New Parish owner opens up about closing the iconic venue 5%
By Azucena Rasilla2%
7/21/2026, 11:00:00 PM
Keywords: Oakland History, Oakland Nightlife
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A few months ago, chatter began circulating online about the closure of The New Parish, the intimate music venue in Uptown Oakland that captured the hearts of music fans with its eclectic bookings.
The building on San Pablo Avenue, which opened its doors as The New Parish in October 2009 with a show headlined by singer songwriter Alex Cuba and DJ Bobbito, already had deep ties to Oakland’s music and nightlife landscape.
In 1982, the venue opened as Jimmie’s Entertainment Complex, or Sweet Jimmie’s, after its owner, Jimmie Ward.
That club closed in 2006, after Ward grew tired of dealing with the Oakland Police Department and city officials.
Michael O’Connor, an experienced music industry mogul from San Francisco, stepped in.
It wasn’t O’Connor’s first time opening a club.
In 1993, at age 25, he opened Mr.
Fives, a small music venue on Rose and Market streets in San Francisco that was only in business for about a year.
In 1997, he opened the Justice League on San Francisco’s Divisadero Street, which was open through 2004, then bought by Allen Scott of Another Planet Entertainment and reopened as The Independent.
Now, O’Connor was on a quest to open a live music venue in Oakland.
“In the case of opening New Parish, I felt that Oakland needed and deserved a legit live music club, and I thought I could provide that,” O’Connor, the club’s founder and longtime owner, told The Oaklandside.
“I knew it was going to be hard.
I knew it was going to be a risk.
Nothing was easy.
Nothing was handed to me.
Permits weren’t handed to me.
Money wasn’t handed to me.
Everything was stressful.”
But he built something extraordinary at a time when Oakland nightlife was gaining momentum.
Some of today’s biggest music stars played the venue: Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar played at what feels like a lifetime before he won a Pulitzer and became the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history.
Oakland’s Fantastic Negrito played there when he was barely past his days as a street busker.
Global Latinx artists like Celso Piña, Kali Uchis, Jarabe De Palo and Belanova also graced what became one of Oakland’s most iconic stages.
In its first few years, O’Connor lured in his friend, comedian Dave Chappelle, to play over 50 sold-out shows.
Sometimes, Chappelle would bring blockbuster artists onstage with him like Lauryn Hill and Goapele.
The New Parish offered a foot in the door to homegrown talent like Oakland rapper Gina Madrid, cumbia band La Candelaria, DJs like Kool Kyle, and others.
The venue also became a refuge for displaced queer party thePeople, along with other popular parties such as Ships in the Night, Wormhole Wednesdays, Reggae Gold, and Monday Soul.
“Monday Soul” was a party where up-and-coming DJs and artists like Adrian Marcel, Mara Hruby, DJ D Sharp — now the official DJ for the Golden State Warriors — would perform.
“When you want to have 200 shows a year, you’re not going to love every artist.
Every show isn’t going to be personal,” O’Connor said.
“But you know, a lot of people booking clubs, they’re at a computer booking whatever.
Whereas I had a completely different agenda, which was music I liked and music that wasn’t being booked at other clubs.”
On May 20, Oakland activist and event promoter Chaney Turner, who hosted countless events at The New Parish, posted a photo of the marquee on Facebook.
Instead of featuring an upcoming show, the marquee said the venue was “For lease or sale.”
The post triggered an outpouring from fans.
“I can’t even list all the great artists I saw there from multiple genres but especially reggae and hip-hop,” wrote Oakland music critic Eric Arnold, who frequently photographed acts at the venue.
The New Parish closure was official as of Dec.
17, 2025, SFGate reported, when its annual health permit was not renewed.
Jamie Flaherty-Evans of Chromata Real Estate, the company leasing the building, confirmed to the outlet that the building is “under contract with new owners, who plan to keep it an arts venue.”
Already, in the summer of 2025, several shows scheduled for The New Parish were quietly moved to other venues.
Reggae artist Maruja’s October show moved to Cornerstone in Berkeley; indie band Y La Bamba’s October show moved to Crybaby.
The venue’s last show was Bay Area violinist and music producer Raaginder on July 18, 2025.
O’Connor told us that several factors led to his decision to shutter the venue.
He said that ticket sales had been stale post-pandemic.
While some shows did sell out, like when British soul singer Olivia Dean performed in November 2023 or when rapper Doechii performed there in November 2024, others didn’t.
“Downtown Oakland never recovered,” he said.
“I’m not going to sit back and bash Oakland because I love Oakland.
But, when you go to a show and you walk back to your car and you see too many cars in a row with broken windows, and you get to your car and your window’s broken — the whole car break-ins [thing] was a factor.”
The building’s lease was up for renewal in 2025, and he was ready to pass on the torch to someone else who had experience curating live shows.
O’Connor said he travels to Ireland where his family is from often, and he was looking forward to spending more time with his daughters.
The goal, he said, was to retain a small percentage of ownership that would allow him to book three to four shows a month, with the rest in the hands of new majority owners.
O’Connor was already in talks with potential buyers, and just when he thought the deal was done, it fell apart.
“I do feel that I let Oakland down by The New Parish closing, and I’m sorry for that,” O’Connor said.
“But I tried.
I really tried to pass it on.”
A stage that changed artists’ careers
I remember the exact date of my first show at The New Parish: May 23, 2011, when I went to see Colombian psychedelic cumbia band Bomba Estéreo.
That band is now so big they headlined one of Stern Grove’s shows last month.
But then they were just able to fill the 400-person venue.
The show kicked off with DJ Mexican Dubwiser behind the turntables, followed by an opening set by the Oakland cumbia collective Tokeson.
I remembered being blown away by the venue.
No matter where you stood in the crowd, you got a great view of the stage.
At the time, I was a recent college grad, still working a 9 to 5 while on a quest to become a journalist.
A few days after the show, I cold-emailed Kelsea Shanley, who handled marketing for the venue at the time, and shared with her a review of the Bomba Estéreo show I had posted on my blog.
I wrote to Shanley of my desire to attend shows and review them, sharing my background working for my college newspaper and radio station.
Shanley believed in my writing, and granted me access to shows I wanted to cover.
The Colombian band remains one of O’Connor’s favorite artists.
“What was my favorite album in 2015 of any genre, of all the types of music I love?
It was Bomba Estéreo’s ‘Amanecer,’” he said.
“That was the hottest album of the year.”
In the summer of 2015, after the album was released, the band played back-to-back sold out shows at The New Parish.
“If you asked me what show had the most pure human elation it would be the two nights they played after the album came out,” O’Connor said.
“If my life ended after they played ‘To My Love,’ I think it would have been a good way to go out.
If you don’t know them, please play that song, but jack it to 10 or there’s no point.”
In the decade since their New Parish debut, Bomba Estéreo has racked up 15 Grammy nominations, including for the song “Ojitos Lindos,” from Bad Bunny’s 2022 album “Un Verano Sin Tí.”
‘The New Parish was my home’
It wasn’t just O’Connor’s taste in artists that made The New Parish special.
The venue had a courtyard where people would gather to smoke and mingle between acts, or whenever they needed a respite from the music, their bodies often drenched in sweat from singing and dancing.
It was a place where you could show up with friends, or if you randomly showed up alone, you’d end up seeing someone you knew, or meeting new friends.
The first show I covered at The New Parish was a performance on March 15, 2012, headlined by the Mexican band Nortec Collective, with Bostich + Fussible.
Oakland bands Bang Data and La Misa Negra opened the show.
The following month, I wrote about Los Angeles rock and funk band Ozomatli, a show where I met Oakland rapper Gina Madrid, who went by the moniker Raw-G at the time.
Some other early shows I covered featured Mexican singer-songwriter Ximena Sariñana, Chilean singer-songwriter Anita Tijoux, and the Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles.
Madrid was a staple at The New Parish as an opening act for both hip-hop and Latin shows, and in the summer of 2012, she opened for Tijoux.
That was the night, she said, that she met O’Connor.
“I was backstage talking to Anita, asking her how she felt about the stage, about the sound,” Madrid recalls.
“I was talking about how The New Parish was the best new venue in town, and Michael overheard me.”
Madrid said she later reached out to O’Connor to ask about helping out at the venue and getting more opportunities to perform.
As a music fan, Madrid said, she lost count of how many shows she attended there, a list that includes Oakland’s own Kehlani; rappers like Immortal Technique, Migos, Ty Dolla Sign, and the late Nipsey Hustle; and rockers like Post Malone and Machine Gun Kelly.
She said she got to share the stage with the likes of the late cumbia superstar Celso Piña and many others.
“Michael was such a staple when it came to booking artists,” Madrid said.
“The venue provided a space for us artists and promoters.
It created this special hub.”
Eventually, Madrid became O’Connor’s assistant and in 2019 she began to help with booking local opening acts as well.
“As an artist, I’m going to miss the stage,” she said.
“The New Parish was my home.
I got to spend so much time in that venue working and performing, getting to know the longtime employees.
It was a community.”
O’Connor said the success of The New Parish was rooted as much in his team — Madrid as well as the venue’s general manager and partner, Jackson Ellis — as its eclectic mix of the bookings.
“I love how much Gina and J.E. were part of The New Parish,” he said.
A space for love and friendship
In 2014, the Spanish rock band Jarabe de Palo, led by the late singer-songwriter Pau Dones, performed at The New Parish.
It’s a night I think of often.
Not only because I got the chance to interview Dones ahead of the show, six years before his death from colon cancer, but because that’s the night one of my closest friends, Claudia, met her husband.
Claudia would sometimes tag along with me to take photos of the shows I covered, and we were both huge fans of Jarabe de Palo.
Neither of us were getting paid for it, and she was feeling wiped out, but after some convincing, she agreed, yet again, to come along.
At one point during the show, Claudia went out to the courtyard for a cigarette break and a guy named Alejandro approached her.
He was also a huge fan of the band, and the two became inseparable after that night.
Six months later, Jarabe de Palo came back to play in the Bay, this time in San Francisco.
Alejandro proposed at the show, and the two got married a year later.
I can’t even tell you how many shows I went to at The New Parish over the years.
I got to see Celso Piña every year he played there until his death in 2019; the Mexican electro-pop band Belanova in 2014, the Colombian pop and neo-soul Kali Uchis in 2017, and the East Los Angeles cumbia band Las Cafeteras, Oakland rapper ALLBLACK, and G-Eazy, all in 2019.
G-Eazy was among a long list of big names, including Oakland artists Too $hort, Kamaiyah, and Fantastic Negrito, who played at The New Parish that year to celebrate the venue’s 10th anniversary.
My last show ever at The New Parish was in February 2025 — the “Somos Cumbia” show — where I came to see Mina La Voz de La Cumbia, and to check out the DJ set by radio DJ Chuy Gomez and his brother Hugo with my mom, two of my siblings, and my then fiancé.
We had just booked the Gomez brothers to DJ our wedding later that year.
O’Connor said he doesn’t see the closure of The New Parish as the end for Oakland’s up-an-coming artists.
“My hope is that Oakland has a live music venue that’s similar to how The New Parish was booked,” O’Connor said.
“I absolutely loved the venue.
Especially in its prime, 2010 to 2020, that place was a vibe.
It was just a treasure.
There were so many utterly joyful memories.
But time marches on, and 15 years is actually a long time for a club.”
Jamie Flaherty-Evans of Chromata Real Estate told The Oaklandside via text message that “the property is close to being finalized with a new operator” and that the timeline is “before [the] end of July.”
She didn’t provide the name of the new operator or confirm to us that the building will remain a performance venue.
We’ll close out this beloved chapter in Oakland’s music history by hearing from a few of its fans, who shared their memories of The New Parish and named some of their favorite shows at the storied venue.
Kendrick Lamar, 2011
Keith Tivon Gregory was born and raised in Oakland, and has long been involved in the music scene as part of the Regulars Only crew, a collective that hosts invite-only parties that take place in the joint backyards of various homes in West Oakland.
Most recently, legendary Oakland rap group the Trunk Boiz performed at one of the Regulars Only parties to promote their comeback album with rising artist Seiji Oda.
When The New Parish opened, Gregory was front and center for Dave Chapelle, and for the hip-hop duo Blackstar, who played at the venue on Sept.
3, 2010.
But one of his favorite shows was when Kendrick Lamar first took the stage there.
The rapper, singer and songwriter from Compton may have played the Super Bowl halftime show last year, but on May 7, 2011, Lamar came to The New Parish to promote the release of his independent debut album, “Section.
80.”
“I was already listening to Kendrick’s ‘Overly Dedicated,’ a mixtape he had,” Gregory said.
“Whoever was doing the booking at that specific point in time were in tune with all the underground folks.”
Robert Glasper Experiment, 2013
The event that put The New Parish on Jesse Carlton’s radar was “Felabration,” an annual party launched in 2011 to celebrate the late Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Aníkúlápó Kúti.
“My first year at Cal, my roommates and some of their friends had gone and then told me about it later,” Carlton said.
“I knew that I had to check this place out.”
Carlton, who is a huge fan of jazz pianist Robert Glasper, then got to see Glasper’s group perform at The New Parish in 2013.
Carlton said he loved the coolness and intimacy of the show.
“If you were playing New Parish, you’ve kind of got some street cred,” Carlton said.
Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, 2014
Liv Collom was a 13-year-old student when she signed up for the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp in Oakland in 2014.
As part of the program, Collom had to form a band with other campers, and then work on an original song throughout the week that they’d perform at The New Parish as part of a weekend showcase.
Being on stage at The New Parish, she said, was empowering.
“It felt like the real thing,” she said.
Kendrick Lamar theme party, 2015
Oakland activist and event promoter Chaney Turner not only attended New Parish shows, but hosted over 40 parties there with her company Social Life Productions.
Chaney said The New Parish became a refuge for many queer parties that lost their homes as Oakland’s gay bars and clubs began to close, including, in 2012, the Oasis Restaurant and Bar.
“A lot of the parties that were displaced after the Oasis closed down were able to find a home at The New Parish,” Chaney said.
“Also new events were able to be produced there for a lot of us up-and-coming event producers and DJs.”
Chaney was at what she calls that “epic” Kendrick Lamar show in 2011, but when Lamar came back to town in 2015, this time to play the 2,800-person house at the Fox Theater, she and many other faithful fans were unable to score tickets.
“We were pissed,” she said.
“So I decided to do a Kendrick Lamar theme party at the same time.”
“The entire place was packed,” she said.
“It was DJ LadyRyan, DJ Platurn, DJ Able D.
DNas was one of the hosts.
We had over 1,000 people RSVP.”
Chaney went on to host Pride parties, a yearly Aaliyah tribute party, and Black Weirdo parties at The New Parish.
“During that time of doing events, I was very intentional on making sure that there was space for Black people, because we were being pushed out,” Chaney said.
“The New Parish was a vibe, and it was very representative of Oakland.”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Denzel Curry, both 2016
When Bowen Wang first moved to the Bay Area, he’d frequent The New Parish for hip-hop and rock shows.
His two favorite performances happened in the same year.
Australian rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard performed in May 2016.
Footage from that show later turned into a live album and concert film titled “Live in San Francisco ’16.”
“The show had a modest turnout, but they pulled up with two drum kits and then proceeded to ramp up the intensity to 11 for an hour straight,” Bowen said.
“It’s insane to see how much they’ve blown up since then.”
He then attended Florida rapper Denzel Curry’s concert that November.
“I saw the show from the second story but the energy of the attendees shook the entire building,” Bowen said.
“There were no two planted feet, a truly unforgettable time.”
Michael O’Connor’s favorite shows at The New Parish, in no particular order:
Robert Glasper, 2013
Glasper’s first show in the Bay Area.
Meshell Ndegeocello, 2011
A show of Prince covers.
Bomba Estéreo, 2015
Back-to-back sold out shows to promote the album “Amanecer.”
Gilles Peterson, 2019
A show that made Peterson’s own top 10 “end of the year” list.
Daniel Caesar, 2017
The best part was that marriage proposal in the middle of the floor when Caesar played “Best Part.”
California Honeydrops, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2019
Every single one of their shows.
Lianne La Havas, 2016
A sold-out show in support of her Grammy-nominated album “Blood.”
Kendrick Lamar, 2011
Not his first sold-out show in March, but the next one, in October of that year.
Kneecap, 2024
The only shows they ever did in the Bay Area.
Fela!
Cast Party, 2013
With the closing cast of the Broadway play.
Daniel Caesar, 2017
The following year Wang got to see Canadian R&B singer and songwriter Daniel Caesar play at the venue.
He remembers seeing someone getting proposed to during Caesar’s set.
“The New Parish seemed to book a good range of artists that were either at the cusp of blowing up or very recently went viral and at a price point that made me feel happy to catch multiple shows within a month,” Wang said.
“Outside of a music festival, I’m not sure where to find something like this anymore.”
Charly Bliss, 2019
Claire Andrews said she went to several shows at The New Parish, starting with the Canadian indie-rock band Wintersleep and Canadian country band Elliott Brood in November 2012.
But the most memorable show she saw there took place in the summer of 2019.
That’s when she got to see New York pop-punk quartet Charly Bliss, who opened for Canadian indie rock band Wolf Parade.
Andrews was there to see Wolf Parade but said she was blown away by Charly Bliss vocalist Eva Hendricks.
“I was struck by what an amazing performer Eva Hendricks was,” Andrews said.
“She has this powerful, strong energy, and she’s a great guitar player.
I can’t think of any place in Oakland to go see shows where you could have that many people there but still be so close to the artist.”
Satya, 2022
Music executive Phil Green has been in the industry for more than two decades, and over that time he has helped launch the careers of many young, talented artists, including Oakland singer-songwriter Satya.
Green is the figure behind Oakland Rising, a collective of up-and-coming musicians, and the co-founder of the nonprofit Follow the Music.
Green said one of his favorite shows at The New Parish was when Satya headlined there in 2022.
As Satya’s manager, Green was involved in identifying her opening acts, and in this case he asked Cava Menzies, a founding faculty member at Oakland School for the Arts, to recommend some artists.
“Michael trusted us to find the artists,” Green told us, “and liked the idea of supporting OSA.”
Shane Koyczan, 2023
Danielle Leard knew of The New Parish from countless friends who would frequent the venue for shows or parties.
She didn’t finally make it there until 2023, when Canadian spoken word poet Shane Koyczan performed.
“I remember walking in and going, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the perfect venue for something like this,’” Leard said.
“It felt both open and accessible, but also intimate at the same time.
I felt immediately welcomed, even though I went there alone.
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