SF’s Codeword club closes in bid to keep DNA Lounge afloat – SFGate

Photo: Nicole Boliaux, The Chronicle

DNA Pizza and Codeword on Folsom and 5th Street, counterparts to DNA Lounge, are set to close in July as the owners redirect their resources to maintaining the DNA Pizza and Lounge locations on 11th Street.

DNA Pizza and Codeword on Folsom and 5th Street, counterparts to DNA Lounge, are set to close in July as the owners redirect their resources to maintaining the DNA Pizza and Lounge locations on 11th Street.

The owners of DNA Pizza and Codeword say that construction and other neighborhood issues have stymied their efforts to make the nightclub and its attached restaurant profitable.

The owners of DNA Pizza and Codeword say that construction and other neighborhood issues have stymied their efforts to make the nightclub and its attached restaurant profitable.

DNA Pizza and Codeword on Folsom and Fifth Street, counterparts to DNA Lounge, are set to close late next month as the owners try to save the lounge.

DNA Pizza and Codeword on Folsom and Fifth Street, counterparts to DNA Lounge, are set to close late next month as the owners try to save the lounge.

SFs Codeword club closes in bid to keep DNA Lounge afloat

When asked what a normal night at Codeword is like, co-owner Barry Synoground laughed: Were lucky enough to not be normal.

One night, he said, the all-ages South of Market nightclub could host a full-on rave; the next, a drag show, a burlesque event, a cocktail hour or a house music dance party, full of people embracing San Franciscos misfit scene until the wee hours.

But too often, the space on Folsom Street would just be empty, sucking up money that could instead be used to salvage DNA Lounge, a beloved San Francisco nightclub under the same ownership that has lately experienced financial hardship.

Thats why, Synoground said, at the end of next month, Codeword and its attached pizza joint needs to close.

We were feeling too spread thin, Synoground said.

Since Codeword and DNA Pizza opened about three years ago, they hardly ever attracted enough business to pay the rent. But the spurts of business they would get, Synoground said, were enough to keep the proprietors going and make them believe things would get better.

It only takes a couple of really cool events to make you want to continue, he said. But the pocketbook was not able sustain it. A second DNA Pizza location on Eleventh Street will stay open, however.

Codeword hosted a range of events and was often used as a space for new talent to perform before moving on to larger audiences at DNA Lounge. Codeword regulars like 21-year-old Ginger Paintstains, an employee of DNA Lounge, were heartbroken to hear of its closing, which was announced on its website this week.

Its kind of terrifying, said Paintstains, who helped host its Sunday night Noise Complaint event. Were losing spaces to have this community-building.

In San Francisco, where soaring housing prices have begun pushing younger people out of the city, Codeword and DNA co-owner Jamie Zawinski said they have struggled to capture the interests of people in their 20s.

Zawinski, a well-known figure in the nascent days of the World Wide Web, bought DNA Lounge in 1999 when he noticed the citys culture was shifting. Buying the nightclub was his way of trying to preserve the vibrant spirit he encountered when he came to the Bay Area.

But over the years, attendance kept dropping, and the nightclub struggled to turn a profit. Zawinski announced in December that DNA might have to shut its doors if something didnt change. Closing Codeword is a sacrifice the owners are making to try to direct more of their attention both financial and mental to saving DNA Lounge.

Its hard to quantify the brain drain in financial terms, Zawinski wrote in a blog post announcing the closure. Every hour that I and my managers spend trying to figure out how to improve Codeword is an hour that is not being spent thinking about how to improve DNA, where the potential benefits could be much larger.

And hopefully this closure is worth it, Synoground said, because in San Francisco, the loss of places like DNA Lounge and Codeword is starting to be the new normal.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani

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SF's Codeword club closes in bid to keep DNA Lounge afloat - SFGate