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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | bucholtzc@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: Suburban cool in your town |
| Date | Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:48:37 -0400 |
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Michael Coxe wrote,
"San Jose has its SOMA district, which was pretty much foobar'ed
by the redevelopment nazi's until they gave up and let the area
develop on it's own. It'll still take 10 more years for the 3rd largest
city in California to have any sort of real nightlife destination point
(other than driving to SF)."
San Jose has a horrible history of its music scene booming and busting. In the mid-'80s, there was the scene that grew up around the Laundry Works, which went kablooey when the owner of the building demanded an insane money from the people running the club to continue their lease. Then, in the early '90s, you had a nice scene growing in SOFA (South of First Area) until the development agency, the police (who managed to get a city ordinance passed that all clubs had to have "security" in the form of off-duty SJPD officers) and the city council intervened to wreck it. For instance, there was a city ordinance passed that stated that no club with a stated purpose of hosting live music could open within 500 feet of an existing club with a similar purpose. Then, when things were starting to get back on their feet, the Internet boom drove real estate and lease prices through the roof again and stifled things once more. It continues to be a struggle for bands and promoters to find venues to support a local scene.
--Chris Bucholtz
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