North Park Observatory allegedly under observation

Fire department spokeswoman Monica Muñoz didn’t respond to a request for comments on specifics, but a different government source explains that the North Park Observatory won't be putting on any shows this week due to code-compliance issues with the fire department.

This means alt-rapper K.Flay won’t be playing in North Park Saturday — but because of this, she will be playing a free show in South Park at the new Vinyl Junkies record store at 3:30 p.m.

The source says that following a June incident at an Observatory show where co-headliner XXXTentacion was attacked onstage and a 19-year-old concertgoer was stabbed, many agencies started focusing on the Observatory's operations. "It kind of all snowballed from there," said the contact.

At present, the city attorney's office, the SDPD, and the state bureau of Alcoholic Beverage Control are responding to code-compliance issues involving the Observatory, says the contact.

Regional ABC director Melissa Ryan confirmed that her agency will in fact be addressing issues involving the Observatory's liquor license, "...including noise complaints from the neighbors." While Ryan says she was aware of this week's mandatory shutdown, it was not initiated by her department. She says the liquor issues will be addressed at a later date.

Attempts to get comments from North Park Observatory general manager Paris Landon about when the venue would reopen, or if the Observatory's owners (West Coast Tavern, LLC) were planning on suing the City of San Diego as rumored, were not successful. The SDPD's vice department did not respond by deadline.

"I just heard about it last night," Vinyl Junkies co-owner Eric Howarth said on Thursday (January 11th) about the Observatory's shutdown and the offer to inherit the K.Flay show. "We've only been open for six weeks," he says, but so far his shop has hosted free shows by the Loons, Birdy Bardot, Jose Maldonaldo and the all-bass SeaBase. "We're going to start having DJ nights...I think our first one will be all psychedelic."