Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

North Park Is the Silver Lake of San Diego

“I think Thursday is the best night in San Diego, honestly,” says blogger Rosemary Bystrak, who books music at the West Coast Tavern in North Park. “There’s always the most things going on then.” She explains that West Coast had been booking music a few months before she came into the picture (“the night manager ran it at first, but he was too busy”) and that the diner’s goal has since changed.

“West Coast was having successful dinner concerts, after which the people would leave. They wanted something that would keep people around a little longer,” says Bystrak.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The Howls played Bystrak’s first official gig in August. She has since booked Roadside Graves from New Jersey and Old Tiger. “It’s for the after-dinner crowd,” Bystrak says. “It’s never gonna be anything crazy, loud, or harsh.” And, she says, her Thursday nights can’t compete with her other employer’s venue. “I work at the Casbah, so I want to make sure that I don’t conflict the two. I do social media for Tim [Mays]. I do the [Casbah] Facebook and the calendar updates.”

For the past four years, Bystrak’s blog San Diego:Dialed In (sddialedin.com) has covered the indie-rock scene. Recent posts have chatted up a new online couch-surfing network for bands on the road and the rock outfit Transfer and provided coverage of the North Park Music Thing.

Bystrak met West Coast Tavern owner David Cohen last year. He says that his plans extend beyond the boundaries of the restaurant and into the adjoining 750-seat North Park Theater. “We decided to start offering local shows with the idea of booking national touring acts into the big house.” With promoter Bill Silva, Cohen booked Ghostland Observatory into the theater last year. “We’re looking at the Wiltern Theater in L.A. as our example,” he says.

According to San Diego:Dialed In, there is no cover for the West Coast Tavern shows. Music starts at 9:30. Bystrak blogs that bands interested in playing the restaurant can bring her a CD on Thursday nights.

“The people that I talk to normally through my various outlets,” says Bystrak, “are sort of the dive-bar indie-rock crowd. I think that there is a more upscale audience that maybe doesn’t want to go to a dive bar, but they do want to see indie rock. West Coast Tavern is by no means a dive bar,” she says. “It’s casual without the gritty dive-bar feel.” Cohen sums it up: “North Park is becoming like the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?

“I think Thursday is the best night in San Diego, honestly,” says blogger Rosemary Bystrak, who books music at the West Coast Tavern in North Park. “There’s always the most things going on then.” She explains that West Coast had been booking music a few months before she came into the picture (“the night manager ran it at first, but he was too busy”) and that the diner’s goal has since changed.

“West Coast was having successful dinner concerts, after which the people would leave. They wanted something that would keep people around a little longer,” says Bystrak.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The Howls played Bystrak’s first official gig in August. She has since booked Roadside Graves from New Jersey and Old Tiger. “It’s for the after-dinner crowd,” Bystrak says. “It’s never gonna be anything crazy, loud, or harsh.” And, she says, her Thursday nights can’t compete with her other employer’s venue. “I work at the Casbah, so I want to make sure that I don’t conflict the two. I do social media for Tim [Mays]. I do the [Casbah] Facebook and the calendar updates.”

For the past four years, Bystrak’s blog San Diego:Dialed In (sddialedin.com) has covered the indie-rock scene. Recent posts have chatted up a new online couch-surfing network for bands on the road and the rock outfit Transfer and provided coverage of the North Park Music Thing.

Bystrak met West Coast Tavern owner David Cohen last year. He says that his plans extend beyond the boundaries of the restaurant and into the adjoining 750-seat North Park Theater. “We decided to start offering local shows with the idea of booking national touring acts into the big house.” With promoter Bill Silva, Cohen booked Ghostland Observatory into the theater last year. “We’re looking at the Wiltern Theater in L.A. as our example,” he says.

According to San Diego:Dialed In, there is no cover for the West Coast Tavern shows. Music starts at 9:30. Bystrak blogs that bands interested in playing the restaurant can bring her a CD on Thursday nights.

“The people that I talk to normally through my various outlets,” says Bystrak, “are sort of the dive-bar indie-rock crowd. I think that there is a more upscale audience that maybe doesn’t want to go to a dive bar, but they do want to see indie rock. West Coast Tavern is by no means a dive bar,” she says. “It’s casual without the gritty dive-bar feel.” Cohen sums it up: “North Park is becoming like the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Half Hour Late lives up to their name at the Template

Deadhead-inflected band right at home in Ocean Beach
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.