Bay Area Deadheads are mourning the loss of Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh hours after his death and celebrating his memory with songs, stories and more.

Lesh died on Friday, October 25 at the age of 84. The cause of death was not disclosed. A statement from his management said that in his final moments he was “surrounded by his family and full of love.”

Fans in San Francisco were quick to set up a small memorial at the band’s former Victorian home at 710 Ashbury on Friday afternoon, stringing individual red roses through the residence’s gate.

“I just came out of my house and walked over here because it was just instinctually what I felt I had to do,” said longtime fan Erin Fulfer in front of the house. Fulfer said that during her walk she listened to “Box of Rain,” the group’s 1970 song inspired by the death of Lesh’s father. The Dead’s Haight-Ashbury connection inspired her to move to the neighborhood 30 years ago.

“He was almost in the background as the bass player, but you could just feel his care as part of the band, just the love,” she said of Lesh, who also composed music for some of the band’s most beloved songs. “I think he’s definitely with Jerry (Garcia). They’re jamming, laughing and probably doing some of the fun stuff they used to do at 710 (Ashbury Street).

Also outside the house was Katherine Lopez, 21, who regretted never having the chance to see Lesh perform live.

“It feels like a great loss to the community here,” she said, noting that even though she is younger than many Grateful Dead fans, she felt moved to pay her respects and “remember something that I actually don’t was part of.”

Two blocks away, on the sidewalk at Haight and Masonic, a ring of red and white roses and candles framed a previously painted heart with Phil Lesh’s name on it.

Across the street, a Psychedelic SF employee who gave his name as Magic paid his respects to the late bassist by listening to a playlist of the Grateful Dead songs Lesh wrote.

“It was so sad to hear the news today – it’s only just starting to sink in,” the 52-year-old said. “What a great loss… he gave us so much.”

Magic said he has been a Deadhead most of his life, recalling moving from Miami to San Francisco in 1987 to follow the band. He met Lesh in person about five years ago, he said, and keeps a framed photo of the meeting, in which Lesh grins and points to his T-shirt that reads “Make America Grateful Dead Again.”

“He was such an inspiration to be a good, kind-hearted person,” he said.

Aligned with this legacy, the Counterculture Museum, expected to open in 2025 at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets, is expanding its plans to honor the Grateful Dead.

Lifelong Deadhead Brian Hassett has been helping the museum put together artifacts for that part of the space and was devastated when he heard the news of Lesh’s passing.

Hassett noted that Lesh’s most unique quality as a performer was the way he formed Phil Lesh & Friends with a different ensemble each time they performed.

“He was the bandleader of literally a hundred different musicians,” says Hassett (63). “This is this beautiful, generous thing that he did. …No one does that. I can’t think of any composer or musician in any genre who would be so generous with their stage and integrate all these different (artists).”

Local Deadheads who couldn’t make a trip to the Haight on Friday afternoon felt the loss of Lesh just as hard.

Joe Cañas, 29, performed in the Grateful Dead cover band Jerry and the Jerks for the past year and was at work when he heard the news of Lesh’s death.

“One of our heroes has passed away and someone we look up to and someone who is like a local legend,” he said. “Not just any musical hero, but someone who grew up on the same kind of streets as us.”

Cañas, who grew up in Sacramento and San Jose, said he has been a Deadhead since 2016. He is grateful to have seen Lesh perform live in San Francisco several times, from Warfield to Stern Grove Festival.

“We all have some relationship with this person, even without knowing him personally,” he said.

Eric Epstein, 23, also saw Lesh’s Stern Gove show in 2022. He recalled seeing the bassist perform alongside his son Grahame while watching in the crowd with his own father, who introduced him to the music of the Grateful Dead when he was in high school.

“The culture of the Dead is so pervasive, even among people my age, there are so many bands playing their music and there are so many really enthusiastic fans,” Epstein said. “I know it will always be there for me.”

Mayor London Breed posted to

Lesh’s last live performance was a Phil Lesh and Friends concert in San Rafael on July 21, preceded by his penultimate show at San Francisco’s Warfield on May 9. The group took the stage again on August 18, but Lesh was absent from the lineup and was replaced by San Grisman, the son of Garcia’s longtime collaborator, David Grisman.

Lesh was the oldest and one of the longest-living members of the Grateful Dead, which split in 1995 shortly after Garcia’s death and had survived a number of health problems, from prostate and bladder cancer to a liver transplant. The band’s original lineup consisted of Garcia as vocalist and guitarist, Lesh as bassist, Bob Weir as rhythm guitarist, Bill Kreutzmann on drums, and Ron “Pigmen” McKernan on keyboard and harmonica. Mickey Hart joined as drummer in 1967, two years after the band formed, and Brent Mydland joined as keyboardist in 1979. Many members contributed vocals.

“I feel like I survived that whole thing because I wasn’t ready yet. It wasn’t my time. My karma was not fully realized. Hopefully now I’m on the path I should be on,” Lesh told the Chronicle in 2002.

Outside of the Bay Area, fans around the world paid their respects online.

The Grateful Dead shared a message honoring Lesh on Friday evening, noting that they had “lost a brother.”

“Phil Lesh was irreplaceable. In one note from the Phil Zone you could hear and feel how the world was born.” the band posted on Instagram. ‘We can count on the fingers of one hand that the people we can say have had an equally profound influence on our development – ​​in every respect. And even fewer have done this continuously over the decades and will continue to do so as long as we live.”

The post was signed “Mickey, Billy and Bobby.”

Garcia’s family also shared a statement on Instagram.

“His life’s work is a beacon for all humanity and will continue to guide countless generations of musicians to the backbone of the beat,” the post reads. “There are no words to fully express the impact he made with his music and his incredible spirit.”

“PS say hello to Jerry,” it concludes.

John Mayer, who plays guitar and provides lead vocals for the Grateful Dead affiliate Dead & Company, shared the post on Instagram.

Trey Anastasio of the rock band Phish also shared a message honoring Lesh on social media.

“Phil was more than a revolutionary, groundbreaking bassist; he transformed the way I thought about music as a teenager,” wrote Anastasio, who performed with Lesh at the band’s “Fare Thee Well” shows in 2015, replacing the late Garcia. “I have countless memories of listening to his winding, eloquent basslines blend seamlessly with Jerry and Bobby’s guitars, Brent Mydland’s keys and Billy and Mickey’s thundering drums.”

Maliya Ellis contributed to this story.

Reach Zara Irshad: [email protected]