2 AM Club

{{Short description|Bar in Mill Valley, California}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{for|the band|2AM Club}} thumb|The 2 AM Club, 2003 [[File:Huey Lewis and the News - Sports.png|thumb|Huey Lewis and the News' album cover ''Sports'', taken at The 2 AM Club]] The '''2 AM Club''' is a bar in Mill Valley, California.<ref name="mvhistory/2am-club">{{cite web |title=VIGNETTE > 2AM Club |url=https://www.mvhistory.org/vignette-2am-club/ |website=Mill Valley Historical Society |access-date=5 August 2025 |date=17 October 2014}}</ref>

== History == The bar was opened by Bill Brown on the corner of Miller and Montford, and was called '''The Brown Jug'''.<ref name="mvhistory/2am-club" /> Prohibition forced its closure in 1921, and the saloon became a grain and feed store.<ref name="mvhistory/2am-club" /> It was reopened in 1933, when Prohibition was repealed, with the same name, ''The Brown Jug'' by Joe Hornsby, a local contractor, who bought the building.<ref name="mvhistory/2am-club" />

It became known as the 2 A.M. Club, because it was outside the city limits and so was allowed to stay open until 2{{nbsp}}am, whereas bars within the city of Mill Valley had to close by 10{{nbsp}}pm.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-08-30|title=Homestead in the Thirties|url=https://www.mvhistory.org/history-of/history-of-homestead-valley/homestead-in-the-thirties/|access-date=2022-01-17|website=Mill Valley Historical Society|language=en-US}}</ref> It was officially renamed as the 2 A.M. Club in 1940.<ref name="chronicle" />

It is known locally as "The Deuce".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rockandrollroadmap.com/san_francisco/2_am_club.html |title=The San Francisco Rock and Roll Road Map |access-date=2006-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231151546/http://www.rockandrollroadmap.com/san_francisco/2_am_club.html |archive-date=2006-12-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1983, the bar was the location for the cover photo of the Huey Lewis and the News' album ''Sports''; Lewis himself attended school in Mill Valley.<ref name=chronicle>{{Cite web|last=Silvers|first=Emma|date=2018-11-28|title=Mill Valley’s 2AM Club and the trope of the high-school reunion bar|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/Mill-Valley-s-2AM-Club-and-the-trope-of-the-13428859.php|access-date=2022-01-17|website=San Francisco Chronicle|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=Jill>{{cite web | url= http://jillkramer.net/huey-lewis/ | title= Huey Lewis | first= Jill | last= Kramer | publisher= JillKramer.net | date= 7 November 2001 | access-date= 3 February 2015 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150203202035/http://jillkramer.net/huey-lewis/ | archive-date= February 3, 2015 | url-status= dead | df= mdy-all }}</ref>

A toilet seat guitar created by Charlie Deal hangs behind the bar.<ref name=chronicle/> Deal obtained a patent for the idea.<ref name="patent">{{cite web |url=https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/D277291 |title=US Patent D277291: Electric Guitar |publisher=US Patent Office |author=Charles E. Deal | date=22 January 1985}}</ref> The guitar is one of the many items visible in the photographs used for the ''Sports'' album.<ref name=chronicle/>

The band 2AM Club named themselves after the bar.{{fact|date=May 2023}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Coord|37.89709|N|122.53712|W|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2 Am Club}} Category:Buildings and structures in Marin County, California Category:Drinking establishments in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Mill Valley, California