"Oakland's new Starline Social Club could be described as a constantly evolving interactive art installation— albeit one with a full kitchen, bar, and 350-person ballroom and music venue. The unique concept is the brainchild of Oakland artist Adam Hatch, who has been working in collaboration with partners Sam White (Ramen Shop) and artists Eric Siemens and Drew Bennett over the past year." - SF Eater
Located in a 19th century Odd Fellows Hall and Saloon, the Starline Social Club is a multi-use community space, featuring a restaurant, bar, and two performance venues. Owned and operated by local artists and believers, Starline celebrates diversity and universal tolerance seven days a week, through music, dance, food, drinks, residencies, festivals and more.
Saul Williams
Starline hosts a range of events from touring and local bands, along with monthly residencies such as Swing Dance Tuesdays, Jazz In The Bar, and Oakland Comedy Night to name a few. Many notable performances have taken place since Starline Social Club revamped their space last 2015, including the New Orleans Rebirth Brass Band, Diplo, the Matatu Film Festival (featuring Saul Williams among others), Hard French Winter Ball (featuring Sugar Pie Desanto), a chocolate sauce wrestling competition, and other exceptional acts and events.
"Starline Social club is a great place to catch a drink or a late night bite! With its high ceilings, plaster walls, and winding, asymmetrical bar, the Starline has a kind of old-fashioned grandeur that speaks to the building’s long, eclectic history. The menu is tiny (maybe ten dishes total on any given night), changes all the time, and the food is straight-up California cuisine that straddles the line between highbrow and lowbrow — between a customer’s expectation of what bar food ought to be and something a little more ambitious. It’s by design that the Starline is a place where you can linger over a craft cocktail, but also where you can drop $28 on fried chicken and wash it down with a $3 Miller High Life.
Although the beer-battered onion rings are delicious, the less stereotypically bar-snack-y menu items — say, rack of lamb or a sauté of Monterey squid, sweet corn, and bacon lardons — are where the kitchen really shines." - East Bay Express