located in the lower level of the 435 Broadway building, which also housed the On Broadway Theater, known in 1984-1985 as "Rock on Broadway." Originally a Filipino restaurant and music club owned by Ness Aquino, it featured many Filipino celebrities, including Eddie Mesa, the "Elvis Presley of the Philippines". Aquino and Amapola also co-hosted a weekly television program, The Amapola Presents Show on KEMO TV Channel 20. During the late 1970s, Jerry Paulsen was the first promoter of bands to appear at Mabuhay Gardens on a regular basis. He booked them on Mondays and Tuesdays to begin with so he could showcase the bands that he featured in Psyclone magazine to existing record executives. The scene became so popular that he was soon booking two bands a night seven days a week. Bay Area punk and New Wave bands performed there, and it was an important touring stop for bands from beyond the San Francisco Bay Area. Among the local bands that performed regularly at the Mabuhay Gardens were Avengers, Dead Kennedys, The Contractions, The Nuns, Crime, Dils, Fear, Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, the Tubes and Wall of Voodoo, to name a few. After Paulsen left, Dirk Dirksen (the "pope of punk") booked The Dead Boys, Swans (band), Nico, The Runaways, Devo, X, The Police, SVT, The Go-Go's, Motörhead, Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Patti Smith, Primus, The Jim Carroll Band, REM, Metallica (in 1982), Diet Tribe, and others. Blondie appeared twice on their first West coast tour, in March 1977. Comedians such as Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams also made early appearances at the venue, with Williams once describing hell as "opening