The BROADWAY sign over Mabuhay Gardens at 435 and 443 Broadway in North Beach was relit on Oct. 15, 2026, at a free sidewalk countdown led by District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter. It was the public kickoff for the next chapter of the Mab, the Filipino supper club that became one of San Francisco's defining punk stages.
New owner, new permits
On Oct. 6, San Francisco's Entertainment Commission voted 5-0 to transfer the Place of Entertainment permits for Mabuhay Gardens at 443 Broadway and Broadway Studios at 435 Broadway to Tom Watson, with security and ID-check conditions, according to Locunity's meeting report. Fame Venue had held the permits for decades.
The sign
The sign was restored by hand in work led by Michael Sturtz and paid for with community gifts, organizers said. "I rewired, scraped, and repainted this sign bulb by bulb to bring it back to life the way it looked in the sixties," Sturtz said in the release. Bulbs are being dedicated one at a time to people and nights from the building's history. Donations go to the Point Foundation's FAB MAB restricted fund.
What's planned
Organizers say Watson's plans for the building include a museum and library, a community print club, flexible classroom space and a vinyl listening room, alongside live music and dance. Those spaces are still being developed.
The history
The Ramones, Blondie, the Dead Kennedys, Devo, Patti Smith, the Go-Go's, Black Flag, the Avengers and the Nuns all played the Mab, and Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg made early appearances there, organizers say. The building dates to 1919 and has housed Italian mutual-aid societies, the Filipino Dimas-Alang Temple and the On Broadway Theatre.
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