By Matt Kramer Sonoma County
I want to thank you for writing a very cogent article about the closing of the Temple Bar (“Local night spot to close,” page 1, Sept. 8). I’m writing from Sonoma County; my friend and former business partner, Katharine King, sent the article to me ( along with Kenn Heller, we started the Twilight Dance Series in 1984).
I was part owner and talent coordinator for another music club that pre-dated the Temple Bar at the same address.
From 1981 to 1992, I ran At My Place, known for presenting some of the best original artists working to develop their careers at the time. Acts such as Venice, Billy Vera & The Beaters, Richard Elliot, Vonda Shepard and Michael Ruff were regular weekend sellouts. Occasionally bigger names such as The Manhattan Transfer, George Winston, Joan Rivers and Kenny Rankin would take over the room. Session and back up musicians used the stage to present their own music; their bosses would show up and sit in including such luminaries as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Rickie Lee Jones, and Smokey Robinson.
Sheryl Crow, then a backup singer for Michael Jackson, often graced the stage as she worked towards getting her own record deal.
Prior to opening The Temple Bar, Netty and Louie managed Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier. I got to know them as I booked talent there for a couple of years before I left Los Angeles for Northern California.
I want to commend them for being part of a very rare community of nightclub operators who treat musicians with respect and do a great job of balancing art and economics in a very difficult business.
There were a couple of other operators who tried to run clubs in the same location after At My Place closed. Netty and Louie were the only ones who I felt honored the tradition that originated with At My Place.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 12, 2008. Read the original PDF.