Heritage Happy Hour: Kilowatt
About this Event
Heritage Happy Hour: Kilowatt
Heritage Happy Hour is a convivial “no-host” gathering of heritage professionals, young preservationists, aficionados, friends, and Legacy Business cohorts interested in safeguarding San Francisco’s unique architectural and cultural identity. We get together on the Second Thursday of each month from 5-7 pm at a registered Legacy Business (usually bar or restaurant) in San Francisco.
Kilowatt is a multi-purpose community space that functions mainly as a live music venue and bar. It also contains a newly created upstairs private event space that doubles as overnight lodging for touring bands. Serving an incredibly broad array of people from its prime location in the Mission District, from musicians of every type of genre, location, age, and demographic to neighborhood San Franciscans looking for a place to watch their favorite sports game, Kilowatt serves all people as a community hub.
Opened by Peter Athanas at 3160 16th Street in the Mission District, Kilowatt has operated as a live music bar under its current name since August 4, 1994. In December 2022, Peter retired and began his search to sell Kilowatt. Despite receiving more lucrative offers from non-music related bar entrepreneurs, Peter sold the business to a group of bartenders from the popular Potrero Hill music venues Bottom of the Hill and Thee Parkside: Katherine Rose McCarthy, Peter Niven, and Richard Eusey. The three co-owners have continued Kilowatt’s excellent tradition of live music, friendly service, and community gathering.
While the name Kilowatt was established in 1994, the space itself has been functioning as a progressive music centered community space for at least a decade longer than that, having been an independent music scene gathering space under the names of The Compound, 16th Note, Firehouse 7 and Paula’s Clubhouse throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Kilowatt joined the Legacy Business Registry in June 2025.
Your Hosts:
San Francisco Heritage (est. 1971), has protected the city in the face of rapid change by advocating for historic resources, hosting educational programming, and interpreting and preserving cultural heritage. As part of its mission, SF Heritage advocates for and helps promote San Francisco's Legacy Business Program as a crucial preservation tool in protecting the city's unique intangible cultural heritage. The Program is the first-of-its-kind in the U.S and supports and promotes iconic, small businesses over 30 years in operation that are long-standing pillars of our communities and neighborhoods.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00
