Come party with us!
Come rock out at Café NELA’s last shows before it’s too late. Thursday, September 9/19/19 Dave Travis will celebrate his 52nd birthday with The Mormons, Turds of Misery, and Sinful Nature.
On September 21, 2019, Cafe NELA will be celebrating their 6th Anniversary by inviting back the same bands that opened the club to play their 1097th show, which is also their second to last. Swords of Fatima, Somos Mysteriosos, Carnage Asada, Atomic Sherpas, and several other bands will be filling out the bill starting at 4:30 PM. The door is only $5, and as always it’s 21 and over. More shows and details at the end of the post.
There used to be a place downtown called the Variety Arts Center on Figueroa. There was a huge auditorium on the ground floor with about 1000 seats and a balcony that was featuring big punk bands and speakers like John Waters. One night I wandered up to the fourth floor and was amazed to see a huge formal ballroom with a big band and older people dancing, wearing clothes from the 30s and 40s. Still a teenager, I remember imagining what it would be like when we got old, that ballroom filled with creaky old men slam dancing and jumping off of the stage.
Well, those days are nearing, and the place for OG punks and fans of alternative music for the past six years has been Café NELA. Founded in Cypress Park by Dave Travis, who used to hold generator parties in the deserts and hills around LA in the mid to late 80s, Dave staffed the bar with bartenders and doormen that we all knew from places like Al’s Bar and Safari Sam’s. Bands like Redd Kross, DC3, Alley Cats, Mike Watt, and newer bands like The Schitzophonics, Somos Mysteriosos and Kittenhead all rocked beneath the sparkly low ceiling, lit by abstract psychedelic projections. It was our ballroom.
News spread that Café NELA was shutting down and the romatic old school punkers heaved a collective sigh of “Not again, we have to find another place?” But we have not been left in the lurch. October 1st, Permanent Records will be taking over the Café NELA space, transforming it into a bar, record store and music venue. Let’s hope they will keep booking “our” bands.
Thursday 9/19
Dave Travis Birthday #52
Exploding Pintos 9
The Mormons 10
Turds of Misery 11
Friday 9/20 7:30 $10
Dirty Ed Friday
Motorcycle Boy
Crazy Squeeze
Saturday 9/21 4:30 $5
Cafe NELA 6th Anniversary
Eric Potter & Friends 5
Garretson & Gorodetsky 6 Hookah 7
Swords of Fatima 8 Somos Mysteriosos 9
Carnage Asada 10 Atomic Sherpas Nostradumass 12
Sunday 9/22 6:30 $5
The Last Pogo with Midget Handjob 7 Los Creepers 8 Special Guests 9 The Gears 10
The Black Widows 11
