Music City San Francisco officially opened to the public on Oct. 19, 2024. Mike DeWald/STAFF.

By Ashley Lane

SAN FRANCISCO — For Rudy Colombini, the frontman of San Francisco cover band The Unauthorized Rolling Stones, the launch of Music City SF offers a chance to “reignite the artistic soul of the city.”

“It is there. It’s always been there, and it is ready,” the city native and Music City SF cofounder said.

The space—comprising 20 recording studios, 26 rehearsal studios, a podcasting space, musician lodging, restaurant and more—aims to be a centralized hub of all things music, and it’s taken more than 15 years to officially open. Yet despite several delays, due in part to Colombini suffering a brain aneurysm, as well as the pandemic, the hub’s official opening on Saturday, which Colombini and others marked with a neighborhood block party and concert, is a bright spot among an otherwise struggling industry.

“The body of music, right now, is on an operating table in San Francisco,” he said. “It’s under ketamine, and it’s open heart surgery. There has never been anything like this. It’s very bad. Not only is the industry wavering, but specifically the city is economically suffering in a way that you would never have imagined.”

Music City San Francisco founder Rudy Colombini at the venue’s grand opening celebration in San Francisco on Oct. 19, 2024.

He said his goal was to reignite the city’s local music scene.

The official launch of the space, on Polk Street near Van Ness Avenue, was marked with a day of festivities, starting with the 3rd annual Songwriters Festival. The event drew people from around the Bay Area and showcased musicians from Anthony Arya and Ambr Wave to Colombini’s eponymous band, as well as local arts and crafts merchants.

Later in the day, 20 bands performed on seven stages at Music City SF.

For some who attended the opening and concert, the space represents a coming together of community, both of the immediate neighborhood and the wider city.

“For me, as a photographer who works with a lot of musicians, it’s the end-all, be-all for musicians,” said 33-year-old North Beach resident Rachel Lynch, who owns House of Black Rabbit photography. “It has everything. You can eat, you can rehearse, you have a podcast room. And it means so much for this city. I moved [to San Francisco] right at the pandemic, when nothing was going on. …  Everyone is going to come here. Everyone wants a place like this. It just brings the community together; musicians, people who aren’t musicians, people who just want to be in the scene. It’s so opening and welcoming. And I can’t wait to see what’s to come.”

Musician Alex Sandra performs at the grand opening of Music City San Francisco on Oct. 19, 2024.

Neighbor, Jessica Adam, 33, who recently moved around the corner from Music City SF, sees the opening of the space as going hand-in-hand with the rest of the city coming back to life.

“I’m pretty excited to see what shows will come, who we’ll get here and who will be able to move up from here,” she said. “Being able to see those stories, along with the city, is going to be a fun thing to see.”

For local musicians like East Bay resident Pamela Parker, who performed earlier in the day at the festival and also works at Hyde Street Studios, the space pulls together what already exists for musicians within the community.

“It provides a space where you have pretty much everything,” Parker said. “We need everything that Music City offers for our artists. … It’s a place people can meet up and feel safe.”