Cafe du Nord Changing Ownership, Will Still Have Music

Cafe du Nord and the Swedish-American Hall, the beloved Upper Market music spaces, have been sold. According to the SF Weekly, the new owners are Dylan MacNiven (who also co-owns West of Pecos in the Mission), and Enrique Landa, the Cordarounds co-founder who's already been in the news this week for his comparison of techies to Mexican immigrants in a Chron article about techies who hate the term "techie." The duo isn't releasing a lot of details at the moment, though early reports that they might remove the music component were premature: MacNiven told the Weekly that he's definitely "intending for live music to stay [at Cafe Du Nord]."

The Swedish-American Hall and Cafe du Nord will both close next year for major renovations, with plans to add an elevator and larger bathrooms to bring the venue into compliance with the ADA, a process that MacNiven told Haighteration will cost over $700K and has been required by the landlords. The venue is currently booked through the end of January and also has a couple of dates planned for February and March, so it's possible that the renovations won't go down until the middle of the year. No word on what, if any, changes might transpire with regards to the food and drink programs. Says MacNiven: "The scope of changes with regards to [current owner Guy Carson's] continued involvement, current staff and level of booking are all predicated on the renovation which as I mentioned is an ongoing decision process."

· New Ownership, Renovations Coming to Cafe Du Nord [SF Weekly]
· Big Changes Planned For Cafe Du Nord [Haighteration]