The Final Nights of a Beloved Club : Last call: The Sunset Pub closes Dec. 18, but so many bands wanted to be part of the finale that the going-away party will stretch over 11 days.

It may be sundown at the Sunset Pub but don’t look for any downcast spirits there. Its lease has expired and the bar, which has presented live music for the past eight years, is closing Dec. 18. But it is doing so with a series of celebrations more likely associated with a grand opening.

Pub manager Gabriel Tellez said: “We’d discussed doing a New Orleans funeral or Irish wake. Basically, the view of everyone, and (owner) Clint Oberholzer in particular, was to make it as positive a deal as we could. It was ‘If we’re going to close, there’s nothing we can do about it, so let’s have as much fun as we can with it. Let’s go out with a bang.’ And it really made us feel good that so many of the bands wanted to play a last little tribute to the club.”

In fact, so many of the Pub’s longtime acts offered to perform on its last night that Oberholzer and Tellez have decided to hold a series of “last nights” organized by Mark Coultas, who books the club now, and Susan Tyler, who booked it for several years.

Tonight, blues stalwarts the Mighty Flyers play their last show at the Sunset. Monday will be the club’s “last jazz night,” featuring Wizard and Kindred Spirits.

Other last nights include the International Reggae All-stars on Wednesday; the Blue Diamonds in a “Cool-Yule Christmas Blues Party” and canned food drive Friday; a “last St. Patrick’s Day” (“Why not? What the heck,” Tellez explained) with Some Fun and the L.A. Scots Bagpipers on Dec. 15; reggae with Planet 10 and Judah Star on Dec. 16; blues guitarist Coco Montoya on Dec. 17 and a real last night gala party with the Regular Guys on Dec. 18.

The night after the official closing will be a private farewell party for the Pub’s employees. “We just wanted to do something for them. All the times they’ve come in here and had to work and put up with it all, well, this is one night that’s just for them and their friends,” Tellez said.

The club’s lease is not being renewed, Tellez continued, because the landlord plans to open a restaurant there. Tellez is hopeful the Pub will be able to relocate.

“We’re definitely trying to find another building, hopefully within a reasonable distance, where we can try to maintain what we’ve done here. I think there’s going to be a big void to be filled, and ideally I’d like to have something together by March so we don’t lose momentum.

“I realize we’re probably going to lose some of the feeling of this club, but we want to do as much as we can to keep it. Even if it’s just four walls and a piece of cement, we’ll figure out something.”

“Funky” is about the kindest descriptive local musicians could come up with when speaking of the fated club’s interior, which lacks a bandstand, a sound system or any stage lighting. Part of the area where bands perform is blocked by a support beam, and it hasn’t been unknown for seawater to flood the floor. But musicians loved the spot.

Guitarist Rick Gould, who will be playing the club’s final notes with the Regular Guys, said: “I remember the first time I went in there I thought ‘What a god-awful place to play,’ which I thought until the first time I did actually play there. It has weird acoustics, virtually no lighting but it was one of the neatest places to play, period. It had a great feel.”

A veteran of Luke and the Locomotives as well as the Blues Patrol and Coco Montoya and Debbie Davies’ bands, Gould has played the Sunset Pub on dozens of occasions over the past few years. What set it apart from other clubs, he said, was the warmth and connection with the audience.

“They were always into it. And the audience was always part musicians going to catch the other guys’ stuff. By going down there a lot I met a lot of people that I know are going to be lifelong friends, which is amazing in a bar in this day and age.”

James Harman Band guitarist Joel Foy concurred that the Sunset was a rare gathering spot for musicians. He hadn’t worked there since 1986, but still, when he wasn’t on the road, he would come down to jam or just to enjoy the music.

“To me, that was the real little roots hole in the wall where it was comfortable just to go in and hear the music, a great musicians’ hangout. There’s so many fern bars and funny rooms around here, but there wasn’t any pretense about the Pub. It really had the right feel for a blues and R&B; bar. People weren’t checking each other out to see what kind of shoes they’re wearing. It’s a real shame it’s not going to be around anymore.”

The Sunset Pub is at 16655 Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach. (213) 592-1926. There is a $3 cover charge most nights.