On a busy night at Eli's Mile High Club, the crowd doesn't stay inside. Bassist Akiyoshi Ehara described the mix to The Daily Californian as "a drag show, a blues night on Mondays with elders and incredible music … punk and metal, and then everyone can be in the backyard." That backyard has been closed by the City of Oakland since late 2024. In mid-September, the North Oakland bar announced it would close at the end of October.
Eli's has been on Martin Luther King Jr. Way since 1974, and it has already come back from worse. Through all of that, the indoor room kept working. The patio is the one part of the business it hasn't been able to replace, and getting the patio back is the condition the owner has put on reopening.
Fifty-two years, and a habit of coming back
Eli Thornton opened the club in 1974. The Oaklandside reports that it became a home for the West Coast blues scene after other venues in West Oakland closed to make way for BART, the 7th Street post office, I-980 and other urban renewal projects. The bar went through several owners over the decades and was closed from 2008 to 2011. In 2016, an ownership group that included Matt Patane bought it, and Patane is still the primary owner.
Alicia Walters told The Daily Californian that Eli's is "one of the last holdouts" from a long line of local bars and venues that have closed, a line that goes back to the I-980 construction that broke up the area once called the "Harlem of the West." A venue that made it through all of that has a track record of reopening, so Patane's stated plan to come back is worth taking seriously.
How the patio became the whole story
This part of the bar's history fits in a few dates:
- 2021. Eli's was one of the first bars to require proof of COVID vaccination, and the requirement applied to entering its back patio.
- 2022. A nearby neighbor began filing complaints about the patio, according to public records cited by The Oaklandside.
- November 2024. After months of negotiation, code enforcement red-tagged the patio, according to Patane's account to KQED.
- March 2025. At a community meeting in the club, Patane asked for pro bono legal help and launched a $150,000 GoFundMe.
- September 16, 2026. Eli's announced it would close at the end of October.
The city and the bar describe the problem differently. A city spokesperson, Jean Walsh, told SFGATE in April 2025 that the patio was red-tagged for "safety and encroachment issues" arising from unpermitted structures. Patane told KQED that fire marshals and health department officials had inspected the space before and raised no concerns. He also said the zoning question surprised him:
"The city became aware of some zoning issues about two and a half years ago. Our patio was never on their radar, or they never really knew it existed."
That explains a request the club made at the time. It asked the community to send in testimonials and vintage photos of the back patio, and said photos at least 10 years old were especially useful because they could show preexisting use. The bar's case for the backyard depends partly on how long people have been gathering there.
What losing the backyard cost
Closing the patio took away more than standing room. Patane told KQED that the closure forced the club to cut staff, reduce hours and move some shows to other venues. "My concern is for the 50 years of history this place has given to the East Bay," he said.
The fundraiser is tied to the patio. Patane's GoFundMe description says the funds will pay "to get through zoning, permitting, and the restructure of the patio according to the city request." When the campaign started in March 2025, KQED reported that the club was also raising money to make up for lost revenue and to pay for legal help. The Oaklandside reported $77,000 raised on September 16, and The Daily Californian later reported more than $90,000 from more than 1,400 donors since March 2026. Both figures are still short of the $150,000 goal.
In March 2025, Patane told KQED he had contacted Councilmember Carroll Fife's office and hoped to discuss the club's situation at a public meeting with the city. When Eli's announced the closure, management asked supporters to contact the City Council and the mayor's office.
The Monday night that held it together
The blues night is the program most closely tied to Eli's. Wilbert "Cowboy" Freeman McAlister, former president of the Oakland Black Cowboys Association, has been a regular at blues nights, often performing with his band, Cowboy and His Sometimes Blues. The Daily Californian reports that UC Berkeley students come mostly on Monday nights for the blues.
Jessie Leigh Smith, a musician who has gone to Monday Blues Nights regularly since 2018, told KQED that the crowd ranges from Berkeley undergrads to blues legends in their 80s. "It was one of those things where you go by yourself every week but as soon as you get there, you're not alone," she said.
Eli's own calendar listed Blue Mondays with Bobby Young on October 26 as the "Last available date" for the series. The last weekend on the books included HELL-O-WEEN on October 30 with The Helltones and The Hottakes, and Dolly's Mile High Club, a Halloween party honoring Dolly Parton, on October 31. On October 9, The Oaklandside still listed Eli's as closing at the end of the month, with events scheduled until then. SFGATE's September headline summed up the bar's position: it would shutter "for now." The bar's website and social accounts will have any update on reopening first.
Where to hear blues this November
No other venue has announced that it is taking over Eli's Monday programming. These are the November blues dates closest to North Oakland:
- Saturday, November 7, 3 to 5:30 p.m., The Back Room, Berkeley. Blues & Jazz Singers Jam Session with Sam Rudin and Pamela Rose, featuring Danny Caron, Ruth Davies and Mark Lee.
- Friday, November 13, 8 p.m., The Freight, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley. Chris Smither with Peter Mulvey. Doors open at 7 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 18, 8 p.m., The Freight. Corey Harris & Cedric Watson: True Blues. Doors open at 7 p.m.
If you want a regular jam and don't mind driving, The Bistro in Hayward lists the Robert DaValle Blues Jam on Sunday, November 8, and the Gary Lamb Blues Jam on Sunday, November 22, both from 3 to 6 p.m. To the north, Antlers Tavern in Pinole is listed with a weekly Tuesday blues jam. The house band starts at 7 p.m., and the open jam starts at 8.
Whether Monday blues comes back to MLK Jr. Way depends on the patio, and the club's GoFundMe is paying for that work.
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