In April of 1989, there were no trees on South First Street by the abandoned Fox California Theater in downtown San Jose. The sidewalk was pretty bare.
At the time, Mac’s Cocktails, the only gay bar south of San Carlos Street, split a building with Sal & Luigi Pizza, one of the most celebrated old-school restaurants in downtown San Jose history.
Around the corner and down San Carlos, the brand-new $143 million San Jose Convention Center was opening up for the first time with an event called “Raise the Roof.” According to the Mercury-News, a $125-a-plate gala dinner drew 1,500 people. Alan Thicke was the special guest. To close out the opening gala, the Dynatones, a six-piece rock ’n’ soul band, played until midnight.
On South First Street, however, 1989 was a far more interesting pivotal year in local history, as the SoFA District moniker sprung to life. Four local indie music venues—Marsugi’s, Cactus Club, F/X and the Ajax Lounge—anchored a vibrant bohemian substratum all by themselves. The list of bands who showed up at those four clubs would take all day, but here’s a few: Nirvana, Social Distortion, Green Day, Killing Joke, No Doubt, Gil Scott-Heron, Ben Harper, Korn, the Melvins, Johnny Thunders, the Beat Farmers, Graham Parker, Jesus Lizard, Rage Against the Machine and Queens of the Stone Age. Retailers like Daleep’s, Underground Records, Café Babylon and Café Matisse added to the mix. For a brief time, there was even a regular Mexican death metal crowd. Seriously.
To the annoyance of all the politicians, the original SoFA scene quickly became the primary reason most people came and stayed in downtown San Jose in the early to mid ’90s. It made sense. After several years of driving to San Francisco and the East Bay to see bands, we finally had our own rock scene across multiple clubs, right here in town, even if it was just one corner. All you had to do was head down there—often on foot or a bicycle—any given night, and just drink somewhere until you chose which bands to go see. Even straight people drank at Mac’s and even 21-year-olds drank at Original Joe’s. All boundaries dissolved. It was amazing.
The SoFA Street Fair started in 1992, with bands playing on multiple stages outdoors all day long. It carried on vibrantly for ten years.
Unfortunately, nothing organically vibrant ever lasts in San Jose. The final installment happened in 2001. By then, the city had changed and so had the club owners. The festival was becoming too complicated. Dumb new policies transformed it into a fenced-off, ticketed event. The San Jose City Council, scared to death of anyone with purple hair, acted more like the Harper Valley PTA than a real-city political body. They wanted a scene more like downtown Pleasanton instead, rather than anything we could actually brag about.
Nevertheless, the seeds were planted.
Jump to 2014. When some of the original folks rebooted the festival with the original name, they were initially met with skepticism, but the organizers were proven right. The SoFA Street Fair was indeed a brand, a name, an idea, a vibrant historical ecosystem that still resonated with thousands of people. Everybody, and their kids, still wanted to see rock bands in the street—you know, like any real city anywhere else in the world.
Now, in 2024, the SoFA Street Fair celebrates its second 10th anniversary in 30 years. Nothing else in San Jose history compares.
By far, the best aspect of the event is the multigenerational family the SoFA fair spawned. Last year, I saw more people in Slayer shirts walking around with their children than at any other local event. People whose bands I saw 30 years ago at the original SoFA Street Fair now had kids playing in bands at the current festival. It doesn’t get any better than that. Even the cops were enjoying themselves.
This year, in memory of Chris Esparza, whose Ajax Lounge was part of what started the original era, a new stage will feature three bands who loved that bar—the Pimpsticks, Inq and JC Smith.
We’ve come a long way since those bare sidewalks of 1989.
SoFA Street Fair takes place 2–8pm on Sun, Sept 29. For details, visit sofastreetfair.com or Facebook.com.
