Ramirez, a regular at Fireside shows, said things weren’t always peaceful at the venue. Occasionally, skinheads would show up at the Fireside, and they’d have to choose between getting out and getting beaten up. “Someone would come up to me and say, ‘There’s a guy wearing Nazi pins. He’s gonna get jumped,’ ” remembered Ramirez. ![]() “So I would go to him, like, ‘Hey, listen, this is not a good place for you to be. A lot of people are angry that you’re here. But I didn’t want somebody to get destroyed at the club because they’re an idiot.” I’m gonna give you your money back, but you need to leave.’ Obviously, I wasn’t happy that they’re there. People kept each other safe at the Fireside in other ways. They “self-policed”: people in the scene kept an eye out for potentially dangerous behavior. “We’d go up to someone and say, ‘Hey, you’re way too drunk for this,’ or ‘you’re way too violent for this,’ ” Fireside regular Christopher Gutierrez explained.Ĭourtesy of Christopher GutierrezBut the Fireside’s troubles went beyond complaints from neighbors and visits from police. ![]() ![]() Starting in the early 90s, the city pushed to seize several buildings on the 2600 block of Fullerton Ave., including the Fireside, using eminent domain. The city wanted to expand Haas Park, located just west of the venue, to create more greenspace. While small improvements to the building were made over time, the constant threat of being shut down by the city disincentivized Lapinski from giving it a proper facelift.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |