Spaceland orbits back to Silver Lake’s musical heyday

Silver Lake earned its hipster tag long before Spaceland opened its doors. But when the club held its first show in March 1995 at the venue formerly known as Dreams of LA, it marked a noticeable energy shift that put everyone on notice, making the area a trendsetter and a hub of creative talent. The live music space was the right idea, in the right place at the right time.

Atmospheric dive bars, funky/punk mom-and-pop shops, and reasonable rents began attracting artists, musicians, bohemian slackers, and stage performers as residents in the early '90s. They joined its vibrant queer community and multi-generational (mostly Latino) family population, which combined to make it one of the coolest places to live in Los Angeles. It still is, albeit more expensive and pretentious if you ask those who grew up there.

But 30 years ago, things were different: the place was hip, but at the same time seemed effortlessly eccentric. The annual Sunset Junction street fair, which closed Sunset Boulevard between Fountain and Edgecliff Drive starting in the '80s, began bringing in more old bands and hot new acts, expanding the city's cultural consciousness and drawing Los Angeles residents from all over the city to the area until it stopped in 2010.

Silver Lake's status as a music mecca was eventually cemented when promoter Mitchell Frank decided to transform his weekly live music night at Dreams, called Pan, into a true rock venue, taking what was bubbling on the streets, at house parties in the hills and nearby rehearsal spaces, and giving musicians a unique home so they could nurture and develop their following.

The opening night marked a benefit for quirky noise rockers Lutefisk, who lived in the area and, like many there, rehearsed at Halli-Gally on Fletcher Drive. After their equipment was stolen, they rallied for funds among rowdy local artists, including headliner Beck, who got his start at the artsy Onyx coffee shop next to the Vista Theater and later on Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz Village.

Paired with the darkly melodic alternative rock of Possum Dixon to open the show, it was a hit. In a last-minute fluke, the evening was made even more monumental by an early addition to the show—the debut of Dave Grohl's new project, Foo Fighters.

“It was just crazy. It was raining that night and both shows were sold out,” recalls Lutefisk drummer Brandon Jay. “It was this great moment when KBLT started broadcasting and Silver Lake was growing in population where everyone was saying, ‘Oh, Silver Lake is the new Seattle,’ only it was more diverse.”

Jay, who has gone on to play with other bands such as 88 and Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang, hopes to remind local music fans of the prolific scene Regent this Saturdaywhere Lutefisk reunites with Dixon's Rob Zabrecki (playing with various club luminaries) and Spaceland favorites Touchcandy, the Centimeters, John Wall (Claw Hammer), Sissy Bar, WACO and more.

“This show is as close as you can get to a real night in Spaceland in the '90s,” says Frank. “Touchcandy, Lutefisk, Centimeters, Rob from Possum Dixon and Sissy Bar… it's exactly the kind of beautiful symphonic chaos that defined the '90s era. Nights like these transformed the fractured Eastside music scene into a full-fledged scene.”

Indeed, bringing together disparate genres, styles and niches in one place has made the scene unique. “There were so many great, eclectic bands,” Jay adds. “A lot of people signed contracts, but you know, fame is a fickle thing, and you never know what they might play on the radio.”

Many of those who played at the club did just that. In addition to Beck and the Foos, local acts who broke down after performing there include Silversun Pickups (named after a nearby liquor store), Rilo Kiley and Airborne Toxic Event, while touring indie artists also earned their awards in front of the mylar-curtained stage, namely the White Stripes, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Jet, Ween, Cold War Kids, Death Cab for Cutie, Amy Winehouse… and the list goes on. further.

“There was a time when bands would come to town on tour and play L.A. for the first time, and all their agents wanted them to play the Spaceland residency on Mondays,” recalls former COO Jennifer Tefft of the no-cover event that became legendary by the early 2000s. “They played for free, but it got them seen. Everyone wanted to play there, not just locally but internationally. NME in the UK gave the club so much attention that all these bands wanted to come to L.A. for it… Bloc Party, The Killers and My Morning Jacket made their debuts at the club.”

Tefft booked the Bootleg Theater but later returned to work with building owner Jeff Wolfram to breathe new life into a Silver Lake space called the Satellite. It closed due to the pandemic in March 2020 and remains closed. Meanwhile, Frank, along with booker Liz Garo, left the venue, which was still technically called Dreams, to focus on their new space Echo and its later addition Echoplex.

He sold the Echo Park complex, along with Regent, to Live Nation in 2019, but remains involved in ticket bookings and other club business dealings. All three figures deserve credit for the cosmic alchemy and community spirit that made Spaceland and the world it created such a game-changer. They really cared about the people who played there and often championed their favorites and helped build their following through promotion and advertising, namely in the free print edition of LA Weekly.

“We all had the same passion and curiosity for music and supporting the locals,” says Garo, who booked tickets to Spaceland when Tefft left and really made a name for herself at Echo. “I think that’s why he maintained that integrity.”

Spaceland is full of pleasant, slightly hazy memories. Their infamous top floor smoking room (which continued even after the bar's smoking ban in 1998 due to a loophole) also hosted many games of pool.

Free Monday promotions were nothing new—the Lingerie Club in Hollywood had been doing them for years—but Spaceland's promotions were magical for bands and fans alike because of the month-long residency model. Besides being budget-friendly and apparently well-organized, boasting newcomers and offering big surprises, it was a place to meet like-minded alternative people who liked the same fashion, art and pop culture references.

Most of the local musicians who played there seemed to know each other simply from hanging out so much, and those who proved themselves on stage were rewarded with new fans, which grew in number every week.

“Jen had a really good formula: You would do a residency, then not do any shows for six weeks or so, and then come back and do a sold-out show,” Garo explains. “Ideally it would work and kind of help bands sell tickets. You know, when bands start out, they play for their friends in the audience. When they get to the point where they don't know anyone in the audience, that's a big deal.”

Beyond fame and local notoriety, for Zabrecki, Jay and the countless musicians who had residencies (many of whom would see each other for the first time in years at a Regent show), Spaceland played an important role not only in their music, but in their life trajectories.

“Playing Spaceland with Possum Dixon was always unpredictable,” recalls Zabrecki, who went on to become a respected magician and performer. “We never knew what direction the show might go. Each band was different, but everyone was accepted and celebrated for who they were. Bands like Glue, Spindle, WACO and Abe Lincoln Story couldn't be more different from each other, and that made each lineup exciting. And of course, we were all just making it up as we went along, with the support of our peers.”

The transition period between Spaceland and Satellite is marked by the group that helped put it on the map and inadvertently generated enthusiasm from the start. Foo Fighters chose the venue for their series of surprise pop-up shows that debuted new material in 2011, right before renaming the venue.

The following year, Forbes named Silver Lake “America's Hottest Hipster Neighborhood,” meaning that was no longer the case. American clothing stores permeated everywhere, corporate coffee was everywhere, and entertainers were highly regarded, heading east to Echo Park, Mount Washington, Highland Park and downtown, with many of the bars and clubs in these regions aiming to capture the atmosphere of old Spaceland. They still do.

In this way, Spaceland's legacy survives Generation X's nostalgia for the good old days. Inspired by the passion for music discovery and social connections of the past, new bands are now showing their stuff at Echo, Regent, Zebulon, Redwood Bar and many more, eschewing Hollywood and the Sunset Strip in favor of more casual settings.

Frank continues to share his experiences with Live Nation; Garo plans events and works with venues, from acoustic sets at her Stories bookstore in Echo Park to a just-announced Grand Performances concert downtown; and Jay, who lost his home in the California wildfires, turned tragedy into a wonderful music exchange program called Musicians of Altadena. He's also involved in a new all-ages music venue called Backyard Party in Pasadena, noting that a new generation of arts-inclined musical rebels continues to thrive, just as they did at Spaceland three decades ago.

Jay is also helping with the planning of the show at Regent and has called David Willis from Touchcandy, who will be flying into town from the UK especially for the show. Information has also been shared with Beck and Grohl (though no commitments have been made), and pirate radio station KBLT, whose 40 Watts From Nowhere documentary credits Jay and Jack Black as producers, will be offering DJ sets in between live sounds.

The lineup listed on the event's poster is meant to be reminiscent of the original 1995 promotion and is itself a great musical mix that harkens back to an exciting era that L.A. music lovers who experienced it will never forget, a time when the scene was “young and free,” as Zabrecki recalls, and those lucky enough to be on the marquee were playing what he calls “the best club at the best moment on Earth.”

“These bands were scrappy, loud, indie, real and still innovative in some ways,” Frank adds of the 30th anniversary show, which is being promoted as Vol. 1, suggesting there's more to come. “Shows like this are the reason it all mattered.”