Famous rock 'n' roll icon in San Francisco is closing for good
Owner Chip Conley, who bought the former pay-by-the-hour Caravan Motel at 601 Eddy St. in 1987 at the suggestion of concert promoter Bill Graham, said that the lease for the land is up Jan. 1, and he and his business partners, Isabel Manchester and Jamie Flanagan, made the decision not to renew.
Conley said Phoenix had been losing money since the pandemic and both the Tenderloin's chaotic street conditions and San Francisco's weak hospitality sector made it unlikely that it would turn a profit in the near future.
The decision to close at the end of the year comes nine months after the San Francisco Baking Institute bought the property for $9.1 million. Conley said his group had 'cordial negotiations' with French pastry chef Michel Suas, who heads up the baking institute, about extending the lease, but decided against it.
'To be quite honest, it's not even just the lease terms, it's the nature of the neighborhood,' he said. 'We have come to a place where after 39 years — and I am turning 65 later this year — maybe it's time for the Phoenix to retire.'
He said 'there is some hope and belief that the Tenderloin is making some improvements,' but that 'the momentum the property had pre-COVID, which was exceptionally strong, has not come back.'
'Maybe if I had been smart, I would have bought the land a long time ago, but, at the end of the day, sometimes you have to say, 'It's been a beautiful experience and it's time for it to have its fat lady sings opera moment,'' Conley said.
Suas did not respond to emails seeking information about the future of the property. A receptionist at the baking institute said Suas was traveling abroad and not available. Conley and his partners own the Phoenix name and brand, so if Suas chooses to continue to operate the property as a motel, he could either buy rights to the brand or operate under a different name. Conley said the brand 'has real value.'
'The name, the brand, will go away unless he decides to buy it from us,' Conley said of Suas. 'Having a motel in the Tenderloin, without the brand that goes with it, it's not exactly a very marketable asset.'
Originally built in 1956 as the Caravan, Conley attracted touring bands by offering free tour bus parking and complimentary massages for tour managers. The motel quickly gained a reputation as a destination for rock stars and their roadies, attracting everyone from David Bowie to Kurt Cobain to Sinead O'Connnor and Neil Young. Cobain spent multiple New Years Eves at the Phoenix with members of Pearl Jam and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. At the time of his death Cobain had in his possession a note to his wife Courtney Love that was written on Phoenix Hotel stationary.
Conley parlayed the success he had at the Phoenix into a boutique hospitality powerhouse, Joie de Vivre, which owned or operated 52 hotels over 24 years. Conley sold the company in 2010.
The Phoenix became a model for hospitality chains like the Ace and Bunkhouse, which carved out a hospitality niche by converting mid-century motels into hipster destinations.
The decision to announce the closure six months before the end of the lease was designed to give customers ample time to book visits or events. Conley said he plans on throwing a birthday bash for his 65th on Halloween.
One of the things exciting about having an end in sight is to curate all kinds of 'amazing parties and events at this gateway to the Tenderloin over the balance of the year.'
'When people know there is a final date now I think they are going to come out of the woodwork,' Conley said. 'Maybe they proposed to their wife there, or had an affair there or went there as a groupie 30 years ago trying to get a date with Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I think the Phoenix stories are going to start to populate.'
The Phoenix was part of a group of businesses and residents that filed a lawsuit against the the city in 2024, alleging that the city treats the Tenderloin as a 'containment zone' for drugs, 'herding' fentanyl users and dealers into the area.
The lawsuit mentions the rampant drug activity on Willow Street — the alleyway that borders both the Best Western Red Coach Inn and several other hotels — and also calls out a sanctioned safe-consumption site set up by local activists, and city officials 'made no effort to punish or reprimand those who operated it.'
Conley said the street conditions have improved since the lawsuit, but that enough tour managers and travel agents and film location scouts had 'witnessed the deterioration of the neighborhood' and found other places to stay.
'It's going to take three to five years for the neighborhood to be on solid ground again,' he said.
Conley said he is 'putting out a challenge to my fellow hoteliers in San Francisco' to create a new destination for rockers.
'San Francisco deserves a rock 'n' roll hotel,' he said. 'There needs to be one.'
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