Koo’s to reopen as arts center

More than a year after Koo’s Cafe closed its doors in Santa Ana, the nonprofit arts coffeehouse is to reemerge Saturday in downtown Long Beach as Koo’s Art Center, a multipurpose facility with designs on becoming, among other things, an all-ages venue for touring rock acts.

“We finally have the facility to do what we intended to do with Koo’s to begin with,” executive director Dennis Lluy, 30, said of the new Koo’s, in a 4,000-square-foot commercial space at 540 E. Broadway. “We can now take it to the next level.”

Operating for eight years out of a downtrodden wood-facade house in Santa Ana, Koo’s hosted music, theater, poetry and dance events before succumbing to capacity woes. Its new incarnation must clear some legal hurdles (including a mid-July public hearing) before presenting live music, but Lluy is putting the center on the map at 2 p.m. Saturday with “FUSE,” an exhibition featuring the work of 18 Southland artists. The event will be held in conjunction with a tour of artists’ studios in Long Beach.

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Kevin Bronson