Kevin Bronson on July 17th, 2020

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The club at 1717 Silver Lake Blvd. — known as Spaceland for its first 15 years as a music venue and the Satellite for the past decade — was a space that changed lives, altered career trajectories and fostered indelible memories for players and patrons alike.

After the announcement Friday from owner Jeff Wolfram that the club would morph into a bar-restaurant, the memories came flooding back.

“For people of a certain age,” said Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups, “they will look at that building and remember being inside someplace that felt like being on the surface of the sun. Like they were at one point part of the most important happening in the world. Or Space … land.”

The Satellite’s demise as a venue follows a rocky period in which it struggled to find its footing on Los Angeles’ competitive live music landscape. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has crippled the industry, was the knockout punch, coming as some venues (including the Hi Hat in Highland Park and Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach) are for sale and other newer ones (including House of Machines and the Factory in downtown L.A.) have closed.

“I am pretty messed up about all of this,” Wolfram said late Friday. “I wish I had another choice. We held on as long as we could. There is no way we could have made it to the new year, and the way things are going, that is how it looks.”

Wolfram’s room had an enviable run as the go-to spot for live music, thanks largely to promoter Mitchell Frank, who started booking shows at the former disco known as Dreams of LA in 1995 and from there began to build his Spaceland Productions empire, now a part of Live Nation. It was only a year into Spaceland-booked shows at the club that the Los Angeles Times declared it “the current cultural flash point” as the Sunset Strip slowly became a caricature of itself, Hollywood’s influence waned and artists and fans looked for entertainment closer to home.

That first show has become the stuff of legend: Beck (a year before “Odelay”), Silver Lake mainstays Lutefisk and Possum Dixon and a … new band. British musician David Newton (The Mighty Lemon Drops), who had just moved to L.A. with his wife Bekki, now a music executive, remembers it: “We met our old tour manager Chas Banks, who had just started managing Teenage Fanclub, for a drink. As we were sitting there two blokes walked over that Chas knew, and I didn’t realize that one of them was Dave Grohl. Anyway, they mentioned that their new band were to be playing a low-key gig at some new place in Silver Lake, so Bekki and I went along and saw Lutefisk, Beck (with Dallas Don from Lutefisk on drums) and ‘Dave Grohl’s new band,’” the Foo Fighters.

In January 2011, the Foo Fighters returned to play what was thought to be the final Spaceland concert at the venue (although the company ended up mounting shows recently on occasional nights).

It’s one in an encyclopedia of highlights for a club that was known not only for its booking acumen — seasoned show-goers knew to come for the first band and stay late for the fourth, because you never know — but for its quirks: the back bar that mysteriously allowed smoking for years after it was banned indoors; the inverted satellite dishes on its ceiling that caused conversations to bounce all over the room (an eavesdropper’s dream); the vintage Galaga arcade machine; the Tamale Man who showed up with a cooler full of homemade goodies right before close; the tiny backstage area for artists; the shiny blue-and-silver curtain that adorned walls; and the adventures finding street parking if you were too strapped for even the cheap valet service.

Other foundational clubs predated Spaceland in Silver Lake, and still more (notably, the Silverlake Lounge) followed, but none cut the swath that the people at 1717 Silver Lake Blvd. did. Even when the more conveniently located and Spaceland Productions-booked Echo ramped up in Echo Park in the early 2000s, it still took years for its older cousin in Silver Lake to lose its shine.

“In the early days, no one gave a shit about the neighborhood, and no one cared about indie-rock,” Frank says of Spaceland’s pre-gentrification beginnings. “We intentionally didn’t put a sign on the club. But we did try to cater to the scene. It ended up being a place where we felt like we were doing the TV show ‘Cheers.’ And even after the first two or three years, when the old crowd stopped coming, it turned over and new people came.”

Spaceland displayed a special penchant for “growing” bands; the best would get return bookings, or even a coveted Monday night residency — free shows with the same headliner every Monday of the month and a different supporting cast each night. On their ascent to bigger things, L.A. bands such as Rilo Kiley, Silversun Pickups, Local Natives, Cold War Kids, Fitz & the Tantrums, Moving Units and the Henry Clay People did residencies. The concept, started in 1996 with local faves the Negro Problem, often led to packed nights and entry lines that snaked down the street and around the corner.

The club also became known as a prime first Los Angeles stopping point for touring bands on the rise. There was an embryonic Arcade Fire, happily surprised when some of the fans in line helped them load in. The Arctic Monkeys. The Killers on a Monday night. Snow Patrol. My Morning Jacket. Stars. Hot Hot Heat. British Sea Power, pruning the shrubbery in the park near Silver Lake Reservoir so they could adorn the stage with foliage.

Spaceland’s reputation also made it a favorite among artists for “underplays” and special-occasion shows, such as Lady Gaga’s night at the Satellite in 2016.

Many of these resonate with Jennifer Tefft, who had two tenures as talent buyer at the club, the first working for Spaceland Productions and returning later to book for the Satellite. She said that Friday’s news added to her malaise about the industry climate. “I’m heartbroken about live music in general — the Satellite is one of hundreds of cases of what is happening across the country,” said Tefft, who started coming to Spaceland in 1996 (That Dog. and Imperial Teen played her first night there), became a door person in 1999 and a booker in 2000.

One of Tefft’s most memorable shows was the Weezer reunion show in June 2000. The White Stripes were scheduled to play what would be their second-ever L.A. show that night, but after a two-year hiatus Weezer wanted to try out new material and the band was billed under the alias Goat Punishment. “The funny thing was that Rivers Cuomo thought nobody would care,” Tefft remembers. “He showed up the week before to flyer the club, and the flyers had ‘Weezer’ on them.” The massive crowd that night, she said, reverberated through the neighborhood, and it wasn’t long after that neighbors campaigned for permit parking.

There are dozens of other memories, from the show that Tefft hurriedly assembled with Wire headlining after the 2001 All Tomorrow’s Parties was postponed, to the night during a Sean Lennon show that she realized his mother was in the audience, to the night in 2006 when she witnessed Steve Jones, Slash and Chris Robinson on the sidewalk together practicing the Faces’ song “Oh La La” as they got ready to join headliners Jet on stage.

Frank, too, can run through a list of highlights, including but not limited to Pavement, Guided by Voices (including the night their amp caught fire and the band doused it with beer), Heat Miser, Brian Wilson, Nancy Sinatra, RL Burnside, Mos Def, Jurassic 5, the founding of Dub Club, Ozomatli, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Shins, Apples in Stereo, Watts Prophets/Horace Tapscott, Billy Childish and Modest Mouse. There was the night Elliott Smith played and Jon Brion showed up for rehearsal, asked to sit in and ended up playing the whole show with him. There was the night Dinosaur Jr. played a reunion show only to have a dispute with the club over how many stacks they could have on stage. And there was the night Frank was called to the door because some guy named Mick wanted in to a sold-out show, and it turned out to be (not recognized by the doorman) Jagger.

For old-time’s sake, Buzz Bands LA put out a call on social media inviting people to share their Spaceland / Satellite memories. From some of the old guard to newbies who played the room in recent years, here are a bunch of them (and this could go on and on):

Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart, owner of The Ship studio

One of my first memories of Spaceland was from the very early days of Earlimart. We had begged Mitchell (the booker at the time) to let us play a show at the coveted indierock club.. After bugging the hell out of him, he finally gave us a chance and puts us on a bill — the dreaded cleanup slot on a Sunday or Tusday night? Nobody was there except two or three of our friends and the man himself, Mitchell Frank. We played our absolute hearts out! We felt like we were Nirvana or something, playing at the Forum! And in true Nirvana fashion we ended the set with a full-blown demolition derby, using our instruments, amps and each other to destroy everything in sight. I remember our drummer Brian Thornell jumping thru his drum set and continuing his human wrecking ball off the front of the stage, and on to the dancefloor. With microphone stands and monitor wedges feeding back and tumbling to the ground, I see our drummer land at Mitchell Frank’s feet. And at that point Mitchell proceeds to tell us that we were officially BANNED FROM SPACELAND! (A song title/lyric; later used by one of my favorite L.A. bands, Distortion Felix). Eventually Mitchell and all the folks at Spaceland warmed back up to us. Actually, more than warmed up to us, they fostered our creative output. They gave us a place to learn and grow! I personally owe a huge part of my life and career in music to Spaceland. All the folks that worked there, all my friends who hung out there. Everybody in that neighborhood, people that came to the shows, bands I watched play there, bands that we had the fortune of playing shows with. Basically, the artistic community of Silver Lake saved my life, and Spaceland was absolutely an essential part of that.

Eric Huff, sound engineer

I have many memories, but tops has to be the secret Deftones show in 2008. Kids lined up from 6 a.m. on. At around 8 p.m. Adrian Grenier and, ahem, his entourage roll up and try to just breeze by security and the box office. Walter (longtime doorman Sencion) said, “Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” The manager shot him a “Don’t you know who he is?” look. Walter shrugged. “He’s Adrian Grenier from ‘Entourage,’ you know, on HBO.” Walt said, “Yeah, I don’t watch that show, back of the line.” The kids in line erupted into applause, and I assume the entourage headed back west of Fairfax somewhere. The band sounded killer, close quarters, hard to hold a drink, one of my favorite shows ever.

Jeff Miller, journalist and musician

I went to the Satellite alone in the summer of 2016 to check out one of their occasional tribute shows — this one a tribute to Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” The musicianship onstage was incredible, with all the grandiose sounds and rhythms of the album propelled by stellar musicianship. My mother had passed away just a couple months before, and mid-show it occurred to me that the last concert she saw before passing away was Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl. I started sobbing — big, hard, violent crying. But at some point I realized that is not what she would have wanted. And so I celebrated her the way I knew how best — the way the Satellite/Spaceland there had inspired me to do so many times — by dancing cathartically, uncontrollably, celebratorially. It was a huge moment in my grieving process, and after the show I tracked down Jack Kovacs, who had put the whole thing together, and sent him a massive thank-you note. He and I have since gone on to become friends, and he has sat in with my band Black Crystal Wolf Kids a number of times — yet another in a long line of friendships and important nights I give Spaceland/Satellite credit for.

Tarynn Law, former Satellite employee

Lady Gaga (2016) was definitely the highlight for me, for sure. On a smaller level, though, from when I was working there, seeing Alec Benjamin perform as an opening act to no one a few times and seeing where he’s at now is really special. Also seeing Trixie Mattel perform during one of the John Early comedy nights was amazing.

Jon Halperin, talent buyer with a long resumé of SoCal clubs and festivals

In the 1990s, I managed a ska band called Jeffries Fan Club. The director of a music video for them turned Spaceland into a cowboy bar for the shoot. Pretty funny to see line dancing in there.

Kamran V, media technologist, co-founder of Bedrock.LA, co-founder of Spaceland Recordings

There are so many. My (first) engagement was there … regardless of the fact that the relationship didn’t work out, it was so cool that they let me do it during sound check. I filmed/recorded hundreds of bands there. Saw all kinds of secret shows and the like … but maybe the most timely moment was Obamarama. It felt both a local and global moment at the same time. I even have a video.

Sarah Green of Spare Parts for Broken Hearts

We were the first band to partner with the Satellite to have the return of the residency nights in October 2018. Every week of that month was a personal confirmation that relocating and calling Echo Park/Silver Lake Spare Parts’ new home was the raddest choice I could have made for us. I was blown away by how everyone showed up for us, being the new kids on the block. … I’ve known it was going to go this way and I’m devastated at the reality, to be honest. This was home to us and we had dreams of playing our homecoming show from our first major tour here, over any other option ever.

Cori Elliott, formerly of The Vim Dicta, now a solo artist

The first time Matt [Tunney] and I played the Satellite, we were under age and had to wait outside before and after we played. We hit it off with the door guy, and he even came in and watched us play after hearing the first song. He let me in for free to other shows from then on out.

Peter Verdell of Act As If, Forever X2

It was a place I often ventured on my own, knowing I’d see familiar faces, and on the off-chance I didn’t, I could still buy a tall can of PBR and get inspired by the best local talent. The thrill of finding out that KROQ Locals Only was going to present Forever X2’s residency at the Satellite last April, and getting so many special guests involved, contributed to one of the most fun months of my life. Add that to the countless shows, Christmas parties, and back-room deep convos, this venue has a piece of me, and I’ll always carry a piece of it.

Dane Sundseth, former artist manager

Jackson Browne. The Henry Clay People residency and all their New Year’s Eve shows. The Parson Red Heads. The first GIRLSCHOOL as part of the Bulls’ residency.

Daniel Gill, publicist

In 2006 I had just started my own PR company, Force Field. I pulled a ‘Jerry Maguire’ so I had a pretty sweet client list from the jump, including Daniel Johnston, who was at the absolute peak of his popularity, with the release of the documentary “The Devil And Daniel Johnston.” I should also mention he did not have a proper booking agent at the time, all business had to go through his family, mainly his brother Dick. We got a last-minute invite for him to play on the Henry Rollins TV Show on the IFC Channel. The label had been hoping to get him on TV and I knew this was probably the only show brave enough to book him. I pitched the idea of having him come to L.A., play the Rollins show during the day and doing a proper club show that night to pay for the trip (I had to explain that IFC did not have the budget to fly him out). Anyways, they eventually went for it after I explained to his family that Rollins was not satanic (they Google-searched him and stills from the “Liar” video came up first). I booked the show with Jennifer Tefft because they were the only club in town that had the date open and could throw together a show like this with hardly any notice. The show sold out immediately and we had The Cairo Gang and Daedelus open because they were my friends and also huge Daniel Johnston fans. Around this time, DJ would usually play with a band of younger musicians from Texas but this was one of those times where he was solo because we couldn’t afford to fly in his band. He struggled a bit with some of the songs but overall it was a magical night. To my knowledge, he only played there one other time.

Alfred Darlington, aka Daedelus, on that same night

Opening for Daniel Johnston was an all-time incredible experience. Must admit that in a pre-show, back-stage interview they had, it seemed like it was going to be a very rough show. But once on stage, they absolutely came alive. Will treasure that (and that place) forever.

Devlin McCluskey of the Dead Ships

I remember seeing Helen Stellar around 2009, smoking in the upstairs bar and thinking all I want in life is to be able to play at Spaceland. Like that was it, that would be making it. When the Dead Ships started playing, it still felt like such a pipe dream till the night we actually went through that little door and touched the blue fringe streamers. People/bands can always set their sights higher, but getting to play there was the dream. And honestly even if we never play another show or ever have another song, who the fuck cares we got to play Satellite/Spaceland. Places like that are important. … Ooh and seeing MMM Manhattan Murder Mystery get banned mid-song for bringing people on stage, that was hilarious.

Matt Henderson of Manhattan Murder Mystery

Steven Scott of Irving and the Afternoons

When we [Irving] opened for Arcade Fire and realized just how normal they were. We had all been getting calls for weeks, “Hey, do you have any room on your guest list?” So I kind of expected this polished crew … but as we finished our sound check, their gear was just kind of plopped in front of the stage, mixed in with random bits of laundry a couple backpacks, a book or two. You would have never guessed that they were about to become one of the biggest rock bands around. I became a fan instantly.

Brittany Wescamillo of the Damselles

Besides my own solo record release show, I have countless memories of shows I’ve played and seen at the Satellite. Some favorites were when the Damselles opened for Fitz & the Tantrums, Damselles backing up various L.A. bands/artists such as the Henry Clay People, Le Switch, Sara Radle, Jessica Fleischer (Lots of Love), dancing at Breakups and Monolators shows, and participating in Classic Country Christmas and several TV Theme Songs Nights. I loved Spaceland/the Satellite so much! I literally cut my teeth in the scene there and will never forget the many times I frequented the venue between 2007-2017.

Tony Serbiak

Jet. They had no album yet. Nobody knew who they were. They were the first band on stage that night opening for … I don’t even remember and it doesn’t matter. It was their first show in the U.S. They came out onto the stage and their first song was the acoustic ballad “Move On.” Nice little song. Golf claps from the crowd. But then they ripped into “Take It Or Leave It” next and my jaw was on the floor for the next 30 minutes. “Are You Gonna Be My Girl,” “Cold Hard Bitch.” Imagine hearing those songs for the first time. It was a real “Who are these guys?” moment.

Jeremy Levy, musician

David Robinson and myself caught wind of a “secret show” at Spaceland. Since Spinal Tap had a reunion gig the following week at HOB Sunset, we’d assumed said secret just might be them. The second we walked in, I saw director Jay Roach at the bar and and joked “Maybe it’s The Bangles instead?” Turned out, I’d joked correctly. They opened with their rollicking cover of “Hazy Shade of Winter,” and it all went uphill from there.

Angela Randall

Albert Hammond Jr. with Parlor Mob opening was a standout. It was like all of NYC’s hipsters grew up and moved to L.A. all at once and descended on that place.

Chris Vos of The Record Company

The Satellite’s Monday night residencies were both rite of passage and a beautiful way to find new artists. We treasured doing ours in 2012, and it was an essential part of the week to go on a Monday and listen all night long. No cover charge. I had a lot of rough Tuesday mornings because of it, but I never regretted it once.

Shane Carpenter

During the Vanaprasta residency when they filled the entire room with fog and entered the stage to the theme song from Jurassic Park.

Ralph Torrefranca, musician

Jackson Browne, with Dawes and Jonathan Wilson as his backing band. Both Voxhaul Broadcast residencies.

Stephen Brower, musician

Sometime in 2003, I went to see either Bobby Bare Jr. at Spaceland or Patterson Hood at Spaceland. I can’t recall which. What I do vividly remember is that a two-piece incarnation of Fruit Bats opened the show. That Christmas, back home in North Carolina, I was given a $10 gift card for the new iTunes music store everyone was talking about. I downloaded the iTunes app, opened the store and when looking at an empty search box the first thing that popped in my head was, “Who was that great band I saw open at Spaceland? Fruit Bats, that’s it.” I bought the Mouthfuls record as my first digital purchase and, of course, loved it. A few months later I convinced my boss at Vanguard Records to let me make a John Fahey tribute record. And while nothing on Mouthfuls screams Fahey (even remotely, really), I had a sense that the band might be fans. I sent a blind email to the address on the band’s website and got a near-immediate and very enthusiastic “Yes!” Fruit Bats recorded “The Death of the Clayton Peacock,” which would end up being track one on the 2005 record “I Am The Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey,” a record that also featured at-the-time-emerging artists Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart and my co-producer M. Ward. I stayed in touch with Eric D. Johnson over the years and we eventually became great friends and ultimately would work together to start the Easy Sound Recording Co. label, which released his solo EDJ record and Fruit Bats’ “Absolute Loser” and “The Glory of Fruit Bats.” I’m glad I showed up for the opener, as I almost always am!

Steve Gregoropoulos, musician

Walking out on stage for WACO’s purple rain show and saying “dearly beloved” into the mic and having the place erupt.

Elvira Gonzalez, original drummer in Silversun Pickups

I played my first show at Spaceland with SSPU after running into Mitchell Frank at CMJ. He booked us when I told him I was in band. He didn’t know about us prior to that encounter, even though I was a waitress at Spaceland.

Michael Poirier

Wire and Melt Banana when All Tomorrow’s Parties was canceled. Also saw Cibo Matto with Adam Yauch on bass … Pavement … And one night Elliott Smith played a show there, and it was unannounced, just with his name on the marquee.

Michael Feerick of Amusement Parks on Fire

I remember being carried onto the stage by “Bear” [a local superfan who has since passed away] when I was too young to be in there. Heartbreaking stuff. … We loved it so much that we all inexplicably simultaneously decided to run there from various different places in LA …

Dustin Robles, musician

I’ve literally rocked this stage so many times with bands like Helen Stellar (we had a couple residencies there) and then Wages and Cinderella Motel. I saw Billy Zane kick a douchebag’s ass. I saw PJ Harvey hang out. Saw Elliott Smith play there. The first Earthless L.A. show. The time me and Matthew Guenther jumped the stage when someone hit the singer of Zen Guerrilla. I knocked his ass off the stage. The multitude of memories for me is like no other place here in L.A.

David Bash, promoter, founder of International Pop Overthrow Festival

There were many International Pop Overthrow shows I put on there, but the one which particularly stands out is the night I met the woman who would become my wife, Rina Bardfield. It was just before that evening’s IPO show, and every time after I would introduce a band I would walk directly to her and speak with her. By the end of the the night I got gotten her number; we went out the following Wednesday, and we’ve been together ever since. Among the acts who played that night were The Now People, Mike Randle, Gingersol and Liquor Giants!

Sterling Andrews, photographer and musician

So many memories: From lurking there as a little baby photographer who felt so awkward and out of place to playing there with my own band 10 years later. Spoon with the White Stripes. Supergrass. RFTC. Decemberists. Sea Wolf. Cold War Kids. Record Company. SSPU. Gah … so many good shows, great nights and amazing memories.

Jerry Borgé, aka Jason Borger, musician

When I moved to L.A. in 2003, I saw a ton of great shows at Spaceland. One that stands out was The Decemberists touring off their album “Her Majesty the Decemberists.” That was the first absolutely packed show I recall at Spaceland. Of course, there are countless nights where the memory gets a little hazy. Smoking cigs upstairs when the fire marshal showed up. Not long after Jennifer Tefft took over booking the Satellite she was kind to put me on a bill opening for Apex Manor. The tribute shows in the middle of the last decade were also pretty special. But the most amazing music I ever witnessed in that room was Mavis Staples and Booker T. Jones, two shows that were within months of each other.

Adam D’Zurilla, musician

My last show with a Bone Acre was at Satellite. It was a fun night. Big crowd and I got tattooed on my finger in the upstairs bar with Bunnie, my best friend and his wife. I’ve obviously had many great nights there, but my last night stays with me the most.

Alexandra Duparc, musician

Attending a show: The Duke Spirit played and it felt like watching a stadium band in a bedroom. Incredible. Playing a show: I was 15 years old in The Tints playing to an audience consisting of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and my parents, and then hiding/getting drunk in the bathroom afterwards.

Wyatt Miller

So many good shows: The Lassie Foundation, attending all four weeks of The Fling / Belle Brigade residency, French Style Furs, Mavis Staples, 3 Mile Pilot, Fakers. Drinking and smoking in the back bar … Why were we allowed to smoke indoors?

Fernando Perdomo, musician

I was in disbelief watching The Zombies playing the same Satellite stage I had just played with Pete Molinari. The Zombies were amazing and the energy in the room was perfect. One of the greatest shows I have ever seen.

Andrew Labarrere

There are too many to count, but maybe the first time I saw A Place To Bury Strangers was at Spaceland and it’s still the loudest show I’ve ever seen (louder than MBV, Mogwai, Dinosaur Jr., The Who, Slayer or JAMC). Total darkness with just a strobe. Epic.

Sam Fowles of the Parson Red Heads

You know how special that scene was when I had the privilege of being in it via the Parsons. Release shows there were just always packed, energetic — there was so much promise and potential, so much enthusiasm and creativity in the air. After being gone from L.A. for several years I took my wife to Silver Lake to catch a random Monday night show at Satellite. I was surprised when I got there … I felt so old! The kids in the venue looked like teenagers. I suddenly realized that I couldn’t go home again like I had unconsciously thought I could. It was realistic, but it was a bummer. But that experience was completely redeemed in 2017 when the Parsons got invited to share an “old time’s sake” bill with The World Record, Le Switch and the Henry Clay People! It was a total time machine back to a treasured epoch of my life. Even now as I feed my 2-year-old lunch, he has no idea how many times in the future he’s going to get Uncle Rico’d when I start talking about all the great shows I got to play at Spaceland/Satellite. Honorable mention memories goes to the time I got to join Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 onstage for “I Wanna Destroy You” and the countless dance parties we started after the 12 o’clock band finished.

Luke Top, musician

Fool’s Gold with Blood Orange in 2013. The Foreign Born residency. Opening for Daniel Johnston in like ’06.

Chelsea Naftelberg

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but in my early twenties that place felt like home. Any Monday night I knew I could show up and find a friend. A secret Local Natives show, a thousand Henry Clay People shows, endless dance parties, someone puking on my shoes one time, complimenting girls in the bathroom, all of it.

Sean Tillman, aka Har Mar Superstar

The Har Mar/Marijuana Deathsquads weekly residency in Feb 2011 was a ton of fun.

Daniel Knowles, formerly of Amusement Parks on Fire and now a sound engineer and one-half of The Know

Watching the Lemonheads do the strangest damn set. Evan spent half of it claiming the PA was off and forgetting all the words before he kicked the band off and did a flawless little solo set. Very strange.

Sid Mitra, Satellite staff, promoter

Nick Jonas in 2014 — someone changed the marquee from “WED NICK JONAS” to “WEN DICK JONAS” and he thought it was hilarious and posted it. Vulfpeck in 2015: We were not ready for a sellout, but the crowd bounced off the walls it was great. John Early’s monthly shows/specials brought so much joy and energy. The Pink Floyd and David Bowie tributes were unreal, there was so much talent on stage. The Muffs with Summer Twins in early ’15. LP as the surprise opener for the Diamond Light Residency. Power Violence when Mark Hoppus jumped on stage. MuteMath in 2015, showing up an hour-plus late after hustling over from Kimmel’s stage, and the crowd couldn’t have cared less by the end. And when Harrison Ford came to see his son play in ihe Dough Rollers in 2015 and everyone in the room was trying and failing to be cool about it.

Jim Mills of Extra

One memorable show was when Arthur Lee and Baby Lemonade were slated to do the first three Love albums in their entirety on three successive nights. I attended the “Da Capo” (album No. 2) night, and I think he had tired of the idea or something by then. He sounded fantastic at first, but they didn’t stick to the album’s tracks after the first two or three, and on a couple of numbers (20-minute “Singing Cowboy”), he started harassing Mike Randle. “Now on lead guitar, Mike Randle!” To his credit, Randle explained to the audience that Arthur was just trying to get a rise out of him.

Jesse Nolan of Caught a Ghost

Caught a Ghost’s residency there was a really special time in my life. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I would go to almost every Monday residency. It really felt like the heartbeat of Eastside culture. I particularly remember Castledoor, Entrance Band, the Zombies, Big Black Delta, and when we opened for Gotye there.

Jolynn Braswell of Badass Bands

There are too many to even recall! I was at The Satellite four or five nights a week when I first moved here in 2012, and it’s where I met a lot of my current friends. The standouts off the top of my head include Cold War Kids/French Style Furs, Henry Clay People, The Janks residency, PLaNETS residency, the Badass Bands Prom … I mean, back then the Monday residency nights were the shows to be at.

Alexandra Greenberg, publicist

Where do I begin? Jolie Lash took me to see a little band called Bloc Party there, there were endless nights smoking in the back room, and I can’t even remember all my clients who have played there. All so magical.

Jason Hammons, musician

When my old band (Midnight Movies) did our Monday night residency, Silversun Pickups did the opening set and it was amazing. We were still so new, and Silversun were also still unknown outside of Silver Lake, but there were so many people and it was the biggest crowd we had played to at that time and it was so special because I loved Spaceland so much.

Morley Bartnoff, musician

The realization that I’d been playing music in this town and on that stage forever was one night when Stew [of The Negro Problem] did a set of covers and brought everybody on stage for a Three Dog Night cover of “Out in the Country,” and I look to my right to see my very first girlfriend’s son playing trumpet on the tune!

Eric Broome

Seeing Brainiac and Neutral Milk Hotel on the same bill in 1996. Seeing NMH there again, about two years later. The rarity of seeing Silver Apples (1997). Seeing Beulah, the Ladybug Transistor and Of Montreal for the first time, all on the same night (1999). Seeing Can’s Damo Suzuki and Michael Karoli perform together on my birthday, and Suzuki walking around the club during an instrumental segment and hugging every one of us in the audience, person by person (1998).

Jody Orsborn

Shakey Graves covering George Harrison in 2009.

Sara Melson, musician

Two great stories. First: I opened up for Julianna Hatfield, and there was a guy in the audience with his wife who came up to me afterwards and bought all of my CDs. He dropped a few hundred dollar bills on the merch table and just took everything. He also got my email. He later contacted me and brought me to Japan, where I toured (first class) playing private parties for his company all over the country. He even let me bring a friend — the magnificent photographer Piper Ferguson, who documented the whole thing. Second: I was loading out and trying to shlep my guitar, keyboard, amp, guitar stand, keyboard stand, pedal board and all my CDs and stuff out to my car, when Jack Black appeared out of nowhere and carried my keyboard out to my car. He turned to me and said, “You totally ROCK,” which, coming from one half of the D, meant a lot …

Andy Fischer

Pavement on my 30th birthday for the “Brighten The Corners” tour. Fleet Foxes at the end of their first tour, when Robin’s voice was so roached but the crowd wouldn’t let them leave the stage and brought them out for two encores. The Melvins (twice) when they played full albums. Helen Stellar’s residency in 2010. Juliana Hatfield and Grant Lee Buffalo. The amazing Yum Yum in full regalia. Priestess/Early Man/The Sword. Beck. Radar Bros. The list is endless. I wish I had all of my ticket stubs for all of the amazing shows I saw there. Someone ought to put together a website that collects and documents all of the shows that building has hosted over the years …

John Andrew Frederick of the black watch

Countless hours hanging and having a cold one with Jorge Ledezma, the greatest bartender the Eastside has ever known, even on days when the black watch did not have a show. Great gigs played with Jason Falkner, Radar Bros. and many many many others. Favorite gig: Watching my girlfriend at the time (a serious pacifist) watch The Brian Jonestown Massacre and her saying: “I have never hit anyone in my LIFE, but I’m going to start with that guy with the mutton chops and the beanie on tambourine.”

Nikolas Soren Goodich of Molecules

On one of many nights my band played there, it really was not going well, right away. My pedal board was cutting out and just messing it all up. And who the hell jumps up to the edge of the stage — and seemingly out of character from what many folks thought of him — was Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre. And he sits on the edge of the stage for the whole set and holds my pedal cord set-up together with his hands. It was one of the kindest things anyone ever did for me during a live show in my entire 25-year “career” as a rocker.

Jessica Gerhardt, musician

I’d played a couple times at the Satellite through Softer Sex Productions and been to a number of concerts and dance parties. One of my favorite memories was a show with my full band in August 2018. There was just a lot of good energy that night and I felt supported by my friends and the music community. Also, Tom Pretty that year was really delightful — an all female-fronted Tom Petty tribute night that I was stoked to be a part of.

Tony Gonzalez

Too many: Moving Units, The Deadly Syndrome, Deftones, The Datsuns, Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, At the Drive-In …

Dylan Sklare, manager

My favorite Satellite memory was the night the Cubs won the World Series. I had just started working for Hardin Bourke, and their two artists Fictionist and Step Rockets had a co-headline show at Satellite to wrap up their tour. I was in full Cubs gear on cloud million, expectedly so, and overcome with emotion from generations before me not being able to witness a championship. That plus the music, the show, the atmosphere was one of the best nights of my life. Second would be the Palms residency — I was completely blown away by the final band on the bill, Thumpasaurus. Going to really miss that place.

Jay Senese

The last show I saw at The Satellite was memorable. It was Rusty Anderson, Paul McCartney’s longtime guitarist, who is my age and grew up in La Habra, near me. I was afraid the show would sell out, but it was the most poorly attended show I had seen there in years. He played a fun set and didn’t seem to mind.

Stephen Edelstein, drummer

Best musical memory was the Big Black Delta residency in 2010 or 2011. Local Natives in 2009 and the Zombies are close to the top. Performance-wise, Caught A Ghost opened for Gotye’s first North American show. We also opened for White Denim the next month there — both great shows. But maybe the most fun was doing a Velvet Underground cover set drumming with He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister.

Kevin Bronson of Buzz Bands LA

Back in the days when Buzz Bands was my weekly column in the L.A. Times, Spaceland was kind enough to give me the club one night to celebrate my birthday. Local legends the Movies (still one of the most electrifying, if unpredictable, bands to have graced that stage) headlined, and shoegaze duo In Waves opened. And I asked O.C. popgazers and personal faves the Lassie Foundation to play, and they graciously did. It was a free, RSVP-only night and the list filled up quickly. But the night prior, Billy Corgan’s manager called to ask if he could be on the list. Well, of course he could. It turns out that someone had recommended he check out Jeff Schroeder, the Lassie Foundation’s guitarist, because Corgan was rebooting the Smashing Pumpkins with a new lineup. Afterward, he invited Schroeder to try out for the Pumpkins and the rest is history. As for that night, someone drove me home safely.