I just stumbled onto this thread, so this is fairly late. I moved to San Diego in 1986 - started going to open mic at Drowsy Maggie's in 1988 - and was in the Bay area when it closed in 1991. Steve Poltz and Gregory Page might be resources for names of groups, as they played there quite a bit, both as solo acts and with the Rugburns. Other possible groups were: the Perfect Cure and a group that started off as Huey, Dewey & Louie, changed their name to Rabbit Choir, adding a female singer, and eventually moving to Berkeley, where they enjoyed some reasonable success. Poltz and Page both still record, so you might be able to contact them through their websites.