Oasis, the South of Market LGBT nightclub, was robbed on Thursday.
Justin Katigbak/Speical to The Chronicle
Workers at Oasis were robbed at gunpoint by masked men who also vandalized the popular LGBTQ nightclub and cabaret in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, owner D’Arcy Drollinger confirmed with the Chronicle.
The incident occurred at 5:11 a.m. Thursday, while the club’s cleaning crew was working. Video surveillance shows four men with ski masks who “ripped the front main door of the club off with crow bars,” Drollinger, who is also San Francisco’s mayor-appointed Drag Laureate, said.
The three cleaners, who are contracted by the Oasis, were reportedly held down as the men took their phones and wallets. The names of the victims are not being released upon their request.
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Drollinger said the intruders ransacked the club’s office, breaking internet equipment and raiding the bar’s inventory in the basement where they drank tequila and Red Bull before leaving.
“Because the alarm wasn’t set because the cleaning crew was in there working, the alarm didn’t go off,” Drollinger said, but another Oasis employee who noticed the disturbance on a camera at home called the police.
San Francisco Police Department media relations officer Allison Maxie said officers arrived shortly after the robbers left, and confirmed there were no reported injuries.
Simon Malvaez is one of the San Francisco artists who worked on the mural outside of Oasis titled “Showtime.”
Jessica Christian/The Chronicle
The club’s exterior mural “Showtime,” commissioned by Drollinger’s nonprofit Oasis Arts in 2022 and painted by five San Francisco artists to honor the LGBTQ history of the South of Market area, extends to the door and was also damaged.
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“One of my staff had to basically weld a big patch on the door to be able to get it to close and lock last night,” he said.
Drollinger is now considering whether to have a new, separate mural painted on the door.
Repairs to the club are estimated at about $10,000 and by Friday, Drollinger launched a crowdfunding campaign for that amount, which also aims to support the club’s workers. As of the afternoon, it has received more than $12,500 in donations.
The mayor’s office also reached out to let him know about city grants available to help cover the cost of the broken door, he said.
Despite the morning’s events, the club reopened Thursday evening for its cabaret show “Drunk Drag Dizney.”
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“We got back online about 20 minutes before we opened the club just by the skin of our teeth,” said Drollinger.
San Francisco Police Department media relations officer Allison Maxie said officers arrived shortly after the robbers left, and confirmed there were no reported injuries.
Felix Uribe/Special to The Chronicle
Meanwhile, Drollinger has been in touch with the management of the SF Eagle, the historic gay leather bar around the corner on 12th Street, whose owner Lex Montiel said that there was a break-in attempt at 4:50 Thursday morning through the bar’s patio doors.
Montiel said it was the second time this month, adding that other bars in SoMA have been recently targeted as well. At a time when the nightlife community is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, he said these crimes just add more stress to businesses.
“The police and city need to do something about this wave of crime on the entertainment industry,” said Montiel. “Patrols need to be coming around more at the hour the cleaning crews are working. They’re in danger if the police aren’t taking care of the situation.”
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Nicki Jizz is the creator of “Reparations,” where white patrons can pay their “reparations” in tickets and tips to Black drag performers at Oasis.
Justin Katigbak/Speical to The Chronicle
Oasis opened on New Years Day 2015 in a space that had formerly housed an indoor pool and bathhouse. It quickly became one of the most well-known gay venues in the Bay Area. Drollinger is now the sole owner, although his original business partners included San Francisco drag legend Heklina, who died in London in 2023 but had already sold her interest in the club in 2020.
Over the years, the club has become well known as a venue for alternative queer theater ranging from drag parodies of popular television series like “Sex and the City” to original plays by Drollinger like his Champagne White trilogy, which includes “S— & Champagne” and “Champagne White and the Temple of Poon.”
Oasis’s drag nights include the all Black performer show “Reparations,” created by Nicki Jizz and voted best drag show in the Bay Area by 48 Hills, as well as the Saturday show “Princess,” which also hosts the yearly High Princx Pageant. It’s also a regular stop for “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performers when they are in Northern California and often attracts queer celebrities in the audience like Lil Nas X.
Jane Fonda, right, with club owner D’Arcy Drollinger at Oasis in 2023.
Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle
Additionally, Oasis has hosted major celebrities including Cher for a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign fundraiser in 2016 and Jane Fonda for a conversation with the Chronicle about her environmental activism in 2023.
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Drollinger said that while he’s ultimately relieved no one was injured, it does make him feel vulnerable.
“I think this kind of thing is happening in every major city, it’s not specific to San Francisco,” said Drollinger. “But the guns make me very nervous. Our job is to help people escape for a few hours and it’s hard when that kind of reality seeps into this space that feels safe.”
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the police department’s 24-hour tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with “SFPD.”
Correction: An earlier version of the story misstated the number of workers in the club. There were three cleaners robbed by the intruders.
Reach Tony Bravo: [email protected]
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