Determined Push for Latin Sound : Music: <i> Salsa</i> and <i> merengue </i> echo at large new South San Diego night spot.

Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York, Julio Martinez became a Latin music devotee early.

In the Martinez home, many evenings and weekends were spent under the spell of the dense staccato rhythms and exuberant horns of Cuban salsa and Dominican merengue.

New York City continues with its bustling Latin music scene, with crowded nightclubs charging $20 and up for such top Latin acts as Eddie Santiago, El Gran Combo and Victor Roque. Now, Martinez, and partners Juan Andrade and Emilio Estevez (not the actor) hope to spark a similar scene in San Diego County.

The trio launched a Latin night club behind Mi Cabana la Mission Mexican restaurant in South San Diego, near Imperial Beach, on Oct. 4, but the three partners took an initial beating, losing $12,000 that first weekend. The poor turnout, which the owners blame in part on poor publicity and expensive tickets ($18), didn’t generate enough income to pay for the two top-notch bands that headlined: La Orquesta Joven, a Dominican merengue ensemble, on Friday night, and Son Mayor, a top Los Angeles salsa group, on Saturday.

Having regrouped with a few weekends of disc jockey entertainment, the partners will take a second stab at filling their 1,100-capacity space on Halloween night, when the club presents El Gran Combo, the internationally known Cuban salsa group.

“We decided to bring in someone even stronger,” said Martinez, 32, a former U.S. national karate champion who lives in Paradise Hills and makes his living teaching martial arts. He seems to be applying similar discipline and determination to his new venture. “Orquesta Joven is a young group, not that well-known here, barely getting a name back East. I think the boot the club needs will be El Gran Combo. If we would have brought in El Gran Combo when we started, everything would have gone as planned.”

With ticket prices lowered to $12 for this show, the promoters hope to entice a sizable crowd to their club--a cavernous, warehouse-like space set up as a giant nightclub-dance hall. Bands hold forth from a large stage in one corner. Two elevated seating platforms at the fringes of the hardwood floor afford bird’s eye views of the stage and sizeable dance floor. The room is set up with tens of small round tables and chairs.

On Saturday night of opening weekend, a significant number of the club’s patron’s arrived in formal attire--long, slinky dresses and fine jewelry for the women, coats and ties for the men. Once the music started, couples swirled across the dance floor, executing all manner of Latin ballroom dance moves, as disco lights flashed overhead.

Capt. Fernando Medina, a retired seaman living in Point Loma and a regular at San Diego Latin music events, confessed that he had drunk too much beer at a wedding that afternoon. But he slept it off and woke up just in time to go dancing.

Just one problem. There weren’t enough women. There were fewer than 100 people on hand. Medina was impressed with the high quality of the music but told the owners he hopes to find more partners next time around.

Along with internationally known Latin bands, the club will also feature top San Diego groups such as Sol E Mar and eS O eS. The local musicians like the prospect of having a large, New York-style Latin night club in the county. Latin music has already gained a following at clubs such as Croce’s in downtown San Diego and Marisol in Chula Vista, where Martinez serves as deejay on Wednesday nights.

“The idea is good, maybe their expectations were too high the first week,” said Bill Caballero, trumpeter and leader of eS O eS, whose scheduled Friday gigs at the new club this month were canceled as the partners regrouped. “I was doubtful at first. But they didn’t shut down after one week, they’re still open. Maybe now they’ll realize they need to build up to the big money bands.

“I’m convinced there’s a large Latino population here. However, I think the problem here is that San Diego County is so large, the population is so spread out, that a lot of times somebody that lives in Oceanside is not going to come to Chula Vista to hear a salsa band.

“I think this club is going to do all right. They get great bands--mine was the weakest of the three (the opening weekend). But they weren’t the kind of name bands that can command an $18 ticket.”

With lower tickets prices and a mixture of international and local acts on Friday and Saturday nights, Martinez, who moved from New York to San Diego in 1979, hopes he and his partners can hit on a successful formula. In addition, San Diego promoter Steve Spencer will be booking occasional Brazilian acts, usually on Sundays.

Next up from Spencer is Brazilian singer Sonia Santos, who performs at the club Oct. 27. Santos, who toured the United States last year with the group Oba Oba, is a star in Brazil, where she has released several albums and appeared in the film “A Deusa Negra (The Black Goddess),” which won awards in Europe and Africa.

Although salsa, merengue and Brazilian music seem related by their relentless rhythms and buoyant melodies, Spencer said Brazilian music has seldom been mixed with other Latin varieties in San Diego clubs. But he has seen salsa successfully combined with Brazilian samba in Los Angeles, and doesn’t rule out the possibility that Mi Cabana might experiment with a similar blend.

Martinez was invited to open the new club by the owner of Mi Cabana la Mission, who was looking for a way to generate income with his large dance hall.

“He said he had heard of me, he knew I’d worked in a few clubs and the clubs I’d worked in had done very well,” said Martinez, who has served several clubs as deejay. “So he invited me over, I saw the room, and said, ‘Boy, this is a great place.’ . . . We did a lot of work on the room, such as the elevated corner seating stages, but there is still a lot to be done.”

Martinez believes his audiences will be 90% Latino, but doesn’t think others will feel uncomfortable. At earlier Latin music events, such as Spencer’s Labor Day Brazilian festival at the San Diego Princess Resort, people of all colors mingled easily in the dreamy, tropical atmosphere.

Even though he lost thousands of dollars opening night, Martinez is committed to making a concerted effort with the new club.

“We can’t lose that kind of money too many times, but we’re still gonna give it all we can,” he said. “We’re using all our credit cards, every source we can, because we believe it can work. Halloween will be the big event, the push we need to get the club going.”

Mi Cabana la Mission is at 1770 Palm Ave. This weekend, the club will have deejays playing Latin music Friday and Saturday. Brazilian singer Sonia Santos performs Oct. 27, and El Gran Combo plays the club Halloween night, Oct. 31. Dominican singer Victor Roque and his group deliver red-hot merengue Nov. 8 and 9. This weekend’s scheduled performances by New Yorker Bobby Rodriguez’s salsa band have been canceled. Instead, the club will have deejays playing Latin music Friday and Saturday nights. Call 222-6911 for more information.