A Victorian boarding house owned by Peter Albin’s uncle Henry. Peter Albin had been living there since he was a teenager. Starting in the summer of 1965, the basement and front parlor became the site of Wednesday night jam sessions for any musician who wanted to drop by.
Sam Andrew began showing up that summer. Albin and Andrew started playing together. By September 1965 they had a band, briefly called Blue Yard Hill, that became Big Brother and the Holding Company. Concert promoter Chet Helms (running the Family Dog out of the Westerfeld House at the same time) picked the band’s name off a working list. James Gurley and Chuck Jones rounded out the original lineup. Janis Joplin joined in 1966.
1090 Page is sometimes called “the house where the Haight began,” because the social network of musicians who passed through these jam sessions seeded most of the bands that would later define the scene. The building is still a private residence. View from the sidewalk only.
Head back to Haight to continue the main route or push east on Page to the Diggers’ Free Store site.