Now seven years since the Hemlock Tavern closed and its building was torn down and rebuilt, a new techno-and-karaoke space called XeX (pronounced “ex,” which...?) will open there with two separate floors of nightlife.
Famed Polk Gulch dive bar the Hemlock Tavern shut down back in 2018, and then its whole building was torn down the following year. The plan was to make it an apartment high-rise, but the developer Dolmen Property Group changed their mind and made it condos instead, which wrought a two-year delay on the whole project.
Though all along, the Hemlock Tavern’s old liquor license remained intact, and attached to that address. Then the ground-floor space opened as a private event spot simply called The Hemlock. That venue drew the ire of Broke-Ass Stuart for billing the neighborhood as “Polk Village,” and certainly the new incarnation of The Hemlock (seen below) would not be recognizable to Hemlock Tavern regulars.
But none of that is here nor there anymore. The private event space The Hemlock was only ever meant as an interim use until the building owners could find a new permanent nightclub occupant. And that has apparently happened, as the SF Business Times reports that the former Hemlock Tavern space will reopen as a new dance club called XeX (pronounced “ex,” not “zex”).
The new club XeX already has a website, though that website is nothing but a contact form at the moment. There is much more information on their recently launched Yelp page, which has a few pictures, and a description that the club will serve “Tea-infused cocktails, rare Japanese whisky, sushi bites, a huge dance floor, karaoke, and a speakeasy club room — only at XeX. Join us for the ultimate high-energy, high-end night out!”
The Business Times got a few words from XeX co-founder Rodney Cheng, who said he wanted to "do something different" with the place that now looks decidedly more upscale than was the Hemlock Tavern. He added that the upstairs would serve as a "chill" karaoke lounge, with the downstairs being the main dance floor for "the louder stuff.
The overall capacity of XeX will be 250 people.
There’s not a ton more information on the forthcoming new nightclub, but we’ll still hope to mark our calendars for a late spring opening. And as for that opening, the Business Times says that XeX is “currently hiring staff and aiming to open later this month or next.”
Image: Hemlock Tavern via Yelp
