COVID-19 pandemic forces Noise Pop from its Bryant Street home
Noise Pop office at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco. Courtesy.
Updated June 19. Noise Pop is leaving its home at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco for 12 years, citing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The community is invited to participate in a garage sale Saturday where much of the office’s appliances, furniture, memorabilia and merch will be sold off to help the company.
“We had an office that could already fit more people than we needed. We’ve had various subletters over the years and we were looking for somebody else [in March], but it’s just money that we don’t need to spend. It’s been sitting empty for months,” founder and CEO Kevin Arnold said.
The office also houses event listing site DoTheBay.com, which is owned by Noise Pop. For several years, the brick building also housed local blog The Bay Bridged. The remaining Noise Pop staff has worked removed since the original shelter-in-place order in March and will continue to do so for the remainder of the pandemic. This will will allow there concert promoter to save money.
“In the beginning it was, ‘Maybe we’ll be back in a few months. Maybe we’ll be back this summer. Maybe we’ll be back this fall,'” Arnold said. “Sadly, our horizon has continued to move out. At this point, the February Noise Pop Festival is a huge question mark. Is next summer going to happen? A lot of people are saying “end of next year.’ Nobody knows, I think.”
Noise Pop office at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco. Courtesy.
The business contraction will allow Noise Pop to better prepare for an uncertain future, Arnold said. Another advantage—that didn’t seem like one before—is that the concert promoter does not a venue of its own. What may have been a disadvantage will allow for some flexibility.
“Not knowing when and how things are gonna come back, it just makes sense for us to hunker down,” he said.
Arnold thanked the building’s landlords for being cooperative, accommodating and understanding, and said that eventually he’d like to find space in the same building again. But he said them returning to the area will need to make financial sense for his company. Noise Pop may also consider Oakland locations when the time is right.
“To be frank, trying to be any kind of arts business in San Francisco is really tough,” he said.
Noise Pop has already canceled its annual 20th Street Block Party due to the pandemic, and the future of the event is uncertain.
“I think living in the block is a requirement for throwing a block party,” Arnold said. “We’d want to continue to support that neighborhood, regardless. We’ve been looking at replicating that event in other ways, too. That’s something we could see down the road, too. At this point it’s all a very foggy future.
Noise Pop will hold a garage sale Saturday between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to sell off the office furniture, appliances and Noise Pop merch, with 10 percent of the proceeds going to People’s Breakfast Oakland. While Arnold will keep the company’s autographed posters and other essential things, but the majority of the office’s contents need to be sold.
There will be refrigerators, a microwave, toaster over, desks, chairs, conference tables, couches. Furniture will be in the $25- to $50-range. People interested in it should bring a truck or a van. Merch and artwork includes cheap or discounted posters, T-shirts, and even vinyl and cloth banners from years past.
“They’re pretty cool for a wall covering!” Arnold said.
Noise Pop will also be giving away some freebies.
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- Noise Pop office at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco. Courtesy.
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- Noise Pop office at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco. Courtesy.
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- Noise Pop office at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco. Courtesy.
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- Noise Pop office at 2180 Bryant St in San Francisco. Courtesy.
Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.