The Best Venue You Have Yet To Go To
August 7th, 2010
I got the chance this past week to get a behind the scenes tour of the newly revamped Columbia City Theater. Kevin Sur, resident booker and historian, and Abbey Simmons, press relations, gave me the low-down on the Theater, where it’s been, and where it’s heading.
.
“The Columbia City Theater was built in 1917 and is the oldest vaudeville theater in the state of Washington. Having played a major role in the Seattle Jazz boom in the 40′s, the theater played host to the likes of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Fats Waller.” [taken from Columbia City's website] It’s reportedly one of the first venues at which Jimmy Hendrix performed in the 1960s.
.
The current owners, CB Shamah and Rob Hillman, were originally looking to open a bar. They wanted a place that could house fun and unique events. They found out the theater was for sale, and brought on Kevin Sur to take on the task of putting together one of the finest music venues in town—and he succeeded. After about five months of renovations and updates, the Columbia City Theater now hosts a beautiful stage—the type with deep red curtains and fantastic moldings that really makes you feel like you are watching a show back in the vaudeville days. The lighting in the theater is beautiful as well, using old halogen bulbs instead of L.E.D.s (which many venues use), lending a wonderful warmth to the space.
.
Jim Anderson (of The Crocodile fame) was brought in to handle sound for the remodeled theater. He came in with a different, “less is more” approach, and he was able to get the best sound I have heard in Seattle. The room was built with such great acoustics that it does not take much to get optimal sound in the place. Just two main speakers and four massive subs fill your ears with the beauty of the music and nothing else.
.
Kevin has put together one of the finest places for touring musicians to have a chance to play. The Theater now boasts a full bath and shower—and for anyone who has been on the road touring, there is nothing like a shower to make you feel human again. They also have two great green rooms for artists to relax in. Perfect places to kick back and forget the troubles of the road.
.
One of the best things that I got a chance to see and learn was the Theater’s recording studio. Gary Mula, who used to be over at The Dutchman (which was home to many early Sub Pop bands like Mudhoney, and Soundgarden) runs the studio Sunday through Thursday, enabling the Theater to offer any musicians who play there a live recording. I had the chance to hear a few tracks from the recent Maldives show, which sounded great, since they have multi-track recording built right into the sound board. In the future, they plan to release more live recordings and even DVDs of live performances.
.
With a fantastic D.I.Y approach to space and sound, the guys and girls over at the Columbia City Theater are ushering in a new era to the local music scene. If you have yet to catch a show there, they have plenty of great artists coming up. Head over to their website to find out more about upcoming shows and events.
.
Big thanks to Abbey and Kevin for Showing me around!
.
.
August 7th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Seattle Subsonic » The Best Venue You have yet to go to … said:
[...] post: Seattle Subsonic » The Best Venue You have yet to go to… [...]
August 9th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Kevin leDoux said:
I got a chance to check out the venue this Fri night for the Head and the Heart and MAN!!! It’s honestly nothing like any venue around. Given layout (tiers!) capacity (under 300) and sound quality (eat your heart out SHBX SODO) I’d definitely back it as Seattle’s best.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Daniel said:
Great profile of a great space but the person who is running the studio is Gary Mula (Not Gerry Mula) and he ran the Dutchman studio for many years before it burned down last year. To my knowledge, he never worked at SubPop. He has played and recorded with many of the greatest Seattle musicians–many of whom are (or have been) on SubPop.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:07 am
John DeGiacomo said:
Although the new owners have done a good job rejuvenating the place, the impression you give here is that they are responsible for the stage, the lighting, the decor and generally creating this venue which is far from the truth. (there were never any LED lights in there.) The recording studio is the one pace that has received a thorough makeover which was sorely needed. All-in-all it is a great venue. I hope that they will be able to make ends meet considering the small size (only seats about 120 people) and resist the temptation to go for large hip-hop shows which the local community is determinedly against.
August 20th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Suzie said:
This is quite an interesting story.
During the two years the “Big Night Out ” Show was produced there no one ever mentioned that all these great perfomers ever worked there. How ironic that this information just now popped up from nowhere. Niether is it mentioned that this was also the city’s only Black Theatre in the late 70′s (or maybe it was the eighties) that showed classics movies like “Reefer Madness” followed by movies like Putney Swoope, Foxy Brown and Hammer to mention just a few.
And what a nice picture of the studio! Anyone who was there even a couple of years ago knows this is a vast improvement of what the studio looked like just a couple of years ago.
I’m just saying!
August 20th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
K. Class said:
John’s comments regarding hip hop are pretty ridiculous. The Hip Hop shows at the theater have been the one type of show at the theater that the local neighborhood has actually been very present at. Obviously he’s part of the minority of people in the neighborhood that need to be educated that there is a big difference between hip hop and gangster rap and that hip hop is actually a very positive thing.
August 20th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Suzie said:
I agree w/Class. Every type of music should be welcome.
August 20th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
John DeGiacomo said:
To K. Class: I don’t think the word “ridiculous” really applies. I sat at the local community business meetings many times where we (CCT) were begged by the local business owners not to host ANY hip-hop shows because of the many previous experiences with the crowd which always ended in extensive damage to the theater and the neighborhood.
To Suzie: It’s not the music or the artists, it’s the crowd they often attract.
August 20th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
dpphoto said:
to Suzie,
The historical facts we got were actually from the Rainier Valley Historical society and it’s funny that you mentioned that because those facts were stated on an episode of “Big Night Out”.
To John,
I never said there were L.E.Ds in there. Just that they left the old halogen bulbs in, in favor of switching them out. Sorry if that was not Clear.
Also Having met and spent time with Kevin and many of the Columbia City Theater Staff i think they have a good idea of what kind of shows they want to book and what kinds of crowds they will attract. I doubt they would ever put on a show where the crowd would ever be unruly.
also it holds much more than 120 people.
To Daniel,
thanks for the knowledge. it has been corrected.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
The Real Columbia City said:
There’s a difference between the larger Columbia City community and people who sit in the meetings of local business owners. Say you speak for business owners rather than using the word “community.” Say you, as a business owner, don’t want hip hop shows at the theater and then, even better, say what business you own so I know to never go there again.
We love hip hop and hip hop shows in Columbia City and I hope the theater keeps booking a line-up that matches the diversity of the neighborhood rather than John DeGiacomo’s narrow-minded, misguided way.
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:27 am
John DeGiacomo said:
Why are some of these postings getting so personal and mean spirited? I apologize if I have contributed to that in any way (?). I sincerely wish the very best to the new owners of the theater. But characterizing other people’s comments in a public forum as “ridiculous”, “narrow-minded” and “misguided” is unfortunate and a bit harsh, don’t you think.
I am not a business owner. I can’t tell who you are because you won’t identify yourselves but I was the general manager of the Columbia City Theater in 1998. I love hip-hop music. I am a published recording artist and audio engineer who writes electronica/hip-hop style music. I have also been working in nightclubs and putting on events for the past thirty years.
In my experience, being closely attuned to the needs and wishes of one’s neighbors and local businesses is paramount to the success of a public venue that ultimately relies on those neighbors’ support.
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
B2 said:
Wow. Dpphoto – thanks for the awesome post and alerting me to a great venue that I have yet to check out. I may not be a neighbor but I love a place that puts on a good show with a good vibe. I could give a shit about the light bulbs.
November 17th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Seattle Subsonic » Win tickets for a Seattle Threesome – Wild Orchid Children, See Me River & Magic Mirrors This Friday : Seattle's Music Blog said:
[...] You may have heard we have much love the Columbia Theater. It’s intimate but roomy setting takes great bands and immediately explodes them into phenom! [...]