Venue: Maritime Hall
Town: South of Market, US

The Maritime Hall is a historic 3,000-capacity concert hall in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood that operated from 1995 through 2001 as a popular music venue and nightclub. It was located at 450 Harrison Street (at First Street) at the Sailors Union of the Pacific building. Maritime Hall Productions, a project of 1960s-era San Francisco musician and club promoter Boots Hughston, began producing rock concerts at the Maritime Hall in October, 1995. The venue was also known initially as the Family Dog, in tribute to an earlier production company and hippie commune of that name run by Chet Helms, former owner of the Avalon Ballroom. Over the next six years the company, renamed 2b1 Productions, produced 721 shows at the Maritime Hall, featuring many major current acts for heavy metal, Industrial, reggae, punk rock, African music, and other genres. Taking a cue from the Avalon and the Fillmore in days past, the company revived the art of the concert poster, commissioning designs from psychedelic artists Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley and Jim Phillips, as well as contemporary graffiti artists. From the start the club struggled to operate a large independent venue in San Francisco. Maritime Hall had difficulty with bookings, advertising, and ticket sales, which it attributed to unfair competition from the city's premier music promoter, Bill Graham Presents. For example, Bass Ticket Outlet, the largest ticket retailer in the West Coast, refused to carry their tickets. In response, 2b1 opened its own network of 24 service charge-free outlets, with a homemade bar code printing system considered the first for a venue. Artists and talent agents who dealt with the club found themselves blacklisted from other venues. Nevertheless, they were able to attract such notable acts as Zero, The Dixie Dregs, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Beastie Boys, Blackalicious, Latyrx, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Herbie Hancock, Black Uhuru, The Chemical Brothers, The Cr