I just did a job walk in there today. They are going to keep it the same and just do a few upgrades inside and totally redo the outside in the hopes that someone will use it for the same thing.
Seriously can't even remember how many times I went to shows here. One time I found a wallet on the ground and it belonged to the bass player of Strung Out. I gave it back to him and the band took me to the green room for pizza and beer (I was like 12). Face to face was up there too (my 2 fav bands at the time). I had died and gone to socal skate punk middle school heaven.
I am eternally grateful to have spent the late 90s and early 2000s between Chain Reaction and The Showcase. Those were my two homes. That's where all my real friends were. Friends that I have to this day. The Showcase in particular is stamped in my heart, that parking lot out front saw some of our best and worst moments.
I drive by the place a lot, looks like they're about to remodel it, new starbucks just opened next to the 99c store. Coming here every weekend with my friends will always be cherished as some of the best times of my life. It was my home away from home. Total absolute freedom. Best concert experience you could ask for. Best sound in the world. To all of those who got to experience the magic that happened there, much love and rock on!
All we had for this part of So-Cal.. and it's even the IE haha was Pulic Storage "Chain Reaction" Showcase Theatre, UC Riverside Barn was a bit later as was Pomona GlassHouse.. the other side of the world.. Ever revolving Venues In a LA maybe last a week or two hahaha but the Mighty Showcase Stayed..
SpaceManDawn I’m 38. Started going in 1993 in 8th grade. My parents used to drop me off to see blink, vandals, no doubt, voodoo, backside, etc etc etc. epic time. Used to go to every battle of the bands. The showcase was my second home
Did this project get abandoned or something? Showcase was my second home growing up. Every once in a while, I drive past it and wistfully remember what once was. Would've been awesome to see a full length doc on the place.
HELL YES!!!! Showcase was HOME!!! Vibrators, Skeptix, TV Smith, Adicts, LCB, Endless Struggle!!! ... Wasnt Subhumans Live in A Dive recorded there? BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!! ... Awesome to see Dr. Strange in this too ... Holy shit, MAKE LA PUNK GREAT AGAIN!
Loved and played many shows at Showcase theatre! Passed out in the pit once on PCP, to some band's name I can't remember.. lol! Lots of fond memories! Shame it's not around anymore
Showcase was epic, hope they mention Spanky’s in Riverside the Barn, live oak inn and billards in Elsinore, those were all my first live punk show experiences in the early 90’s.
I haven't seen it yet, but I know for a fact one of the band members discussed Spanky's Cafe. ...whether or not it made the final cut, I have no idea. Jan. 26 - 30, 2020 www.theconcertlounge.com/
Was going to that place from the beginning as a young teen. Saw so many good bands, kind of place that made you nervous in line, get inside & everyone in there screaming shut the fuck up and play. Sneaking beers underage. Every time it was the scariest shit yet most exhilarating fucking madhouse. Am I gonna come out of this alive. Then the music played and you could careless anymore and just got fucking nuts. Honestly mindröt days, suffocation, etc me and my bro still talk about how much fun those days were. Place was the fucking best!!! So much so we go to shows and will scream shut the fuck up and play and no one gets it. Place was hard the fuck core. But we laugh now think of those times. What’s cool is you can find a lot of those shows recorded and yep there you are a moment in time.
This place was the socal cbgb..... favorite of probably 50 shows there were..... vandals where screech RIP stage dove, any guttermouth show, voodoo glow skulls shows right after who is this is came out, blink when they were just blink and a chicago band named Bollweevils that i saw spring break my first year at college it felt so good to come home to that place. Backside shows were sick too.
I miss the showcase dearly. I worked at a restaurant across the street when it was closed. I’d be on break smoking a cigarette just looking and missing it and I still do.
Fucking grew up at this venue and made it to as many shows as possible. My favoite memory there was helping security move this fucked up crusty that drank to much or was on pills. When I went to help pick him up he fucking bit my arm & I smacked the fucking shit out of him then just grabbed him under the shoulders and helped the security dude get his ass the fuck out of there. No hate or anything but I was a poor punk for the high desert and I didn't want people like that fucking up the shows for us because it was a battle to just get a ride and have the money to get in. RIP to one of the greatest venues Cali ever had! Seeing the addicts there was truly something magical!
Since the beginning.. Ezzat would take my ID hahaha as I got older, it was for good reason.. loved this place, Came back to see Bands like HopesFall and Unearth.. they had both heard of this tiny sweaty Venue.. from the East coast.. I could believe it.. back in the day, HepCat, C-Spot, Yeska, Oceans 11, MobTown Shows.. even got to smoke pot with Roland Alphonso from the Skatalites.. Epic..
@5:18 It's like I'm right back in there again. Dying of thirst buying some waters lol place crowded, everyone trying to check out the merch booths upstairs lol.
Dude that got his teeth kicked out was My homie Jeff from back in the day. That’s the night I met him. It was Bleak December (winds of plague) suicide silence , and Broken Front. That was my first show there. Changed my life forever.
Now its all run down kids today dont know how it was back.then good memories i wish it was still.open i wish some body do would do a concert with all the old bands from back then 🤘🤘🤘🤘💯💯🎸🎸🎸
This place put Avenged Sevenfold on the map especially since they were one of the few venues that would even let them play. I also hear the local hardcore scene really hated Avenged though not sure of all the details.
I saw Napalm Death and Obituary there in the mid-90s. Machine Head opened. Also saw Forbidden and Malevolent Creation there. Saw a Christian band called Stavesacre there in '98.
Justin when are you gonna do a segment on this. Every kid from the inland empire to the coast in the late 90s and early 2000s spent their weekly lunch money on these shows. Circle pits and good old merchandise tables. Goodtimes. Sad that we might not see a good venue like this again.
Hmmmm! I found out about this a while ago no mention of 69 cents how many nights a months did we pack that place ezzat?! Backside, white kaps Some good times, the vandals! I remember playing a lot of good shows there for years! Bobby Sears
The fuckin memories man RIP to my boy Carlos first pit I got in was 17 years old for Angry Samoans with my boy snorted out and piss drunk off cobras some liquor store would sell us 😂 good times lol I remember we went to a show n smashed some chicks at the church stairs down the street 😂😂
Are you seriously going to make a documentary about the showcase and not mention all the Death/black metal that came through this place??? Saw some of the best in the biz at the showcase. You put a tiny clip of Abbath and didn't mention Immortal or the word metal. Used a clip of Decapitated's music for the trailer but didn't mentioned they played there. This wasn't just a home for Punk... no way! Better make two documentaries or make this one longer because there's another side to this place and it was Metal! Fellow metalhead Alan Doyle was murdered at the "Mall"...after an Obituary show there in 97! Keep digging... Link about the murder: www.ocweekly.com/news/no-justice-no-peace-of-mind-6378419
Crystal Sanchez they left out a lot of local punk and metal bands that packed that place for years! While I respect ezzat for keeping that place open for us to play. He was a total fucking douche who didn’t understand the music or the culture, and they talk like he had this vision of what the kids wanted to see! No!!!! It was young booking agents who worked for him! You know how many time we were promised cash from that place and only received a few sodas lol. The I.E. needs that place again just a different owner!!!
