New Dana Point Nightclub Tunes Up for Pop Scene

The kind of competition that prevails between Pacific Amphitheatre and Irvine Meadows, the two heavyweights of Orange County’s pop music scene, appears to be brewing in the smaller-weight division of concert nightclubs.

The match is set to begin Aug. 24, when a new contender, Michael’s Supper Club in Dana Point, will present B.B. King as its inaugural act. The new, 350-seat club is only two to three miles away from the Coach House, a 380-seat nightspot in San Juan Capistrano that has been the county’s dominant club venue since 1986 for big-name talent in all pop music genres except country.

Michael Zanetis, general partner of the new club at 24399 Dana Drive on the Dana Point waterfront, says he plans to run “a very similar operation” to the Coach House. But Zanetis said he will gear shows to “a somewhat different audience than the Coach House is catering to.”

“The majority of acts will be in the jazz and contemporary area, with rock ‘n’ roll to a lesser degree,” Zanetis said. “We want to let (the Coach House) cater to the youth of the area a little more, and we’re going to go for the slightly older crowd.”

Zanetis, 33, said that B.B. King’s four-night opening stand is the only confirmed booking so far. But several performers who have played the Coach House are among the names Zanetis said he hopes to bring to Michael’s in its opening months: the soul group, Gladys Knight & the Pips; singers Lou Rawls and Tony Bennett, who attract an older following; jazz performers Lee Ritenour and Ramsey Lewis; rockers Gregg Allman, Robin Trower and Los Lobos, and country singers Tammy Wynette, Mel Tillis, Earl Thomas Conlee and the Bellamy Brothers.

The Coach House offers food service at the same tables where patrons watch the shows. Zanetis said that Michael’s will have three separate areas: a concert room, a dining room and an upstairs lounge, all overlooking Dana Point Harbor or an adjacent marina. The supper club was formerly the Crown Point Restaurant.

Despite their proximity and their similarities in approach, Zanetis said, he doesn’t see his club as competition for the Coach House.

“I see it, quite the contrary, as another tool for us both to develop a market in the area. The more people go and get used to seeing quality entertainment while paying $20 to $25 a ticket, the more it’s going to help us both.”

But the Coach House’s owner, Gary Folgner, said that he regards Michael’s Supper Club as “a direct competitor.”

“We’re going to keep our same policy that we’ve had going the last 2 1/2 years,” said Folgner, whose eclectic bookings encompass everything from punk rock to folk, reggae and jazz. Folgner said the Coach House’s existing relationships with acts should give it the upper hand in booking talent.

Folgner also recently opened a larger, 1,000-seat concert club in Ventura. The possibility of booking an act into two markets could give him an advantage if the Coach House and Michael’s go after the same acts.

“He can’t really outbid us on groups, unless he wants to lose money,” said Folgner. That, he said, is exactly what Zanetis did to land B.B. King. “He bid $75,000, and I couldn’t afford to make that work. Maybe he knows something I don’t,” Folgner said, adding that Michael’s appears to be willing to lose money for the sake of a big, opening splash.

Zanetis said the $75,000 figure Folgner quoted is “not accurate, and I can assure you that we intend to make money on all our acts. We’re paying B.B. King exactly what Gary paid him at the Coach House (in a previous booking). If he made money, I’m going to make money.”

Aside from competing for acts, Folgner said, Zanetis “has got a lot more problems there than he anticipates. One is going to be noise. The first rock ‘n’ roll band he puts in there will probably be the last time he does anything in that realm. The place is all glass. You have million-dollar pieces of property all around it, and they’re not going to put up with that.”

Zanetis said that noise shouldn’t be an issue, “unless the halibuts and marlins have some sort of a problem. We’re a lot farther from residential (areas) than typical nightclubs,” he said, and “there are very few live-aboards (people who live on their boats)” in the marina next to the club. “The bottom line is the county has anticipated the sound levels and they have approved the operation. I doubt that anybody objects in the area besides Gary.”

Folgner and Zanetis have known each other for several years--ever since Zanetis, a jazz-rock drummer and record producer, played the Coach House with his group. The two talked Sunday night at the Coach House. Folgner said he offered Zanetis advice on sound systems and lighting but turned down Zanetis’ proposal that they jointly book some acts and have them play both the Coach House and Michael’s.

“He’s a nice kind of guy,” Folgner said. “I don’t want to have any hassle or fight. I just don’t think there is room in the area for two clubs--not on a continual basis.”

Zanetis’ plans to book country acts such as Wynette and Tillis would bring Michael’s onto the musical turf of the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, a 250-seat club that is a favorite stop on the country and Western circuit.

Fred Reiser, one of the owners of the Crazy Horse, said the two clubs won’t compete because Michael’s is distant enough to be in “a different market place.”