924 Gilman Street (also known as The Gilman Street Project or simply The Gilman) is an all-ages, community-run venue and community center in Berkeley, CA, which opened its doors in 1986. Bands such as Operation Ivy, Rancid, AFI, and Green Day began their careers there.
1. I moved a few blocks away from The Gilman in 1995, when I was 9 years old. I used to get off the bus across the street from it, and there were always hooligans in tattered black clothes outside. However, they posed much less of a threat than the booze-hounds laying across the sidewalk after drowning their livers at Pyramid Brewery, which opened a few years later. Mood: cautious
2. I began going to local concerts in 2002, mostly at the now-defunct iMusicast in north Oakland. I literally went to hundreds of shows without going to The Gilman. I thought the punks would beat me up for not being punk enough. Mood: fear
3. By age 20, I was too old to go to The Gilman, even if I had wanted to. On the bright side, I figured an old geezer like myself was safe from assault. Mood: old
4. In May 2010, The Phenomenauts were playing a show at The Gilman. I went. I got a membership card on which I pledged: no drinking, no drugs, no violence. It cost $2. The walls were black and covered in graffiti. Besides band members and parents, I was probably one of the 5 oldest people there. (And if you've been doing the math, that means I was 24.) There was a kid in a studded denim vest who looked to be about 8. It made me want to be an elementary school teacher. I took my earplugs out for 3 songs and my ears rang for 3 days. I went to my parents' house when I had to pee. Mood: love
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