See pictures of me partying at some of the raves headlined below

During the summer of 2001, Clockwork Eventz hosted their third annual "Metropolis" electronic dance music gathering. The first "Metropolis" had been held at the warehouse behind the Home Base store (which eventually burned down, see bottom of page) in Oakland. The second one took place at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose. And this year, it had gone down at the former ball park in San Francisco. If the headline of the article below isn't evidence that raves had gone mainstream by then, I don't know what is. In an interview for Lotus Magazine, a DJ with Silver Pearl Records - who organized the "Quest" parties at Home Base - said that he never allowed vendors or promotional tables to be set up at his events unless the venue managers forced him to. He stood by this decision because he felt such tables just ruined the mood of his parties. Well, forget about that mood because after the Home Base warehouse was shut down and massive raves started being held at other spaces, one could guarantee that there'd be a million booths selling & advertising a million items at every party. Ticket prices for these events went from an average of $20 to $40. This was due in large part to the heightened costs of renting venues and booking international performers. And that's commercialization for ya!!!

When I started going to raves in early 1999, most of the parties - since 1995 - were taking place at either the 2nd & Jackson St warehouse (about 1,000 capacity) or the much larger warehouse behind the Home Base store (over 10,000 capacity) on Hegenberger Rd next to the Oakland Coliseum. Organizers had to get permits from city hall to hold these events, and sometimes police hung around outside. Other than that, however, there was very little regulation. Security never checked ID or hassled people for smoking (including marijuana). These were old warehouses with no windows or ventilation systems, and the parties always got super packed. So it was basically like an oven on the dance floor. Every party smelled like a funky mix of weed, sweat, and Vicks vapor rub (that shit smells hella good when you're on ecstasy, in case ya didn't know). Kids would be so fucked up that they just chilled on the floor all night. Sometimes, I got floored, but other times, I would hop on top of the speakers to dance until the security ordered me to come down. Those were the days when parties felt truly free and underground.

Of course, though, nothing fun in life ever lasts. During the summer of 1999, security started checking IDs, and kids under 18 couldn't get into parties anymore. They started cracking down on indoor smoking, especially weed smoking. Promoters had to set up a small outdoor area at the 2nd & Jackson St space to compensate for the lack of ventilation. Some of these new rules were good. But during the fall, the article below announced that the City of Oakland was officially shutting down all the warehouses that were being rented out for raves. The City Council claimed that this was due to fire, earthquake, and emergency safety codes which the buildings did not meet. Rumors flew about Mayor Jerry Brown's niece having gone to one of the raves and overdosed. Whatever the real motivations were behind the city's decision to crack down on parties, a vibrant era in the Bay Area rave scene came to an end. To this day, events (mostly underground) have continued to take place in Oakland, but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. And Home Base was eventually destroyed by arson (see bottom of page). 1999 remains the most memorable year of my youth.

During the summer of 2004, the Skills crew organized a party called "1999" as a celebration of our rave scene from five years ago. The event sold out so quickly that a second party called "1998" was added and took place the night before "1999." A year later, Skills hooked up with the Unity crew and held "Imagine 2000," another trip back in time for all the nostalgic ravers out there. I ended up spontaneously going to all three parties, which were held at the Regency Center Ballroom on Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

A few years after the warehouse attached to the Home Base store stopped hosting raves, the Home Base store itself went out of business, and the property, which sits just off of Interstate 880, was then put up for lease. On the evening of Wednesday, October 12, 2005, I was driving north on the highway on my way home from the gym. I was probably at least three or four exits away from Home Base. In the distance seemed to be a massive dark cloud emanating from the ground on the right. I thought it might have just been my imagination because the cloud looked at least a mile wide and reached as high as the sky. Then as I got closer, not only did I realize that something was indeed up in smoke, but that something turned out to be Home Base!!!

Driving back south on I-880 after having had gone home to grab my camcorder. The blaze had already been reduced to half its size by then. >>>

I exited to get a closer look. The flames were enormous!!! I went home to let my friends know and to get my camcorder. By the time I arrived back at the scene to take some shots, firefighters had hosed off most of the blaze. As of the next morning's reporting by the local paper, there was no known cause to Home Base's demise. It could have been arson, perhaps even intentional as part of an insurance fraud. Well, the entire warehouse including the store and the rooms where raves were held became one lot of rubble. So much for my dreams of winning the lottery, buying up the property, and bringing raves back to Home Base :(

This was the closest that police would allow drivers to get to the scene.

Feel free to email me at lesliu@gmail.com for questions or feedback.

WEB HOSTING GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY EDDIE CODEL