The Matrix
3138 Fillmore near Lombard (in the Marina)
San Francisco, CA
Marty Balin took over this club, formerly a pizza parlor, in the spring of 1965. He built the stage and decorated the interior with his own art work. And the Jefferson Airplane which was a corollaly project, opened there in August.
The Matrix was a walk-in street-level room in an area with a few bars, some antique shops and two- and three-story residential apartment buildings — basically a residential section. It had a simple wooden charm. You entered from the street right on one end of the bar, which ran down one side of the room. A railing divided the room a few feet from the bar and on the other side were tables and at the street end a slightly raised floor with more tables on one side of the entrance. At the far end of the room was the stage, which the dressing room behind it. Marty Balin's paintings and collages were on the walls.
The Matrix closed in 1972.