The EndUp

Coordinates: 37°46′38.2″N 122°24′13.92″W / 37.777278°N 122.4038667°W / 37.777278; -122.4038667

The EndUp was founded in November 1973 and is a dance club in San Francisco, California. It is located on the corner of 6th and Harrison, in the SoMa (South of Market (Street)) district. The EndUp has two bars, a lounge with fireplace, a dance floor with mirrored columns, and a large open-air deck with plants and seating. The club is renowned for its powerful high-end sound system, and for usually being the only club open throughout the night and well into the next day. The venue has hosted a variety of benefits, events and clubs and each night has a unique dance focus catering to subsets of the dance community. The club reflects the changing nature of gay, dance and San Francisco cultures.

History

1970s

When the nightclub first opened in November 1973, the owner was Al Hankin. The dance floor was made of translucent plastic with flashing lights below. The sound system was a discrete 4 channel custom made creation with Cerwin Vega speakers rear loaded into the ceiling to enhance the subs. The EndUp was originally an entirely gay dance club, catering mainly to Asian-Americans and their admirers. It was famous as the location of the Sunday Afternoon Wet Jockstrap Dance Contest from about 1974 to about 1992, with host Randy Johnson and DJs—Steve Newman and Peter D. Struve (google petermixt). Entering this contest is how many San Francisco Go-Go dancers began their go-go dance careers. This contest was made famous in the 1976 book Tales of the City, the first volume of the six-volume series (hexalogy) Tales of the City by San Francisco author Armistead Maupin and recreated on the PBS made for TV mini-series of the same name.