SAN JOSE, Calif. — Get ready for the next chapter in the history of one of the Bay Area music scene’s most storied addresses.

Best known for hosting Boz Scagg’s legendary Slim’s hot spot for decades, and then a more recent (and much shorter) stint as YOLO Nightclub, the venue located at 333 11th St. in San Francisco will now transform into the home of The Budda.

The venue’s name references East Bay rapper Budda Mack, who is backing the new club.

“San Francisco, Bay Area get ready for the opening of my night club in SF,” Mack posted on Instagram. “January is about to be different. A new chapter is opening with THE BUDDA night club 333 11th street San Francisco CA — a new club bringing energy, culture, and unforgettable nights to the city.

“This isn’t just another venue, it’s a movement. Lock in, stay tuned, and prepare yourself… THE BUDDA is coming.”

Mack is a successful independent hip-hop artist with more than 160,000 followers on YouTube and over 5,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. His best-known songs include “Twerk,” which has been viewed some 3.5 million times on YouTube alone, and “Get Ya Mind Right,” which also boosts more than a million views on YouTube.

It’s unclear at this point whether The Budda will be primarily a hip-hop venue or one that hosts different kinds of music.

The Budda takes over the spot that YOLO filled for some four years. The EDM/hip-hop club got its start right in 2021, right as COVID pandemic restrictions on live music venues began to ease up, and shuttered its doors in spring 2025.

YOLO, of course, followed the lengthy run of Slim’s, the Boz Scaggs-owned nightclub that opened in 1988 and went on to host such fantastic acts as the Throwing Muses, Jayhawks, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, Foo Fighters, Hole and the Lemonheads over the years.

The club closed in March 2020. That was right as the pandemic hit and led to pretty much all live music venues in the U.S. shutting down, although the decision to close Slim’s was reportedly made before the pandemic.

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