The Deaf Club

On December 9th, 1978, the Offs, the Mutants, and On the Rag played the opening night of the Deaf Club in San Francisco’s Mission District. Over the next eighteen months, the Deaf Club played an unexpectedly significant part in the early days of San Francisco’s punk and new wave scene. It hosted bands like the Dead Kennedys, Tuxedomoon, the Germs, X, Flipper, Subhumans, and many others. Founded by Daphne Hanrahan and friends, the Deaf Club was located at 530 Valencia Street on the second floor of the San Francisco Club for the Deaf, a community center for deaf and hard-of-hearing locals. This book is a collection of ephemera and narratives from the community that created and sustained this brief moment in the history of San Francisco and of punk.

Contributions by Mitzi “Lanius” Auer, Jennifer Blowdryer, Jim Boldman, Ginger Coyote, Steve DePace, Peter DiMaria, Debbie Dub, Ted Falconi, Klaus Flouride, Ken Fowler, Danny Furious, Judy Gittleson, Matt Harvey, Tony Hotel, David Javelosa Kareem Kaddah, Chip Kinman, Greg Langston, Gary “Nervo” Mollica, Michael Mosher, Sadie O, Hugh Patterson, Hector Penalosa, Geoff Pond, Blaine L. Reininger, Steve Ricablanca, Tony Rocco, Scott Ryser, Miguel Sanchez, Kid Spike, Edward Stapleton, Marc Time, Peter Urban, Penelope Vaillancourt Eddie Valentine Cindy Vorte, Gwyn Waters, Tom Wells, Roxanne Whiteley, Peter Worrall and Linda XYZ.