By Daniel Archuleta
Daily Press Staff Writer

CITYWIDE A long line snakes around the corner of a painfully hip club. Every now and again, the door opens up to let in a lucky music fan or two and the pulsating sounds of a rocking act spills out into the street, if just for an instant, piquing the curiosity of passersby.

Once inside, an all-too-cool band is ripping into another jam with wall-to-wall club-goers raising their hands in the air like they just don’t care. Everything is cool; everything is perfectly current.

One would imagine the scene is, of course, taken from a Sunset Strip hot spot. But Santa Monica? Actually, it’s just another night at Temple Bar, the local equivalent to anything music fans could find east of the I-405 Freeway.

“Business is good. We are always having new events, new bands,” said Novena Wallach, the venue’s production and booking assistant. “We have an eclectic mix of music that is as unique as anything you can find in Los Angeles. We try to support local groups that we think are really good.”

Aside from Temple Bar, there are a handful of other prominent live music venues, but that list is both short and ever-changing.

Harvelle’s, the oldest live music venue on the Westside, is one of the most historically significant, having played host to its fair share of interesting acts. Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier offers a casual atmosphere and specializes mostly in rock acts. 14 Below dabbles in mostly classic rock.

Then the list begins to taper off, and it stands to be said that most of those spots focus on one particular type of music.

“They don’t go outside the box. People gravitate to places like Silverlake and Los Feliz to hear an eclectic mix of bands,” said Julio Trejo, director of public relations for D. Baron Media Inc., in Santa Monica. “People will seek out a certain band [at Westside venues], but they won’t come out at random.”

Trejo represents a broad spectrum of talent, with Shakira and Colbie Caillat punctuating his client list. Born and raised in East L.A., he understands both scenes — Westside versus Hollywood and surrounds — from his perspective as a publicist and as a music fan. All the makings for a thriving music scene are here on the Westside, Trejo said, but there are a few obstacles, namely that there aren’t enough venues brave enough to stray away from their comfort zones and host a wide range of music.

“There is more of a corporate scene here. They don’t want to go to a club with a loud band playing in the background. They [club-goers] seem to want to hang out just to be seen at the right place with the right people,” Trejo said. “Part of the reason is because there aren’t many places where you can just get a beer and hear a band that you weren’t looking to find. That is really too bad, because I think there are enough people out here that feel the same way I do, but they just can’t find a place to find that, which is very much unlike the Eastside, where you could find all kinds of clubs that aren’t afraid to try something new and book new, interesting acts.”

There seems a general consensus amongst the live music community that to survive on the Westside you have to specialize in something particular to maintain healthy door and bar receipts. Cevin, co-owner of Harvelle’s, purposely sticks to the historical joint’s roots to keep business chugging along. With blues as the backbone, Harvelle’s knows where its bread is buttered. Although he just recently bought his way into the location’s ownership, Cevin has been with Harvelle’s since 1989 and has seen both the ups and downs.

After taking over a venue that he felt had lost touch, Cevin set out to ensure that the venue would continue to evolve and stay relevant. Previously, bands wouldn’t always get paid, or if they did it was a fraction of what he now pays acts to play his place.

“We have a lot of cutting-edge music here, but blues is the basis of everything we do. Actually, it is the basis of all music. If it is too edgy, we’re not too into it,” Cevin said. “Music is supposed to fill your soul and I think that’s what blues does for people who come out to my place.”

In addition to ensuring his acts were paid well, he “dolled up” Harvelle’s to make the place more attractive to a younger audience. His audience had aged along with Harvelle’s and began to thin out, calling it a night earlier and earlier and didn’t support the club like they used to.

To infuse some new life into the club, he made sure that the interior was brought up to date and that the stage show was up to snuff. He added burlesque dancers and a new lighting array in the hopes that it would result in more business. By all indicators he was right, but his situation speaks to the simple fact that the small venue music scene is a constantly evolving beast that has to be constantly fed with new ideas to stay alive.

A ROCKIN’ MAINSTAY

Once upon a time, the local music scene was anchored by the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. First opened in the heady days of the late ‘50s, the Civic proudly lays claim to having hosted heavyweights ranging from The Rolling Stones to Marvin Gaye. With the capacity to hold 3,000 screaming music fanatics, the Civic was one of the largest venues of its kind during its early days. Until The Forum in Inglewood and other large-capacity venues such as the then-Universal Ampitheater opened for business, it was the premier spot for rock acts to appear on the Westside.

But those days seem like a lifetime ago.

“We would love to welcome more concerts to the Civic and are actively working with promoters,” said Carole Curtin, manager of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. “From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Civic was the rock ‘n’ roll Mecca for all the major rock groups, including Bob Dylan, The Doors, Traffic, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie ... the list is long.

“In the 1980s, concerts moved to larger capacity halls. At the same time, the Los Angeles club scene exploded.”

From all indications, that’s when the Hollywood music scene really began to exert its might and became the only destination for live music in the Los Angeles area. It had already established itself as the epicenter of live music in the region years prior, but, it seems, it was at that time that other regional hot spots began to lose their luster and started to become less relevant.

“It seems like, in Hollywood in general, everything over there is more aggressive. The quality over there isn’t necessarily better, but Hollywood has become synonymous with clubbing,” said Temple Bar’s Wallach. “All those snazzy high-profile nightclubs are in Hollywood. In L.A., people want to be involved with what’s hip and going on.”

ROCKIN’ INTO THE FUTURE

Although the Westside doesn’t feature many “in” spots, there are those that believe it’s just a matter of time before the music scene finally comes into its own and rivals hip parts of Los Angeles, such as Silverlake, Hollywood and Echo Park.

Some of that has to do with the fact that with popularity comes a few negative side effects. Sure, the Hollywood scene draws them in, but has begun to turn some people off. The parking is terrible, prices are — at times — out of this world and the crowds are epic.

“A lot of people are being turned away from all that. When I go to Hollywood, I have to put on a game face,” said Wallach. “Parking is $20. You have to be on the guest list. Then there’s a line. Once you get inside, the drinks are expensive and the music isn’t all that great.”

With the recent rise of the music scenes in the Northeast part of L.A., some of Hollywood’s dominance of the marketplace has begun to lose its grip. In that change of power, there are those on the Westside that welcome the opportunity to rise to the occasion and make the local scene more welcoming to music fans and acts alike.

“If there is a true push and good promotion, you’ll see locals gravitate toward this side of town. People are open to it, but they just need to know where and what’s happening,” said Trejo the PR man. “It could easily be that way here. It is a shame that it hasn’t come into its own, but I can’t help but believe that can happen.”

Local artists echo that sentiment. Suzy Williams and Her Solid Senders are both based on the Westside and often gig around the area. She’s a regular at Temple Bar and has lived in Venice for 20 years plus.

“It is kicking up. I think that the whole ‘yuppieization’ of the Westside is bringing some money in and people are starting to want some nightlife,” Williams said. “There hasn’t been that many venues on the Westside, but Venice Boulevard is starting to blossom. More local clubs are finally starting to open up and there seems to be some hope for the area.”

With an influx of new faces, and with them new money, there appears to finally be a real demand for live music on this side of town. People are less willing to drive across L.A., preferring to remain close to home for their entertainment needs.

“I’ve been to Echo Park. I’ve been to Hollywood. I’m always up in Silverlake, but there are so many people there nowadays,” said Tim Boyce, of Venice, who was partying on Halloween at the Spaceland club in Silverlake. “I’d so much rather stay closer to home if there were more options here. The problem is that not many bands seem to play out here for whatever reason. I’m not sure if it’s the clubs or what, but if more was done to get hot bands to play around here, I’m positive that more people would patronize the local clubs and really start to foster a new music scene like what you see in other parts of the city [Los Angeles].”

daniela@smdp.com