Originally known as Imig Manor, the Lafayette Hotel opened in 1946 and hosted Bob Hope as their inaugural guest. The hotel closed its doors 14 years later and, in 2010, began a $4 million overhaul …

“We knew it from the get-go,” says Electric Healing Sound rhythm guitarist Ricky Soltero when I refer to the Velvet Underground. “We even cover ‘Waiting for My Man’ live. We don’t hide our influences.” Soltero …

“Our liquor license goes back to the end of Prohibition, so we don’t know how long the bar was actually in business,” says Waterfront Bar and Grill co-owner Chad Cline. “We have the oldest license …

Experimental noise musician and composer Randy Chiurazzi recently auditioned for NBC’s America’s Got Talent in which performers competed for a $1 million prize and a chance to perform in Las Vegas. “They basically hated it,” …

It was an unlikely location for a party. The sun was out in full force at the Del Mar Marriott, where maybe 40 partiers in beach attire danced to Osal8’s bass-heavy DJ set or lounged …

Experimental 170-beat-per-minute music was popularized about two years ago by London drum-and-bass producers dBridge and Instra:mental via the Club Autonomic podcast. According to Futureproofing, an electronic-music blog, “Autonomic is a flood of outside influences entering …

Erik Stage, owner of the Stage in the heart of the Gaslamp, calls the venue “three floors of entertainment in our haunted house of corridors and mezzanines.” In its third year, the Stage recently underwent …

When the Sess split up in late 2008, members went on to form Beaters, Ale Mania, and most recently, Shiva Trash. Mark Rivera (guitar/vox) of the Sess joined his girlfriend Lisa Phelps (guitar/vox) of Xerox, …

The Lamplighter feels like it’s been around forever. Its heady booze stink and retro aesthetic attest to a tradition of transgression, which often seizes the unwitting patron like a phantom and invokes all manner of …

It’s 3:30 on a Monday morning and I’m upside down in a dumpster. My legs dangle in the air. I can’t see anything. What am I doing here? Is this really journalistic research or just …

Established in 1984 by restaurateur and bullfighter Paul Dobson, La Gran Tapa was the first dedicated Spanish tapas bar in San Diego. Seven owners later, the Sicilian proprietor of the Turquoise Café in Pacific Beach, …

I’ll never forget the time, probably somewhere in early 2003, when Holy Molar played their first and only show at the Ché Café. Like most present, I was a high school kid whose primary release …

When Dep Tuany arrived on a drilling rig in the impoverished Sudanese village of Boriak, hostility lingered thick in the air. The village held roughly 1200 refugees living in grass and wood huts. They had …

Having held residency at the late Radio Room, the Flame, and Tijuana’s La Mezcalera, Club Purple recently put on their first night at Bodega Aragon a few blocks from the heart of Tijuana’s happening Sixth …

In honor of her late brother Michael “Stimy” Steinman, Jennifer Oliveira of Rancho Peñasquitos organized a donation fund that will provide scholarships for five students aged 8–15 to spend a week at DayJams, a rock-and-roll …

“One of my favorite Manu Chao songs is ‘Bienvenidos a Tijuana,’” says Santiago Orozco of reggae/latin/acoustic group Todo Mundo. “I love this song. It has a line that says, ‘I want to go to San …

After first hearing Interrobang’s set at O’Connell’s a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but suspect occult affiliations. The quartet sounded like Tortoise loosely covering Jobim tunes for a traveling freak and medicine show somewhere …

A friend who frequents the Riviera Supper Club in La Mesa once remarked that drinking in the attached Turquoise Room rejuvenates his sense of machismo. While the sentiment had never occurred to me, the retro …

“I don’t want to be dark cabaret; I don’t want to be gypsy,” says Carrie Gillespie, the pianist and singer for Street of Little Girls. “I just want to be a rock band. We’re very …

More hippie than hipster, the Kava Lounge in Middletown specializes in natural, organic cocktails and has played a significant role in cultivating San Diego’s electronic, experimental, and world-music scenes. The lounge was among the first …

No doubt under the influence of the extravagantly titled “Supermoon,” March 19 was a day of nonstop partying for your humble Crasher. First, a birthday picnic in Bird Park for my friend Lauren. My roommates …

Little Hurricane is roaring back into town with a new album after four months on a “slow tour.” The idea was to spend time in several major cities, getting to know the scene and forming …

Built in 1927 as San Diego’s second Bank of America, the building at the corner of University and Van Dyke in City Heights changed over from Nancy’s Pub to Black Cat Bar last month. High …

Several San Diego bands will make the 22-hour drive to Austin, Texas mid-March for the annual South by Southwest music festival and conference. Over 2000 performers seeking labels, booking agents, and recognition will pack 90-plus …

The Natives believe in San Diego. “The potential in this city, that’s the influence, man,” says singer Tony Fantano, who gave a shout-out to the Kumeyaay natives at a recent Whistle Stop gig. “I love …

The carpet was just being rolled out between the birds-of-paradise planters when my roommate Eli and I arrived at Ray Street Studio in North Park for the Oscars Spaghetti Social party. Paintings adorned the walls …

Kadan at 30th and Adams takes its name from the town where owner Chris Heaney met his wife at a smoky café in 1994. Inspired by a Czech discotheque that played eclectic music to a …

“We decided we wanted something that doesn’t exist,” Bobby Bray (the Locust), a student of interdisciplinary computing and the arts at UCSD, says at the Camel’s Breath Inn in Mission Valley. “So we rolled up …

If the Cryptkeeper opened a speakeasy, he’d lurch over to Cherry Bomb first to take notes. Wedged between a laundromat and a taco shop, the Banker’s Hill drinking dungeon sees black brick and red walls …

“Bicycling has a way of bringing more vibrancy to a city,” says Beryl Forman, marketing manager for the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association. “When you see a bunch of bikes in front of a …

“I’ve got one band I can run around and scream to,” says Michael Turi, vocalist for the Old In Out, “and now with Trap Gold I’m sitting down and actually singing.” The Old In Out …

Zac’s 28th birthday party was what every respectable social gathering should aspire to be. Everybody at the Golden Hill house near 20th and Broadway was dressed as an approximate Tony Soprano, Louise Brookes, Blues Brother, …

“You kind of get obsessed when you get into it,” says liquid-light artist Josh Bohannon. “Anything you can think of can be applied. There aren’t books about it or anything, so you have to figure …

Soda Bar opened in late 2008 at the former City Heights location of dubious dive Chasers. Set between a car lot and a Mexican herb shop on El Cajon Boulevard, the bar hosts local and …

“We want to bring people and music together for a higher cause than just making money or exposing people to our music,” says Kris Towne, co-owner of Controls for the Sun Studios in Linda Vista. …

Rick Lyon taught himself the piano playing to jazz records and drawing from his experience on the accordion. He’s played aboard ships in the Navy, overseas, and at many a bar, lodge, and party. Now …

“The morning of the festival I didn’t have a sound system or generators,” says Joe Mousey, a member of the psychedelic rock band Pilots and organizer with the Liquid Geometry arts and music collective. The …

“I don’t know what it is about drum and bass,” Tyler “Ridda” Rosier says from a barstool at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest, “but it is the most addictive, infectious music I’ve ever heard.” Ridda …

"The tequila is almost gone, and we were already told to be quiet,” Alex said as she mixed margaritas for me and my unofficial photographer/full-time enabler Brett. It was only 10:20 p.m. when we arrived …

Established in 1979, the bar on the corner of 30th and Juniper went defunct for a decade in the ’90s and reopened as the Whistle Stop during the summer of 2001 in the heart of …

Drummer Mario Rubalcaba started listening to punk rock in the sixth grade, when a friend played him songs by Bad Brains, Black Flag, Discharge... His interest expanded to local acts such as Pitchfork, Heroin, and …

Depending on whom you ask, Julián Leyzaola is either a hero or a beast. Controversy surrounding Tijuana’s secretary of public security made headlines in December 2009, when accusations surfaced in the San Diego News Network, …

“I was so stoked not to have band practices and shows for a few months,” former Da Bears front man Ryan Solomon says in his Normal Heights garage. “But I still had to record.” The …

"You don’t know us, but we know you,” the text message read. “You are one of the selected few.” The message, from a Mr. Smith, gave the location of a South Park wine bar where …

November marks a decade since singer-songwriter-guitarist Jason Blackmore, known to friends as “Captain Blackie,” left his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, for San Diego. “I didn’t know anybody,” Blackmore says over a beer at the …

“I joined the band to become a bartender,” says singer John “Moon Boots” Thompson of ’77-style punk band the Last Years. “I think that’s how it works.” Moon Boots once tended his dream bar, Tower, …

A good friend of mine has this theory that In-N-Out Burger employees are actually reanimated dead kids from the ‘50s. Think about it. They’re hardworking, way too nice, and have names like Bucky, Peggy Sue, …

“That whole Chilean-miner story was weird for me,” Batwings singer/keys/bassist Robert Lopez relates in the band’s Mission Valley practice space. “It’s this feeling of being stuck and told you can’t get out. A lot of …

The cactus and Joshua tree’d villa at 30th and Quince in North Park lent the perfect aesthetic for a Halloween Dia de los Muertos party. Roommates Hannah and Emily, both half Mexican, had decorated the …

“People think it’s making beats,” says UCSD doctorate student Mike Gao, “but it’s actually programming things to make music with, or making things to make things to make music.” Thanks to the guidance he received …