This article is part of “We Create SF” — a series of essays highlighting artists, performers, small businesses and anyone else that makes San Francisco iconic and irreplaceable.
Deep side part, wearing tights for warmth under my Forever-21 dress in the San Francisco fog (and to hide my unshaved legs) — I just knew I was going to have to take a cab home but I was excited for a night out at “Bootie.” The year was 2012, we still had Obama, Girls was the new show to love, and peplum tops were in style. It was months before Lyft existed with their pink fuzzy mustaches strapped to car bumpers and Uber was only a black car service.
Bootie Mashup was then 10 years old. It was also the first event in the United States dedicated solely to mashups and bootlegs, and today it gets a special trophy for surviving not just a pandemic, but also an insane presidency and global recession. In San Francisco, businesses come and go and cause you to guard your heart a bit, lest you lose one of your favorites. 700+ parties has cemented Bootie as the biggest and longest-running all-mash-up party in the world. Now that it’s turning 20, I wanted to know: What’s made it so iconic?
“Although mashups were originally seen as a fad back in the early ’00s, once the genie was out of the bottle, they’ve never really gone away,” said Bootie co-founder Adriana Roberts.
The party initially began in 2003 as a monthly Wednesday event at Cherry Bar: “A punk rock bike messenger bar turned failing lesbian club,” Roberts said. With the advent of cheap audio software and MP3 blogs, mashups were just starting to bubble up on the internet, and she loved the DIY genre-clash of the tracks being created.
Fast forward a decade, the crowd at ‘Bootie’ was a diverse mix of people the night I went — some donning heels and full glamor and others, jeans. A near-naked man covered in glitter gave us a nod as we headed to the bar. The combination of a Kesha and Mumford & Sons song made my (slightly) pickled brain tingle. It was like nothing I’d experienced. I was in my own world shaking my booty to a Britney Spears and Death Cab for Cutie mashup when I sensed someone behind me, and before I could turn around I felt sweaty hands graze my hips.
“No thanks! I just want to dance with my friend,” I said and flipped around quickly so that he’s forced to face me and look me in the eyes. Whoever told straight cis men it was a good move to grind on you before looking at their face needs to be punished. I tell my friend we should get another drink, and with $10 in cash between us we decide to share. We weave ourselves out of the crowd before weaving ourselves back into it.
Adriana refers to the vibe of the Bootie Mashup parties as “San Fransexual.” The events haven’t been centered on straight people despite the reputation for being a good place for straight people to go and hook up. Most of the DJs and performers are LGBTQ but Bootie isn’t typically considered a gay party. It’s always been a mix, which is rare in nightlife. I agree — San Fransexual is exactly the vibe.
The nights aren’t tied down to any one musical genre or era. They’ve always played what’s fresh and new at the time, but mashed-up with old favorite throwbacks. There’s power in nostalgia. The DJ sets evolve with pop culture while being innovative with older songs. Their legacy is connected to the commitment and heart that ‘Bootie’ was created from, as a movement. The movement of having a great time, letting yourself be surprised in a playful environment that’s able to evolve with the times. That is the very essence that makes up the city of San Francisco.
“I’ll admit, we used to be all over the map when we first started, no genre was safe, and we could barely mix. It was very eclectic — but also chaotic AF,” Roberts said. “We’ve figured out what works best for our crowd since then. Turns out that tends to be a lot of danceable diva pop! In a nutshell, it’s music for girls, gays, and theys. But smart straight boys are welcome too!”
Back at the bar, we dance until 2:02 AM and I mentally prepare myself to beg the taxi driver to stop at the ATM so I can take cash out to pay him. As we exit DNA Lounge my ears ring with echoes of the night. The cab drops me off first and we decide to make breakfast together the next day. We can’t afford to go out to brunch with our twenty-three-year-old salaries, but I’m just grateful we can afford to go out to “Bootie” and have a great time. I can’t help but grin when I’m in bed that night remembering the mash of Carly Rae Jepsen and Third Eye Blind after a San Fransexual night at “Bootie.”
// Come celebrate 20 Years with Bootie Mashup at Cat Club on April 6th.
Allyson Darling is a queer, Oakland-based writer who left her heart in San Francisco. She’s also an OG contributor to The Bold Italic.
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