In 1974, Dave Hodges was assembly an previous pal for a couple of beers when he realized that North San Diego County was missing in stylish watering holes.
Instead of pursuing a profession in accounting, a subject during which he had simply graduated from the University of San Diego, he determined to open a bar.
After a protracted seek for the appropriate location, Hodges found a Quonset hut on Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach. The corrugated, arched metal constructing had been utilized by the Navy throughout World War II and extra not too long ago by a waterbed producer that had closed its doorways. In a humorous nod to the previous, Hodges named his new bar the Belly Up Tavern.
“We have been in search of a spot the place a few previous mates may go and have a couple of beers,” Hodges mentioned in a 1989 interview with The Times. “Something like an English pub, not darkish and dreary, not a smelly place.”
The bar’s preliminary clientele consisted largely of employees who got here for the chess and checkers boards, the pool tables and the darts. There was even a library the place prospects may borrow novels to learn on the bar, Hodges recalled.
“We have been supported by plumbers, electricians and carpenters, individuals who needed a quiet place to have a couple of beers,” he mentioned. “He was sober.”
It later developed into one in all Southern California’s longest-running (and loudest) music venues, in addition to house to many historic acts, from Tom Jones to Snoop Dogg.
Fans wait in line for a Steel Pulse live performance as Belly Up Tavern celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in Solana Beach.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
This month marks the Belly Up’s fiftieth anniversary, and quite than throw a single occasion to honor the milestone, the music venue has hosted a collection of live shows—50 in all. They kicked off in July with performances by artists just like the Aggrolites, War, and X, and can wrap up in October with three consecutive nights that includes Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. The numerous lineup is a mirrored image of the Belly Up’s colourful historical past.
In its early years, the venue featured roots music and amassed a loyal following. Hodges constructed a low stage out of scrap supplies from the waterbed business, and the venue hosted blues, bluegrass, and rock ‘n’ roll acts.
Big Mama Thornton, Etta James and Albert Collins have been only a few of the blues greats who usually performed on the Belly Up throughout the disco period. The venue additionally established a reggae fan base by bringing Jamaican superstars like Eek-A-Mouse, U-Roy and Toots and the Maytals to North County.
In the Nineties, the Belly Up hosted artists who had achieved higher success, together with George Clinton, No Doubt and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Around this time, Hodges met Steve Goldberg and Phil Berkovitz, house owners of a close-by restaurant known as the Pacific Coast Grill. Some of the bands that performed on the Belly Up carried out on the restaurant on Thursdays beneath different names. Among them was the favored San Diego band the Beat Farmers, who carried out on the restaurant because the Incredible Hayseeds. Hodges, Goldberg, and Berkovitz grew to become associates and usually frequented one another’s companies.
“We’re speculated to be associates,” Goldberg says. “And we simply mentioned, ‘Look, man, for those who ever wish to promote, we are the guys. We know what your imaginative and prescient is, and we’re not going to damage it.'”
In 2003 Hodges offered the Belly Up Tavern, together with the adjoining restaurant, to Goldberg and Berkovitz.
The two have remained true to the spirit of the place whereas additionally encouraging its development, a lot in order that a lot of Belly Up’s staff have been working there for many years, some even predating the present possession.
Over the years, the Belly Up has undergone its justifiable share of adjustments, such because the elimination of “Tavern” and the addition of headliners similar to Jones, Snoop Dogg and the Rolling Stones.
During the COVID-19 shutdowns, Goldberg and Berkovitz used their free time to renovate the restaurant subsequent door, renaming it Belly Up Tavern, whereas the venue remained Belly Up. Today, flyers from previous live shows line the restaurant’s partitions, immersing diners within the membership’s historical past.
This reverence for the previous, coupled with the inherent intimacy of the 600-seat venue, invitations audiences to expertise Belly Up live shows, quite than merely watch them.
Steel Pulse at Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Goldberg and Berkovitz attribute a lot of Belly Up’s success to their philosophy. “Non-corporate professionalism is our mantra,” Goldberg says. “There’s a lot consolidation, and we don’t wish to be seen as something aside from ourselves: the expertise now we have and the vibe we convey.”
That doesn’t imply they’re averse to reaching a wider viewers. Last yr, Belly Up started reserving reveals completely at Sound, a 1,900-seat live performance venue on the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
They additionally work with company promoters to placed on greater reveals in Southern California. “We do a variety of reveals exterior of Belly Up, and now we have to work with a variety of these huge firms,” Goldberg says. “We’re not enemies. We don’t discover it disagreeable in any respect. We’re simply working with folks to make huge occasions occur.”
Another of Belly Up’s not-so-secret weapons is Grammy-winning producer Chris Goldsmith.
Shortly after seeing Mongo Santamaria on the Belly Up for his twenty first birthday, Goldsmith started enjoying there along with his band, Borracho y Loco. This led to a job with the venue’s reserving company in 1988. Goldsmith hosted blues, reggae and world artists for six years earlier than leaving to enterprise into album manufacturing, working with artists such because the Blind Boys of Alabama, Charlie Musselwhite and Harper.
Goldsmith returned to Southern California shortly after Goldberg and Berkovitz bought the Belly Up and started reserving occasions once more earlier than taking a full-time place. Along with a professor and college students at San Diego State, Goldsmith developed the thought of televising live shows with a present known as “Live on the Belly Up,” which continues to air on native public tv station KPBS.
“It’s solely student-made,” he says. “We may by no means do it with out the assist of the college.” This permits movie college students to construct their resumes and community with artists, he provides.
As the membership’s present president, Goldsmith was tasked with planning Belly Up’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations, selling the 50-show collection.
“If you’ve gotten 50 reveals, occasions 600 folks, if we’re fortunate sufficient to promote them out, that is 30,000 folks,” Goldsmith mentioned. “So how do you have a good time the anniversary of a 600-seat venue with 30,000 folks? Well, you unfold it out over 4 months.”
Customers take pleasure in meals and drinks at Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Like many of the artists booked for the live performance collection, roots reggae icons Steel Pulse aren’t any strangers to Belly Up. “It’s like a household,” says frontman and songwriter David Hinds. “If it was a home, I’d be a tenant or a renter or no matter you name it in America,” he laughs.
In August, Steel Pulse performed to a sold-out crowd. From the primary downbeat to the final, the viewers danced and bobbed their heads, resembling the ocean close by.
Even in the present day, the Belly Up is a stronghold of reggae, blues and roots music.
“It actually goes again to that unique seed that was planted by the unique proprietor, Dave Hodges, and the primary crew that was there,” Goldsmith says. “They have been very roots-music folks and so they put a variety of time and power into exposing native San Diego to that type of music. I believe it left an archetypal imprint on the membership and the neighborhood that’s nonetheless there in the present day.”
The live performance collection will proceed by October, with Built to Spill, Jason Mraz and the Wallflowers among the many acts booked within the coming weeks. Tickets and the complete lineup can be found at Belly Up Website.
After 50 years, Hodges nonetheless owns the Quonset hut that homes the membership. Goldberg and Berkovitz are proud to proceed the Belly Up legacy and look ahead to bringing stay music to Solana Beach for a few years to come back.
“Dave Hodges, we proved him flawed, man,” Goldberg laughs. “We by no means went to items.”
