Founding and early years (1986–1990) playing at Gilman in early 1988 Jim Widess purchased the building that would become the club in 1984, converting a previously unprofitable supermarket into a boutique workshop for
caning. Widess was befriended by Victor Hayden in 1985, who expressed interest in using his industrial storage space as a venue for live music. In parallel, punk rock fan and
Maximumrocknroll founder
Tim Yohannan sought to found a local, all-ages music space where bands could play and interact with audience members free of the structure of conventional music promotion. Although Yohannan initially had misgivings about the 924 Gilman Street location spotted by Hayden, he was ultimately persuaded that the building was a suitable space for the project that was envisioned. The organizing circle was expanded with a view to raising the $40,000 needed for rent and remodeling and for generating the volunteers necessary to make the construction project happen. Berkeley mayor
Gus Newport was supportive and project organizers took care of every detail into winning the tacit approval for the project from businesses and residents of the area. The landlord also proved himself reliable and supportive of the goals of his new tenants. This quickly proved to be overwhelming for club volunteers, however, and as an alternative non-hardcore shows began to be run on Fridays by a separate crew of organizers. These Friday shows were more poorly attended than the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon hardcore extravaganzas but nevertheless served their purpose of providing an alternative venue to bands seeking to escape the grim reality of 21-and-over bar shows while allowing core volunteers to avoid the burnout associated with excessive event scheduling. This necessary scheduling adjustment had the serendipitous effect of diversifying and broadening the base of support for the 924 Gilman space. Although the Gilman "warehouse" provided a vital all-ages venue and spawned a vibrant local musical scene, its success was neither inevitable nor linear. On September 11, 1988, citing the "physical and emotional exhaustion" of volunteers, ongoing problems with vandalism, and financial difficulties resulting from a $16,000 legal award to a
slam dancer who had fallen and broken his arm in the pit, and expiration of the building lease, Gilman shut its doors. In a published eulogy by Tim Yohannan, Gilman was remembered as a fun place where "the old macho bullshit got attacked" and a stand had been made against "creeping racist and
fascist crap." Yohannan added that "apathy and taking Gilman for granted" had "led to a consumerist attitude" and that the decision had been made by core volunteers to "work together in other ways." The sudden closure of
Ruthie's Inn in 1987 left a significant void for fans of
heavy metal, and contributed greatly to Gilman's renewal.
Growth and mainstream notoriety (1990–2016) Performance artist
Miranda July used the club to stage her first play,
The Lifers, in 1992. The sixty-minute play was written and directed by July during her last year of high school, and was cast through solicitations placed in the
East Bay Express. The play is based on July's real-life correspondence with a prisoner serving a sentence for murder. July's unconventional request to stage a theatrical performance was embraced by the community, a gesture she would later refer to as indispensable to her career. Following this she wrote and directed two more plays at Gilman, both of which she appeared in as an actor. headlining 924 Gilman in 1997 The 1991 release of
Kerplunk by Gilman mainstays Green Day brought widespread media attention to the club. Upon their signing to
Reprise Records in 1994, Green Day was banned from the venue citing their "no major labels" policy. Their band's first record with Reprise,
Dookie, would become an RIAA-certified Double Diamond record, selling over 20 million copies in the U.S. alone. On May 7, 1994, an incident occurred in which former
Dead Kennedys singer
Jello Biafra was assaulted and injured. A group of rough slam dancers in the
mosh pit, including one known by the pseudonym "Cretin," knocked Biafra into a chair, with another rolling over his legs, causing serious damage to one knee and leg. A fight ensued, during which Biafra is said to have been knocked to the floor and kicked in the head by "Cretin." ==Organizational structure==