Sid Vicious House

We spent a February morning hitting up some of the storied houses in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Specifically, homes of famous musicians and some actors, too.

Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious lived in an apartment in this building, and suffered a non-fatal drug overdose here after the last Sex Pistols show in 1978. With a storied history of drug and alcohol use, he would die at age 21 of an overdose one year later in New York.

Born John Simon Ritchie, Vicious joined the band in 1977 after being a fan who attended all of their shows. Although he had little bass experience, he was embraced by the group for his the embodiment of the punk rock attitude.

While the band did perform a concert for the children of firefighters in Britain without incident (he was warned to be civilized), he also smashed an audience member over the head with his bass at a show in San Antonio; carved the words “gimme a fix” into his chest with a razor before a show in Dallas; and the next night, punched a hole in a wall at a Tulsa, Okla., venue, to name a few incidents.

Built in 1900, the building is a multi-family house has 4,350 square feet, eight bedrooms and three bathrooms. It last sold in 1992 for $420,000 and is estimated now right around $2 million.

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