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Discover the history behind Sid the Cat’s new South Pasadena venue
Sid the Cat cofounders Kyle Wilkerson (left) and Brandon Gonzalez say that they've been planning for this space for about eight years.
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Courtesy Sheva Kafai
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Sid the Cat finally has its own concert venue
After 10 years of throwing shows with the likes of Fiona Apple and Boygenius, indie concert promoters Sid the Cat are opening a space of their own...in a 1930s elementary school in South Pasadena. LAist's Kevin Tidmarsh went to check out the new space ahead of the first show tonight.
The concert-promoting agency Sid the Cat has become a key part of Los Angeles’s indie music scene over the last 10 years. Their shows often aren’t in full-time concert spaces, but in historic buildings and other unorthodox places.
Keeping with that tradition, the Sid the Cat Auditorium, which holds its first show Thursday night, is in an old South Pasadena elementary school built in 1931.
About Sid the Cat
Music fans may know Sid the Cat’s place in the independent music ecosystem, but if you don’t, here’s just one anecdote: Pasadena’s own Phoebe Bridgers met her future collaborator Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes after cofounder Kyle Wilkerson put the two of them on the same bill before Bridgers became nationally known.
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Sid the Cat books shows in venues of all sizes, from the tiny Permanent Records Roadhouse all the way to the Hollywood Bowl — and they book artists big and small to fill them.
“ Me, as the booker, I try to remain curious to new sounds and new music and new songwriters,” Wilkerson said. “It's the same when we come into a space. We get geeked on putting on an event that maybe nobody has ever done a show in this room.”
Wilkerson said the new auditorium reminds the team most of the midsized venues, including Highland Park Ebell Club, where they booked some of their first ever shows.
This bar area next to the Sid the Cat Auditorium will be open even on nights when there aren't any shows.
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The new venue
The venue has two main spaces, a main auditorium and a side bar area. The bar will host DJs nightly, even when there’s no main concert going on.
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Besides being concert promoters, the Sid the Cat team are history buffs. A case in the bar area shows off historical documents from the building and mementos from the 10 years of Sid the Cat concerts.
One of the many mementos Sid the Cat has given out over the years.
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Kevin Tidmarsh
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“ Our dream was always to have a trophy case and to celebrate art, the way that people celebrate sports and other, other major events,” Sid the Cat cofounder Brandon Gonzalez said.
Another thing that’s on display in the main room: four murals from Lucile Lloyd, a prominent 20th century decorative artist. Wilkerson had a hunch based on historical documents that her art was somewhere in the elementary school, but couldn’t corroborate it even after consulting with the University of California, Santa Barbara, which hosts her collections.
These murals, the only surviving Lucile Lloyd murals on this site, were originally covered when the Sid the Cat team bought the venue.
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Courtesy Sheva Kafai
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It was a lucky rainstorm that partially revealed the murals under some paneling in the rafters, Wilkerson said. The murals are now on display, along with a plaque commemorating Lloyd.
The venue has a few modern touches, too, including a new sound system and a pickleball court on the floor with the Sid the Cat logo in the middle. They even have a net for staff and artists to play during off hours.
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The Sid the Cat team said they long dreamed of a basketball court with their logo in the middle, but due to space issues they settled on a pickleball court.
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Courtesy Sheva Kafai
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“I hope people show up”
Concertgoers might notice a couple slogans around the venue. One is "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," a nod to the motto of Wilkerson’s grandfather’s bottling company. The other one is, “I hope people show up.”
Sid the Cat's cofounders.
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Gonzalez said that’s because in the live music industry, it’s never guaranteed people will come out on any given night.
“ It truly is hard for people to show up and when they do, it's really beautiful and it's powerful,” Gonzalez said. “I love that uniqueness about each night that we put on shows and if it's raining or there's something going on, it's like, we truly don't know if people are gonna show up.”
Upcoming shows
The venue’s first show, featuring the L.A. bands Peel Dream Magazine and Goon, is Thursday, Dec. 4.
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You can see the full upcoming lineup on Sid the Cat’s website.
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This work is only possible with community support. Every investigation, service guide, and story is made possible by people like you who believe that local news is a public good and that everyone deserves access to trustworthy local information.
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