Last week, as soon as I saw Corey O’Brien standing on the southeast corner of First and San Salvador—right outside the former F/X The Club—I knew what was happening. Through the open doors workers could be seen cleaning up some old debris and hosing things off. It was clear. After nearly 12 years of operating The Blank Club with his partners, O’Brien was about to begin a brand new live-music adventure with some new investors inside the old F/X building, which had been the Pussycat Theatre before, and The Usual, the Spy and Angels in the years following F/X’s closure.

It is with a tinge of sadness, that I report The Blank Club will close for good on Jan. 31, 2015. The name will be retired and O’Brien’s new, yet-to-be-named club will open by the beginning of March. It was not a sudden decision. While the Blank has been the only venue of its kind in San Jose for years, everyone knows it simply isn’t big enough. While it’s miraculously managed to host many legendary shows over the years, there was no real backstage, no real place to load-in and the stage itself was way too small for national touring bands. Looking back over the last 12 years, I was very lucky to see Lemmy Kilmister, the Damned, GBH and the Buzzcocks on that stage.

After awhile though, with production costs going through the roof, and with more and more national touring bands expressing grief over the less-than-ample conditions, O’Brien says he finally came to a decision. The era of the Blank Club was not going to last much longer. It must eventually come to an end and he needed to move forward on his own to find a more suitable venue. The old F/X building has been empty for seven years, and while it will be expensive, O’Brien says it will be worth it.

I had to get the skinny in person, so I showed up at The Blank Club on the afternoon of Dec. 4, during non-operating hours, to ask O’Brien what was going on. He said the place simply wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

“We don’t have what we need here,” O’Brien told me. “The stage is too small, there’s nowhere to stage gear, the green room is back behind the bar, upstairs. If we want to do major touring bands, we needed a bigger room. San Jose needs a real, mid-sized club. We don’t have one here.”

Opening a new live music venue in the SoFA District—in the same building where alternative music fans saw countless bands 24 years ago—will add a much-needed component to the street. The area is already making a serious comeback and opening the F/X building again is going to work wonders for music-based nightlife.

The former F/X is the only building still empty at the intersection of South First and East San Salvador—an area once referred to by San Jose nightlife junkies as “The Four Corners.” Original F/X owner Fil Maresca said a new rock club in that space will be transformative: “To see that marquee lit up again is going to make a serious difference in the neighborhood.”

When 400 South First Street was called F/X, from 1989-1995, it regularly jammed that building with numerous national touring acts. No Doubt, Helmet, the Melvins, Jesus Lizard and countless other bands gigged there, back when they were nobodies. This unfolded in-between huge dance nights, themed events and all sorts of performance-based revelry. It’s an amazing space for all sorts of events in addition to live bands, which is why O’Brien is looking forward to opening its doors in 2015. Especially since he was one of the original regulars who drank at F/X when it first opened 25 years ago. He even DJed there.

But even though he now has over a decade of memories at 44 S. Almaden Ave., O’Brien reiterated that he is not relocating the Blank Club to another venue. The new club will be just that: a new club.

“The Blank Club is here, at this location,” declared O’Brien, as we continued to stand there during non-operating hours. “To do something else, it isn’t the Blank Club. The Blank Club’s here. It’s going to be different over there, so it needs a different name.”

Nightlife lovers living in downtown San Jose will have plenty to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, as the seventh annual Black Friday party, hosted by F/X The Club founder Fil Maresca, will be held at the brand new SoFA venue, The Continental Bar, Lounge & Patio.

A venture of Sam Ramirez, owner of The Cardiff and El Guapo’s in Campbell, The Continental is so new that the F/X Club party—which will feature four DJs, spinning ’90s alternative and house music—is being billed as a “sneak preview” of the new club, which is slated to open officially sometime in December.

The party will feature sets from DJs Brian Raffi, King Raffi, Julius Papp, and Harry Who?

When The Continental does open its doors, it will be a welcome addition to the SoFA district, according to Maresca, a long-time San Jose resident, a member of the SouthFirst Action Committee and founder of F/X The Club, which once occupied the theater on the corner of South 1st and San Salvador, most recently occupied by the Angel’s nightclub.

“I’m really excited,” Maresca says of The Continental’s opening, which he views as yet another sign of the SoFA district’s resurgence—along with opening of Café Stritch, the soon-to-be-completed South First Market and the return of the SoFA Street Fair—not to mention the new housing springing up in the area.

“It’s becoming more of a community again,” Maresca says. “There’s a lot more people in the neighborhood who care about what’s happening.”

Ramirez certainly falls into the category of people who care about the district, and the opening of The Continental is a return to his roots.

Born and raised in San Jose, Ramirez learned the ins and outs of the nightlife business working for Maresca at F/X, throwing parties at the Cactus Club and working at Agenda. After cutting his teeth in the SoFA district, he opened up the highly successful Cardiff Lounge.

“It’s very exciting for me to be able to come back,” Ramirez says. “I feel like I’m coming back home.”

Ramirez has transformed the inside of what was once Brix and Hunters—going for a rustic look and using reclaimed wood, salvaged metal and exposed cement floors. Much like he does at Cardiff Lounge, the bar will feature DJs spinning electronic music, including acid jazz and rare groove beats. He also plans to occasionally host live music.

There will be leather couches and arm chairs and a back patio area, Ramirez says, explaining that he wants the place to have a “lounge feel.” The full name of the establishment will be The Continental Bar, Lounge and Patio.

He is training his bartenders to make craft cocktails and plans to stock mostly high quality and small-batch spirits, micro-brew and craft beers, and fine wine—with a few exceptions: “I might do a Coor’s Light, or something like that,” he says.

Overall, however, he wants The Continental to be a classy—but not stuffy—place, where young people can “come in, enjoy their time, have conversations and enjoy great cocktails.”

Bottoms up!

The party starts at 8pm tonight, Nov. 28, at 349 S. 1st St. There is a $10 cover after 9pm.