SOhO Goes the Big 3-0

SOhO Goes the Big 3-0

SOhO, Santa Barbara’s Premier and
Longest-Running Music Club,
Survives Highs and Lows to Reach the
30th Anniversary Milestone, Mascot in Tow

By Josef Woodard | August 15, 2024

In 21st-century Santa Barbara, it’s hard to imagine cultural life without the thing called SOhO. The increasingly state-of-the-art nightclub and eatery, tucked up tidily on the second floor of Victoria Court, has proven its longevity and its worth in the community many times over. The legacy bumps up a notch or two this year, having attained the lofty milestone of a 30th anniversary.

Officially, the club, a haven for both local and touring acts, community events, and private bookings, first picked up its heels in July 1994 and has become a treasured hub/club on the West Coast ​— ​in a field given to vulnerability, business implosions, and turnover. Birthday greetings and civic accolades are in order. Music clubs, by their very nature, come and go, subject to the whims of fashion and potentially shifty behind-the-scenes elements. SOhO has survived, struggled, and thrived, and the sure but wavering story continues, no doubt partly thanks to the deep family roots behind the enterprise, via the dedicated Hansen clan. In the modern moment, the SOhO charge is led by “mama” Gail and her son Tyler.

This is one of those locavore stories that I can’t hope to have much journalistic objectivity for, having exhaustively — and enthusiastically — covered decades of shows as a scribe, but also having performed many times here, with my musical hat on. It was here, for instance, that our Household Ink Records label celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013, on a bill with Headless Household, Julie Christensen, Natalie D-Napoleon, Lucinda Lane, and Neal Crosbie’s Zen Horse Repair. But I’m just one of many — hundreds or more — musicians who have been lucky to grace the SOhO stage.

In “research” mode, I went to several SOhO shows in the last few weeks, experiencing the varied turf of music embraced in this space. A few weeks ago, hard-to-pigeonhole veteran Alejandro Escovedo (The Nuns, Rank and File) riled up the house with a rock-ish energy and smart lyrical content. From another musical corner, supple jazz trumpeter-vocalist Nate Birkey — a longtime Santa Barbaran hailing from N.Y.C. now — ​packed the house with his ace L.A.-based quartet.

Cut to the Friday of Fiesta, and the thriving thirtysomething country scene in the area soaked up some serious twang with the country-rocking group The Down Yonders, a show with Stetson hats aplenty on and offstage. The Yonders’ set list, creeping past midnight, including originals and deep-dish covers such as, “Mama Tried,” “Tennessee Jed,” and “Luxury Liner,” with the classic C&W texture of pedal steel guitar supplied by Cam Woods. Last Wednesday, the vibe turned chill and Hawaiian-centric with the renowned and expert guitar (and Weissenborn lap steel) stylings and vintage linkages of Jim “Kimo” West and Ken Emerson. On that night, they more than lived up to their motto: “Slackers in paradise.”

Needless to say, the music keeps changing and flowing at SOhO, in multicultural waves.

For someone who has spent countless nights at SOhO over three decades, evenings with varying degrees of foot traffic and bustle, it can be disorienting — in a not-unpleasant way — to visit here in the calm of the day. The club and the bar are calm and clean and unpeeled, and the main action takes place in the back office. It was there that I met up last week with Gail Hansen and her son Tyler Hansen, the dynamic duo now in charge of a place long run by Gail and her ex-husband Bob. We sit on the plush couches in the new, more spacious green room, with a powerhouse of canine cuteness named Penny getting in on the action, and eventually taking over Gail’s spot on the couch.

Penny is very much a part of the long family saga behind SOhO, which Tyler explains began when he was only 6 years old. One of four Hansen kids, he remembers working variously as busboy, waiter, bartender, and other capacities before finally taking on larger administrative duties years ago.

“We have a picture of him sitting on the bar when he was little on the top of the bar with all the booze behind him. That’s probably just not a very good picture,” Gail laughs. 

Tyler recalls that the old office turned greenroom in the club was “our hangout spot when my mom and dad were both working.”

“We’d bring their homework in there,” Gail adds, “or video games or whatever. Sometimes, on New Year’s Eve, they’d sleep in there.”

Thirty years later, the club is twice its original size and a fixture on the West Coast touring map. How have they survived?

“By our chinny-chin-chin,” Gail laughs. “We had a lot of ups and downs, for sure. The economy tanked [in 2008] and we almost lost SOhO. COVID came and we almost lost SOhO. We would’ve lost SOhO if it wasn’t for this guy,” she says, and points to Tyler. “Tyler basically helped us get the grants that we got during COVID. I had to get another job during COVID. But the grants gave us enough money to at least pay him.”

Tyler points out, “We’re in the entertainment world, which was first to close, last to open.”

Tracing SOhO’s backstory, the prehistory goes back to the original SOhO, a restaurant-with-music space down on Victoria Street (where Scarlett Begonia now lives). 

Original owner Nancy Weiss moved to the upstairs location after the departure of Peter Feldmann’s second incarnation of the historic folk-fueled Bluebird Café. Enter the Hansen family, 30 years ago, when Gail’s sister Kim Zimmerman dealt with the music booking. After Zimmerman left to tend her new family, Gail took the reins and has basically turned SOhO into Santa Barbara’s longest-running showcase club success story.

Over time, a trail of improvements and enhancements has fed into making the club increasingly upscale and state-of-the-art. The original footprint expanded to twice its size when they took over a suddenly vacant space next door (a space that was also previously occupied by the Independent). Recent years have seen upgrades in lighting, the stage, and especially the sound system, a significant project led by veteran SOhO sound guru Rosie Hernandez, the head of sound who, Gail explains, “is responsible for all of our sound and stage upgrades.”

Not that SOhO’s long run was all smooth sailing. There have been plenty of highs and lows along the way, but the Hansen-run space has also enjoyed a community-fortified love of the operation.

Among the community-minded events in the club are shows offering real stage time to young students and musicians in training from local schools, reaching down to the tender-aged. Gail comments, “The teachers tell their parents, ‘SOhO gives us this space for free. Your kids, your 5-year-olds, are going to be on a real stage with a real sound engineer. A hundred people come and have dinner.’ And it’s fun for the parents. They have their wine and they’re watching their little kids.”

Tyler adds, “Fun for the kids, too.”

[Click to enlarge] Autographs and notes from performers who have graced SOhO’s stage | Credit: Ingrid Bostrom

In terms of genre orientation, the SOhO music menu covers a broad array of tastes and age-specifics. The list of various celebrities who have played here, sometimes for SOhO-geared benefits, includes Kenny Loggins, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Glen Phillips, Jeff Bridges, Michael McDonald, Alan Parsons, Chris Robinson (in a multi-show residency), Conor Oberst… and the list goes on. One memorable night found country music mega-star (and semi-Montecitan) Brad Paisley showing up for a pop-up show the night after a Montecito Debris Flow benefit at the Santa Barbara Bowl: It was a hot and very sold-out night with Paisley’s friend, guitar pick-up sage Seymour Duncan, sitting in ​— ​and killing it ​— ​for the entire show.

In recent years, Santa Barbara–bred Chris Shiflett, longtime guitarist for the Foo Fighters, has settled in for annual Christmas shows in the venerable club, in the heart of his hometown. Speaking about his double-header holiday hoedown last year, Shifflet said, “Every year’s been an evolution, so doing two nights this year at SOhO felt like the right idea this time around. The whole reason I started it was to have a good excuse to be in S.B. at the holidays, so hopefully we can continue to do these shows for a long time.”

Stars of indie rock and other genres have made their way through the club, on a rambling and continuing list including Adrianne Lenker, Phoebe Bridgers, Cat Power, Rüfüs Du Sol, Beach House, Dante Elephante, regular visits by Martin Sexton, NRBQ, and others. Acoustic guitarists in the upper echelon of that specialized world have often played here, recently under the aegis of the Santa Barbara Acoustic organization. The club has also been a dance floor haven, with reliable dance band power sources supplied by such acts as Raw Silk with Leslie Lembo, King Bee, and Area 51.

Jazz-wise, the club has long hosted the monthly Santa Barbara Jazz Society and hosts jazz ensembles from SBCC, UCSB, and other local schools. Although its history of booking jazz-worldly touring artists has been spotty, the club can boast having hosted the likes of Swedish piano great Bobo Stenson, the Bad Plus (a trio turned duo because of Reid Anderson’s injury), and famed reckoning force alto saxist Tim Berne ​— shortly before the 18-month-long COVID lockdown.

As for the mission statement of SOhO, circa 2024, Tyler comments that they are actively pursuing more action on the private party front ​— corporate shindigs, significant anniversaries, wedding receptions, and the like. He notes that SOhO has an advantage in its being full-service, including a kitchen and bar, under one roof, in one hip upstairs hideaway locale.

For the 30th anniversary year, a series of special shows is still being solidified. The list so far includes Raw Silk (Aug. 30), Henry Kapono (Oct. 1), a reunion of the band Goodland (Oct. 19), Zach Gill (Nov. 1), the annual Hansen Family gathering (Nov. 27), Poor Man’s Whiskey (Dec. 14), and the ever-popular and always sell-out-worthy Venice Holiday Concert (Dec. 15), with more to come, ensures Gail.

As our green room interview winds down, I suggest that SOhO is seemingly too big to fail and feels like a vital organ in the body of Santa Barbara. Gail laughs, “It is. I love that. When I am here, so much of the clientele comes up to me and says, ‘What would we ever have done or would do without SOhO?’ Even young people, people Tyler’s age, all the music freaks say, ‘We would die without SOhO. Like, where would we go?’ And I think they love that we’ve always been manager-owners. We weren’t owners who sat at home all the time.”

She continues, “That’s the saving grace of SOhO, the fact that we’re family-owned, and we treat our staff like they’re in our family. They call me Mama Duck, Mama Bear, Mama Gail, whatever. They tell me their problems, about their boyfriends, their girlfriends. I think that’s a huge part of our success. And also, the fact that we do book every kind of music.”

Looking toward the future of SOhO, Tyler calls upon a workable minimalist agenda: “More of the same and a little more of the new.”

For a complete calendar of SOhO shows, see sohosb.com. 

Performers Sound Off on SOhO

Luis Muñoz, composer-drummer-bandleader, was a sturdy part of Santa Barbara’s music scene for decades before moving to Arizona a few years back. But he maintains strong local links, and his current band features prominent Santa Barbara musicians Randy Tico (bass), Lois Mahalia (vocals) and Dan Zimmerman (guitar). Muñoz and band perform at SOhO on Sunday, August 18, with his new album, Glimmering Path, in the spotlight.

“Simply put, SOhO is home,” Muñoz says. “A great venue that has been there for three decades for all of us musicians to do our thing, however that may be, and share it with friends, old and new, and family in a very intimate and wonderful environment. I started playing at SOhO from its inception, and I have been witness to the changes, the growth, the evolution of the place, always for the better. I have performed at SOhO perhaps 30-40 times over the years, having celebrated my birthday there multiple times.

“SOhO has also been the place of choice where I have premiered the majority of my discography, just like I will be doing with my latest LP, Glimmering Path, on my upcoming ‘Birthday Bash’ gig.

“You expect every place you perform to have all the basics for an artist to be able to put on their best show for an audience: great sound, great lights, great acoustics, etc., and they offer just that to all visiting musicians. However, the human element is what makes the biggest difference in creating a perfect performing environment, and Gail and the rest of the team: bartenders, waitresses, security, chefs, etc., have always been absolutely fantastic.

“Gail is a dear friend. The Santa Barbara music scene has been marked indelibly with the presence of SOhO in the city, and I cannot think of a better venue in the last 30 years for a local artist to showcase his or her talent.

“I have had the absolute pleasure and privilege of having performed in the best venues in the city: from the Arlington, Granada, and Lobero theaters, to Baudelaire’s, Joseppi’s, the Bowl, and the rest of the places that have defined the history of music in Santa Barbara, and indeed, for the last few decades, SOhO has been the ideal hometown landing spot for a show, a place where, as some famous Liverpudlian lads put it, ‘A splendid time is guaranteed for all.’

“Happy birthday, SOhO; congrats, Gail and company!”

Michael Loring Andrews has led the charge of his go-to dance band, Area 51, for many years, playing weddings and all manner of gigs, and SOhO has been a mainstay stage throughout the band’s history. Their next scheduled gig there is September 27.

“I would say that playing at SOhO has been the most consistent and constantly good relationship of Area 51’s long history,” says Andrews. “We began playing there just after they opened the doors of the new space, upstairs at Victoria Court. We had just played to our largest, most enthusiastic crowd of our short existence on the mainstage at Alameda Park, for the annual Summer Solstice Festival after the parade. But after that, our dance floor at SOhO was packed. Since then, we have likely committed our community ritual, celebrating life through music and dance around 300 times, with weddings, New Year’s Eves, and other anniversary performances among them.

“All this is because Gail Hansen and the whole crew there are just as committed to service as we are. And they believe that community is built and sustained by great food, friendly vibes, fabulous music, and made a place for us all to get together to celebrate life. They have been consistently bringing in the best touring acts in the world as well as all the most popular local talent, in many various musical forms, thus serving a broad range of our community, including school performances and talent shows for our youth.

“Over the years, much effort has been made to enhance the space: The stage was expanded, the greenroom enlarged and made more comfortable for the artists, and both the sound system and the lighting have been upgraded to make it a top-flight music venue. At some point, they leased the space next to them and more than doubled their capacity, creating better flow and a more generous sense of elegance. With great local art on the walls, we couldn’t ask for a better communal clubhouse.

“They have always been the only venue in Santa Barbara programming live music seven nights a week for this whole span of time. There is not another music club like it in Santa Barbara. SOhO is Santa Barbara’s music club.”

Zach Gill, whose musical life includes work as the keyboardist in Jack Johnson’s band, began playing SOhO with his ongoing jam-band-plus, ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), while still at UCSB. He will return to SOhO for a solo show on November 1.

“I believe it was a Thursday in the spring of 1998 when I first played SOhO with the original version of the Animal Liberation Orchestra and the Free Range Horns. At the time, it was the nicest club I had ever been in, having really only played Isla Vista parties previously. It was a big step up for us. A few years went by after our initial first show, but by the early 2000s, our slimmed-down version of ALO was playing SOhO two to three times a year. We hosted Halloween haunts, elementary school fundraisers, CD release parties, and many a sweet New Year’s Eve escapade. Sometimes, we’d play multiple nights in a row. I’m pretty sure that not a year has gone by since 2002 that I haven’t played at least one SOhO show. 

“SOhO is the Stone Pony to my Bruce Springsteen, the Nectar’s Lounge to my Phish. I would not be the musician I am today without the SOhO Music Club. I feel indebted. Other clubs have come and gone, but SOhO has remained.

“There’s a deep musical magic embedded in those brick walls; it’s a well-seasoned music-making space. To me, it feels sacred. Just think about all the shows that have happened there, from high school jazz bands to global superstars, all the music, the laughter, the dancing, the feelings. All of that energy has left an indelible aura on the stage and in the room. Santa Barbara has been made a much sweeter place because of SOhO.

“I’m proud to be celebrating it, I’m excited for my upcoming shows there, and I’m eternally grateful to the Hansen family for creating a space for live music of all shapes and sizes to flourish in.”