FORMER GOLDEN BEAR OPERATORS : BROTHERS PLAN SHOWS IN SANTA ANA

While demolition crews worked this week removing the last few bricks from the historic Golden Bear nightclub in Huntington Beach, the club’s former operators said they will resume business by staging several rock and pop concerts in Santa Ana.

Richard and Charles Babiracki, the brothers who operated the Golden Bear from 1974 until it closed amid financial problems last January, will begin holding concerts in late July at Kono Hawaii restaurant under the banner of Golden Bear Productions.

Missing Persons is scheduled to appear on July 31 in the first show the Babirackis will present at the Kono Hawaii, best known for its Hawaiian entertainment by performers such as the Society of Seven and the Krush. The other four acts with confirmed dates are former Golden Bear regulars Kalapana (Aug. 1 and 2), Dave Mason (Aug. 8), Tower of Power (Aug. 9) and Cecilio & Kapono (Aug. 15 and 16), Richard Babiracki said Wednesday.

In presenting the shows, the Babirackis will be acting as independent promoters, and Richard Babiracki said the shows will give them the opportunity to make good on their promise to give cash refunds to anyone still holding tickets to canceled Golden Bear shows with Phoebe Snow and Robin Trower.

The Babirackis also said Wednesday that they signed an exclusive agreement last Friday to present pop concerts at the 480-seat Kono Hawaii and that the agreement gives them an exclusive option to lease or purchase the restaurant in the future as a permanent home for the Golden Bear.

But one of the two women who manage Kono Hawaii said that no such deal has been signed.

“All we have done is blocked out a few dates for them to do concerts to fill in some holes in our schedule,” said Aurora Kaawa, who books the club’s Hawaiian acts. “They haven’t ever talked to the (restaurant’s) owner--I don’t think they even know who he is.

“Obviously we’d like to help them get some good publicity because if they make money, we make money also,” Kaawa said. “But they are making some very strong statements about exclusivity that just don’t hold up.”

Kaawa said the Babirackis will be “four-walling” the Kono Hawaii, or renting the restaurant one night at a time and assuming financial responsibility for paying the performers.

Responding Thursday, Charles Babiracki said:a “The contract is definitely going to be signed on Monday. Their attorney is drawing up the agreement. We had hoped to sign it this week, but because of the holiday week we have to wait until Monday.”

Richard Babiracki attributed the discrepancies to “confusion.”

“Aurora (Kaawa) misunderstood and thought the exclusivity meant that she wouldn’t be able to do her Hawaiian shows,” Richard Babiracki said, “and that’s not what we originally presented or agreed to. But we will be the only ones presenting rock and pop concerts.”

In January, the Babirackis were evicted from the Golden Bear by the property owner, who has since leveled the club to make way for a $50-million hotel-restaurant-shopping complex as part of a major redevelopment project in downtown Huntington Beach.