Saint Rocke ready to rock again with soft reopening
The small, but popular, music venue slated for grand reopening in May following club renovations
Live music will return to Hermosa Beach's Saint Rocke for good Thursday.
The venue, which closed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, will host several nights of shows this month during a soft opening that will feature multiple local musicians — before a grand reopening takes place sometime in May.
“We wanted to open our doors for the locals,” said Reid Clow, the club's assistant talent buyer and marketing coordinator, “just to get back in the room without a lot of pressure and offer local bands the first opportunity to play on the stage.”
The first show on Thursday will feature an all-women's unplugged acoustic showcase. That will be followed by weekend shows — Friday to Sunday — and another on March 31 that will focus on party rock, pop, punk, jazz and tribute bands.
On Saturday, which happens to be Clow's birthday, the band Farmers will play.
Farmers performed at Saint Rocke's former incarnation, Pitcher House, which closed in 2007.
“We figured there's no better way to start it out,” Clow said, “than with local community
members who have run out of places to play in town.”
Saint Rocke was a vibrant music venue, hosting legends such as Robby Krieger of the The Doors, Timothy B. Schmidt of The Eagles and many more, before the coronavirus pandemic led to its founder, Allen Sanford, shutting its doors in March 2020.
Then in came Dani Grant, an investor from Colorado, to take over ownership with partner Larry Little in January. They announced that Saint Rocke would reopen as a concert venue, without serving food, and that it would undergo various renovations. Sanford has stayed on as an investor.
The soft opening, Grant said, will allow her team to get confident with the new sound system.
“Then come May, when we do the grand reopening,” Grant said, “they're all going to be superstars.”.
Tickets for the soft-opening shows — which begin at 8 p.m., with doors opening an hour prior — are $10 a night and can be purchased at saintrocke.com.
Schedule
Thursday: Jamisen with Maggie Cubillos & Mor Flowrs.
Friday: Mr. Max with Six Paper Joint & Intoxicology.
Saturday: Farmers with One Square Mile & AllOver.
Sunday: Clay Abrams Jazz Quartet with Zachary Mychal.
March 31: Red Hot Tribute with Kurtvana (Tributes to Red Hot Chili Peppers & Nirvana)