Ché OK ... for now

The Ché Cafe, the music venue and cafe collective at the University of California at San Diego, will remain open until a full hearing can be held.

On July 10, a Superior Court Judge issued a temporary restraining order which will prohibit the University from evicting the members and demolishing the 30-year-old student-operated collective. Over the years Ché has housed some notable punk, reggae, and indie acts. The Reader's Barnaby Monk provided a summary of some of the acts in a May 12 Blurt.

"The Ché opened its doors in 1980 as a campus/community food co-op (Ché is in the Universty’s charter as an acronym for “cheap healthy eats”) and meeting hall, later earning its upkeep by hosting reggae and punk shows that, over the years, has garnered an impressive visitor’s book that includes [deep breath] Green Day, Rise Against, Billy Corgan, Blonde Redhead, At the Drive-In, Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, Deerhoof, Lightning Bolt, Black Dice, Bright Eyes, Mike Watt, Acid Mothers, Animal Collective, Dan Deacon, Bon Iver, Unwound, Jawbreaker, as well as many local notables, including Drive Like Jehu, Gogogo Airheart, the Locust, Three Mile Pilot, Heavy Vegetable, The Album Leaf, Rob Crow, Cattle Decapitation, and Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower."

Ché's fight to remain intensified last month, on June 13, after receiving a 30-day eviction notice. Two weeks prior, a student association voted to decertify the collective. The student group and some college officials say the cafe is in shambles and poses a danger to patrons.

Ché's members aren't buying it and neither did a fire marshall who on April 17, 2014 inspected the property and cleared the cafe another year. For that reason, students and members want them out so the university wants the space to build a shiny new building.

On July 7, Ché's attorney Andrea Carter filed a lawsuit claiming the University has breached their contract by shutting its doors.

"The University...continues to avoid full disclosure of its rationale for seeking the closure and displacement of the Café, which so many view as a legendary jewel and valuable asset to the University," reads a press release announcing the court's decision. "It has offered many pretextual reasons and concerns that defy common sense or are matters that cannot be quickly addressed and remedied without terminating the Café’s possession and lease.

"The Che Café points to a long history of UCSD administrators falsifying estimates for building maintenance costs and purposely misleading student government and student centers’ boards which oversee the annual operating budgets. UCSD currently estimates that over $700,000 of repairs are needed. However, independent estimates amount to less than ten percent of that amount."

A hearing will be held on August 1 and a judge will decide whether to allow the cafe to operate while the lawsuit makes its way through court.