The unfortunate scythe of the nightclub reaper is again ending the life of another downtown San Jose nightclub; SoFA Lounge is shutting its doors on Saturday, Dec. 30, which ironically also marks what will be its two-year anniversary. The reasons for its demise are long and convoluted, full circuitous logic that would make Joseph Heller rip his hair out.

Owner Tim Littlefield chalks the tolling of the death bells for SoFA Lounge to the "impregnable juggernaut of doing business in San Jose."

Basically, the city has turned a blind eye to the bar at 372 S. First St. for nearly 30 years, even though numerous other clubs operated in that same, soon-to-be-vacant spot. Yet nothing can escape scrutiny for long—not even when our downtown core has a multitude of other, much more pressing problems facing it. Now, downtown must say goodbye to a revenue-generating nightclub that brought bodies to downtown, a nightclub that was what this city should aspire to have, a nightclub that was doing everything in its power to comply with the city's draconian nightclub regulations

In order for SoFA Lounge to remain in business, Littlefield says they would have to "shell out somewhere in the neighborhood of a half-million dollars to become code compliant, and that isn't taking into account the potential problems they are likely to run into when renovations are done on a building as old as the one where SoFA is," explains Littlefield. Renovations required include installing a fire sprinkler system and an elevator to comply with ADA regulations. Only then, Littlefield says, could they get any financial help from the city. But SoFA Lounge would still have to dig deep in its pockets to get all of the necessary permits—fire, alarm, liquor, entertainment—that are required of nightclubs to operate in downtown San Jose.

So, from now until the last hurrah on Dec. 30, drop by the space where the legendary Ajax once stood; that the Be-Hive made locally famous. Catch soulful spinning by Bay area DJs manning the decks, raise your collective glasses and mourn the passing of another San Jose original that couldn't cut through the red tape.

Over the past two years, SoFA Lounge had carved out a particular niche in the downtown nightclub community. SoFA Lounge was comfortable and hip, a place where anyone could walk in off the street and feel right at home. It was one of the only places that held open-mic nights for first time rockers who, before SoFA, were only comfortable singing in their garage. Through SoFA, the venerable Velvet Shop house music throwdown was granted new and deserved life. SoFA initiated a weekly "locals" party where anyone who lived or worked or who drank downtown more than once could drop by and rap with at least one person they hadn't seen in a while.

We have far too few of those kinds of nightclubs in downtown. From this writer to you, SoFA: you will be sorely missed.

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