Time for a History Lesson
Len is both the best thing that has happened to under 21+ music in SD, and the worst.
The first two SOMA's were co-owned by Len and a guy named Jeremy. Len was the buisness man, Jeremy was, well... Jeremy was fuckin' punk as hell. I knew them both, and they were good guys. Jeremy was cool as hell, and it just felt right with him running things. Len was nice, but you could tell he was a bit slimey. Jeremy booked the bands, and fostered a huge local scene, first with the metal kids in the early 90's at the old old SOMA downtown, then with the punks at the old soma in linda vista. LIke I said, I used to practically live at the Soma in linda vista in the mid/late 90's. My allowance was 20 bucks a month, and I could usually go to 3-5 shows a month on that. *everyone* played SOMA. It was the punk Mecca of San Diego. If you were punk, you were at SOMA on the weekends. Of course, there were other venues too - the World Beat Center (later called the Showcase Theater - and if you werent at SOMA for a punk show, you were at World Beat for a ska show), the Soul Kitchen, and a couple others like the Che Cafe.
Well, somewhere along the way, punk broke again. Blink, who were practically residents at SOMA, got HUGE. Buck-O-Nine blew up, Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey, Fluf, Lucys Fur Coat, and a few others were getting big label attention. And then Len got Greedy.
Now, Im not exactly sure how it went down, but from what ive been able to gather talking to people over the years, Jeremy got fed up with Len, and sold his interest in SOMA to him. Len then used shady tactics to close down the Showcase (which had the ska market cornered). The Soul Kitchen had already closed for other reasons, and I believe there was one other venue which escapes me right now that Len was somehow involved in getting shut down, possibly The Che, which has closed at least 756295 times. Without any all ages competition, he was free to raise the prices on his shows (even more than he already had) and he also started making local bands sign contracts saying they couldnt play other clubs for a month after their SOMA gigs. This is a contract he still uses, so I hear. Then, at the peak of the 90's punk revival, around 99 or so, he sold SOMA to Goldenvoice. Blink heard about this and even tried to buy SOMA from Len, who all but told them to go fuck themselves (this last part I heard from another local punk at the time who was close with Blink. I never personally brought it up with Blink cause I figured it was never my business. But from what I hear, Mark and Tom were so pissed, cause they were one of the main reasons for the clubs popularity, that they vowed never to work with Len again. And they havent. It's also worth mentioning that Blinks original drummer, Scott Rayner, is/was a business partner with len, and helps/helped book the bands. I ran into Scott shortly after he was kicked out of Blink. He was a very bitter kid.). Anyway, goldenvoice mismanaged things and SOMA quickly closed. Len went sailing around the world for a few years, then came back and bought the current SOMA, which used to be a movie theater.
When the new SOMA opened, a few other clubs had were in the all ages business - The Epicentre, The Che and The Scene. Now, Ive never been to the Epicentre, but its a Youth Center as well as a club, which I imagine is the only thing keeping it around. I dont think even Len would try and shut down a youth center. The Che will just always be around. You can't kill the Che. The Scene, on the other hand, was a thriving all ages club. It was a great little place in Clairemont, and it had become the new SOMA. Shortly after SOMA opened, the people who owned the building that The Scene was in refused to renew their lease, due to "Noise Complaints." I've heard rumors that Len was involved.
So there you have it. Len's back in buisness, and has pretty much a lock on all ages punk rock in san diego again. He still uses the same methods to keep the kids bands in his club and no where else cause they have no choice. The Casbah continues to be the Club where the older crowd goes/plays, because they can (and because the older crowds tend to not be so locked into the punk sound, which the casbah does not foster). Len's a great man, cause no one else has brought a big, all ages club to san diego. He provides the kids with a place to go, and place for punk bands to play. But he's also a very very bad man, cause he's shady as hell. Thats why many established san diego bands wont play at his club. I don't think thats ever bothered him too much, cause punk rock is what brings the kids and their money, not established san diego art rock/indie bands (though I'm betting he's wishing he could book pinback right about now).
*edit* holy calamity this was long. I didnt mean for it to be this long >.<
