It's been a long road for D'Arcy Drollinger and family.
SF Oasis—the drag club that was once jointly owned by D'Arcy, Heklina, and others—struggled to stay afloat amid the pandemic and an expansion into the nonprofit arts space. Owners Geoffrey Benjamin and Heklina quietly departed around 2020, although as Heklina told me then: it was misstated that Drollinger became the sole owner at that very moment. (Heklina has now passed away, but in the early 2020s, she remained a silent investor.)
Then there was a fundraiser and separately, a gala, collectively raising nearly $500,000 between the two events. There was Meals on Heels, and the Drag Laureate program, which not only brought attention to the club and to Drollinger, but offered a cash infusion of some $55,000. But it wasn't enough to staunch the expensive upkeep and rent on the building at 298 11th St.
In 2025 SF Oasis announced it would close; a move I strongly suspect because its 10-year lease was up. (That's right! It's only about a decade old.) It was another blow to many struggling LGBTQ+ businesses in San Francisco. Harvey's closed up shop in 2023. Ginger's, which had only recently reopened, had gone on indefinite hiatus in October. And AsiaSF closed up in 2024, ending a 26-year run as one of San Francisco’s most celebrated transgender cabaret spaces and restaurants.
Now, in a move that's timed perfectly for Pride Month and on the—ahem—heels of Drollinger's SF film premiere: Oasis just announced it will reopen July 17th.
Oasis was scheduled to play its final show on New Year's Eve. Drollinger had spent years keeping the venue alive largely out of her own pocket, subsidizing razor-thin margins month after month against declining attendance and steep rent. Then, roughly a week before the lights were set to go dark for good, a regular changed everything.
His name is Sky Stevens, a longtime Oasis patron and, as it happens, the son of Bay Area philanthropists Mary and Mark Stevens. Sky took Drollinger to lunch, heard what the club needed to survive, and set up a Zoom with his parents on December 18th. Mark Stevens is the managing partner of Menlo Park venture firm S-Cubed Capital, and the family's giving has reached hundreds of local institutions, from hospitals to arts nonprofits to the Olympics. Days later, they came forward with a multimillion-dollar gift to Oasis Arts, the venue's nonprofit arm.
"In just more than a decade, Oasis has become a leader in creating new art that connects and entertains, and has become a safe space for our LGBTQ+ community in times when we've needed it most," Sky Stevens said in a statement on the family's behalf. "It is a cultural institution that has provided me, and countless others, immense joy."
Drollinger has declined to name a figure, describing the gift only as "several million dollars," enough to stabilize the operation and, crucially, to pursue buying the 298 11th St. building outright. She has estimated that purchase at somewhere between $3.5 and $5 million, with the balance going toward a new roof, an office remodel, and staff to keep the fundraising going and the performers paid.
"It's one of those things you would see in a movie and not really believe it," Drollinger said of the eleventh-hour rescue, "but it actually happened."
The shift comes with a new name at the top. Broadway producer Greg Sottolano has been named Oasis Arts' executive director, freeing Drollinger to concentrate on the artistic and creative side.
Even City Hall took a bow. "Drag is an essential part of our city's culture," said Mayor Daniel Lurie.
The list of San Francisco's lost queer spaces keeps getting longer, and the easy story to tell about this city is one of subtraction. Oasis was supposed to be the next name on that list. But we're very happy to see it live on.
Saul Sugarman is editor in chief and owner of The Bold Italic.
The Bold Italic is a not-for-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. We operate under a fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).
You can become a paid subscriber. Or donate. Or learn more about us.
Still happening soon: Party with The Bold Italic & SF Symphony, June 18th
Join us at SF Symphony and/or The Academy SF for The Bold Italic's casual Pride soiree kiki. We're going to celebrate Michael Tilson Thomas with an evening beginning over at Davies, then head over to The Academy for drinks and conversation.
- Here's the link for the symphony tickets with discount applied. 730pm.
- Here's where you go for just the after party. 915pm. The header image to this newsletter is The Academy's speakeasy.
And more details are in this story and this one.
