The venue was also known initially as the Family Dog, in tribute to an earlier production company and hippie commune of that name run by Chet Helms, former owner of the Avalon Ballroom.
Over the next six years the company, renamed 2b1 Productions, produced 721 shows at the Maritime Hall, featuring many major current acts for heavy metal, Industrial, reggae, punk rock, African music, and other genres.
Maritime Hall had difficulty with bookings, advertising, and ticket sales, which it attributed to unfair competition from the city's premier music promoter, Bill Graham Presents.
[2] Nevertheless, they were able to attract such notable acts as Zero, The Dixie Dregs, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Beastie Boys, Blackalicious, Latyrx, James Brown, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Herbie Hancock, Black Uhuru, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, Motörhead, Los Van Van, Jay-Z, Eminem, Wu-Tang Clan, Papa Roach, Incubus, Vinyl, Ozomatli, Sublime, Marty Teboe Group, Bad Religion, Rammstein, Front Line Assembly, The String Cheese Incident, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Wyclef Jean, Goodie Mob, The Roots, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Kool Keith, Testament, and Galactic.
[2] In the late 1990s the club attracted the attention of notorious SOMA police captain Dennis Martel, who at the urging of residents moving into new upscale lofts in the area was orchestrating efforts to shut down all of the major nightclubs and performance venues in his precinct.