The Satellite’s days as a music venue are over

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The Satellite

The Satellite, the Silver Lake venue that became the locus for Los Angeles’ independent music scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has fallen victim to the COVID-19 crisis. Owner Jeff Wolfram today announced that the room will no longer be a music venue and will be remade into a bar-restaurant.

His announcement today on Facebook:

To all of the Satellite fans out there, I am sorry to say that we will no longer be doing live shows or dance parties. We would like to thank you for all the support you have shows us over the years.
We shut our doors March 12 after the bands started canceling shows due to the corona virus and the Government shutting down the bars and nightclubs just a few days later. It has really hit us hard. We can no longer afford to wait for the day we will be allowed to have shows again. If we do that, we will not have the money to continue and will be forced to close forever.

We are currently removing the stage and redesigning the club to be more of a place to get good quality drinks and food. We will be re-opening the kitchen and doing a complete redesign. Due to the lack of funds, this will not happen quickly. We will be opening in the parking lot for food and drinks as soon as we have the kitchen re-opened or the government lets us hire a food truck. We hope you will still support us during these tough times.

It personally has been an amazing 25 years of live music and dance parties. I will miss those days but it is time for us to move on.

I would hope that you will support groups like NIVA [National Independent Venues Association]. They are trying to raise support in Congress and the Senate to help out all the Independent clubs in the US so they do not have to change format like we did or just close the doors for ever. Go to their site and show your support so we can start going to shows again!

For almost 15 years, the room at 1717 Silver Lake Blvd., formerly Dreams of LA, was known as Spaceland, the name of the promotions company that booked the music there. It adopted the name the Satellite in 2010 after the promoters and Wolfram parted ways. In its heyday, Spaceland was known for being a prime incubator for emerging Los Angeles acts, as well as debuting touring bands who would go on to greater fame.