Al’s Bar Lives as Mecca for Underground Music

Al’s Bar has more lives than Wile E. Coyote. Whenever the anvil drops in clubland, the venerable dive dusts itself off and somehow keeps on trucking. Al’s has been around since 1979 and has seen music trends come and go without ever betraying its own objective: to offer a home for underground music.

Perhaps that’s why this post-nuclear hang is currently thriving. Disillusioned with Hollywood, scenesters are returning to the downtown stamping ground with renewed fervor. And it makes sense. Al’s has always been a haven for up-and-coming bands, attracting audiences happy to pay a low cover charge to take a chance on something new.

Bookers Johnny Vargas and Toast attribute Al’s current resurgence to the backlash in alternative music. During periods in the ‘80s when Hollywood venues weren’t hosting underground music, Al’s was. Now that “alternative” has gone mainstream, folks are returning to this grungy mecca.

Physically, little has changed. The bathrooms are not the most pleasant in town, while the rough neighborhood has problems of its own. All of this, of course, is part of Al’s charm. Authenticity is worth a sacrifice these days, and despite an expanded beer list, Al’s remains sacred ground.

The sound isn’t bad--more a product of structural luck, acoustically speaking, than modern technology, but worth noting. As in the past, the current crop of bookers is making an extra effort to attract good-quality small-club bands. Tonight’s “Thrilling Thursday” promotion includes performances by Texas Terri’s Baby Worm, the L.A. Times, the Tommy Chiffon Band and Boy Scouts of Annihilation. The names alone pique curiosity.

Along with collaborating on the launching of a newspaper called Upside Downtown, the club plans to release a “Live at Al’s” CD collection next year. In addition, Al’s remains loyal to downtown’s art underground. On Sunday the club has invited seven bands to perform at an opening for Raymond Pettibon, one of L.A.’s original punk-rock artists.

* Al’s Bar, 305 S. Hewitt St., downtown L.A., 21 & over, cover varies. (213) 625-9703.

Club Buzz: The Gate, which was recently scorched, is scheduled to reopen on Dec. 6. . . . Mary Nixon, who launched the ultimate “free Monday” music showcase at Club Lingerie in the early ‘90s, has been successfully hosting a Thursday night live music affair at Hollywood Moguls. Nixon fans can check out tonight’s lineup, featuring Holy Bull, Star 69 and Beast, among others.

* The Gate, (310) 289-8808. Hollywood Moguls, (213) 465-7449.