How many does it take to run a Blonde?

“End of an era. The neon sign is up for grabs. If interested email,” @BarDynamiteSD tweeted on August 10. A couple of weeks later, the new construction dust had barely settled inside the dance club formerly known as Bar Dynamite, now called the Blonde Bar, when Allen Colaneri talked to the Reader about his decision to open the doors on a new venue during hard times.

His plan to survive?

“We hold round-table meetings,” Colaneri explains, meetings that are held by a volunteer collective he describes as “artists and musicians who want to make a space for music lovers.” He says the collective is composed of “friends, guys I played music with, deejays, bartenders,” and that the group focus is on music, art, film, photography, and multimedia. “We’re tapped into the surf/skate community, and we’re planning on hosting video premieres and art showings.”

Yes, there will be deejays and live bands, too, he says. “Dynamite became all hip-hop. We are changing the gears. We built a stage,” he says, and he and his pals installed a built-in deejay booth carved into a back wall.

“We also have the Human Jukebox. There are rows of records behind the bar, and one turntable. Some of the record collection is mine, and some of it has come from employees. Our record player is behind the bar. On off nights, that’s how we’ll be playing music. We’ll have a ‘local bands’ section, and when touring bands come through and play here, we’ll put their records on, too.”

Colaneri, 45, has been playing music in bands since the late ’90s, most notably with the long-defunct Turning Japanese. Born and raised in San Diego, he lives in North Park. He says he owns Blonde Bar with a silent partner. “I started bartending at the Void. That’s where I got introduced to the scene from the business side. We had events there every day of the month. Later, I went to the Office and helped them rejuvenate their live-music scene.”

In the days following the venue’s soft opening, the Mission Hills venue has hosted an assortment of acts, such as Dance Klassique, Fatal Jamz, Hong Kong Fuzz, and Greyboy. Coming up on September 30, musician/filmmaker Adam Greene will appear at Blonde Bar in support of his Adam Green’s Aladdin film and soundtrack.

Colaneri says the idea for his Blonde Bar incubated in his thoughts for years while he learned “what works and what doesn’t work in the club scene here.” He says the nightclub’s name was more or less inspired by pop singer Deborah Harry.

As of this writing, there were no takers for the old Dynamite sign.