Huntington Beach Could Get 500-Seat Club; Out of Bounds Adds ‘Placebo’ Nights

By midsummer, Huntington Beach could have a major concert club to replace the Golden Bear, which was Orange County’s leading rock club until its demolition in 1986 to make way for downtown redevelopment.

Peppers Inc., which already operates a small club in Garden Grove and a larger venue in City of Industry, has submitted plans for a concert club with more than 500 seats, to be located in the new Pierside Pavilion at Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

Lorraine Saunders, spokeswoman for the San Juan Capistrano-based Peppers Inc., said that the club will be called Peppers Golden Bear “because (the old Golden Bear) was very popular and we thought we would kind of keep a tradition.”

The club is aiming for an August opening, with plans, Saunders said, to feature a diet of “big touring acts.”

The Peppers Golden Bear proposal is scheduled for a public hearing before the Huntington Beach Planning Commission on March 6. Among the issues likely to be reviewed are the proposed club’s impact on neighboring condominiums, according to Laura Phillips, an associate planner for the city.

IN OTHER CLUB-SCENE NEWS, former Club Postnuclear booker Aldo Bender and two partners who modestly call themselves the Gods of Creation are launching a regular Wednesday-night event called Placebo at Out of Bounds, 21022 Brookhurst St. in Huntington Beach.

The Gods--Scott Powel and Richard Jones--are artists who will handle “environmental alterations” to give the club a high-tech ambience to go with the industrial dance rock that musical director Bender favors. Programs will include weekly live bands as well as recorded music, Bender said. The records will appeal to the techno-dance crowd, but live bookings will branch out to include college-oriented alternative bands as well as the more specialized industrial rockers, Bender said.

Amusement, from Huntington Beach, will be the first band to play at Placebo, on Feb. 14, followed by Bio-Hazard, from Long Beach, on Feb. 21.

Meanwhile, promoter Kitty Bash says that Club Tangent will be back in operation on Wednesdays starting next month, in new digs: the Marquee at 7000 Garden Grove Blvd. in Westminster.

Club Tangent, a weekly alternative rock soiree, was left homeless last month when its host, Manhattan’s in Stanton, shut down suddenly due to a partnership dispute among the club owners. Club Tangent resurfaces with two promising bills: The Swamp Zombies, the Clints and Don’t Mean Maybe on March 7, and Caterwaul on March 14.