Trocadero Transfer

The Grand nightclub after remodeling

The Trocadero Transfer was an after hours dance club in San Francisco from its opening in December 1977 to the late 1990s.^[1] It was located at 520 4th Street at Bryant in the SoMa neighborhood. In 2000, the club was bought by a new owner, remodeled, and renamed to the Glas Kat. In late 2011, the club was again remodeled, and the name was changed to The Grand.

History[]

The Trocadero Transfer was founded by Dick Collier. The club stayed open on Saturday nights until 6 a.m. The entire Golden Gate Business Association (San Francisco's Gay business association) had to go down to the San Francisco Board of Permit Appeals to make sure that the Trocadero got its after hours license, and even then it was a while before the club was allowed to serve alcohol after hours. ^[2] People came to the Trocadero after the I-Beam closed at 2 a.m., and after the Trocadero closed at 6 a.m., those who still wanted to dance could after 1980 go to The EndUp, which opened at 6 a.m. Sunday morning.

Description of the dance space[]

Somewhat off-center of the dance floor, there was a narrow metal spiral staircase with clear plastic arms that went up from the dance floor to the balcony above where people could watch the dancers below. This spiral staircase was sometimes called The Crystal Staircase. ("Crystal Staircase" is a slang term used by gay African Americans. It refers to situations where someone has an easy life [someone who is born wealthy, has received a large inheritance, has gotten a job that is a sinecure, etc.]. Of course, crystal also refers to methamphetamine, which many patrons of the club took to stay up all night dancing.) Gender illusionists made a great show of ascending or descending the crystal staircase.

Hanging from the ceiling at the center of the dance floor, there was the hypnotic mirror ball cluster—about a dozen mirror balls of various sizes which continually spun around and were the focus of the dance floor.^[3]

DJs[]

Some of the DJs who played at the Trocadero included ^[4] (the primary DJ at the Trocadero when it was at its zenith from 1978 to 1981),^[5] Patrick Cowley, , , , , , , , , , Robbie Leslie and . Craig Morey was Bobby's opening DJ (playing early in the evening) in 1980 and 1981. Brad Blair, primary DJ at Studio One in Los Angeles in 1979, played there on August 22, 1982. Joseph Watt played there as well, bringing a rock sound to the club.

Disco parties[]

There were many disco parties (the smaller, local one-night predecessors in the late 1970s and during the 1980s of what became after 1990 the much larger multi-day circuit parties) at the Trocadero. The names of some of these parties were the White Party (held Easter weekend), the Black Party (held the weekends before Walpurgis night and Halloween, at which many danced in skimpy black leather outfits), and the Red Party (held the weekend before Valentine's Day). At the height of the AIDS epidemic, because fewer people were going out dancing, from 1987 to 1989, the Trocadero was partially closed down and only hosted Disco Parties and special events.

Clubs (1989-2011)[]

In the spring of 1989, at the suggestion of Steve Fabus, San Francisco gay dance party promoter began his first house music club at the Trocadero, the .

A couple of times in the early 1990s, San Francisco's first massive rave, the was held at the Trocadero.

In 1995 and 1996, the , a gay nightclub, was held at the Trocadero Transfer on Saturday nights.

Bondage-a-Go-Go[]

The ^[6] fetish club began on Wednesday nights in early 1993 and continued at the Trocadero until 2000, when it moved to the on Wednesday nights at 1190 Folsom Street near 8th Street. In 2004 it moved back to the Glas Kat (the successor nightclub to the Trocadero at 520 4th Street). In 2011, due to the remodeling, Bondage-a-Go-Go moved back to the Cat Club again and decided not to go back after the Glas Kat was remodeled into the Grand Ballroom, remaining at the Cat Club until 2021 when the club night was dissolved during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Death Guild[]

The other long-running club at the Trocadero was Death Guild, which moved to the Troc in 1992 from the Pit (after one night at DNA Lounge). This gothic industrial club ran on Mondays at the Trocadero until 1997,^[7][8] returning to the space as the Glas Cat in 2003^[9] and continuing there until late 2008, when it returned to DNA Lounge^[10] (although it was briefly replaced at the Glas Kat by a now-defunct club called Deathwish). Also in the mid-1990s Death Guild spawned a theme camp of the same name at Burning Man, widely known for its Thunderdome, first built in 1999.

Nostalgia parties since 2000[]

When the Trocadero was remodeled in 2000 and renamed the Glas Kat, the Crystal Staircase was removed. Before the Glas Kat remodel, a large birdcage-like go-go dance cage resided on a corner of the stage in the club since 1989. In the mid 1990s, a second similar cage was hung from the ceiling. In early 2007, the original cage was hung on the ceiling. In 2009, the cage was taken out.

From 2000 to 2011, a number of Trocadero Transfer disco nostalgia events were held at the Glas Kat. These are called the Play Party and the Remember the Party parties. At these parties, the original sound of the Trocadero in the late 1970s and early 1980s was reproduced by today's DJs (the Glas Kat had go-go boxes to dance on, which did not exist in the original Trocadero). Some DJs played at the Remember the Party party who played at the original Trocadero Transfer during the 1980s.^[11]

Notable performers[]

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See also[]

• Trocadero – a San Francisco road house, gambling joint, and dance hall that existed from 1892 to 1930.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Diebold, David Tribal Rites:San Francisco's Dance Music Phenomenon Northridge, California:1986—Time Warp Publishing--"Trocadero Transfer" Pages 128-143.

External links[]

• Pictures of the Trocadero and reminiscences about the Trocadero from the website discomusic.com
• Grand Nightclub - San Francisco - Website of the current nightclub occupying the space

Coordinates: 37°46′44.7″N 122°23′52.4″W / 37.779083°N 122.397889°W / 37.779083; -122.397889