The end of an era

Dave Brooks

For Chris Kattel, it was the end of his rock generation.

The Huntington Beach gardener was one of about 30 revelers who

attended a pier-side memorial Sunday for Rick Babiracki, former owner

of the legendary Golden Bear nightclub that ushered Huntington Beach

in, and ultimately out, of its rock ‘n’ roll past.

“In a lot of ways you really feel like Rick’s death is the end of

an era for guys like me who used to go the nightclub,” he said. “It’s

kind of a wake-up call that times have changed. That I have changed.

That the city has changed.”

Such was the shared sentiment among the dozens of people who

attended the brief ceremony that included speeches from Huntington

Beach’s mayor Jill Hardy and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

“The end of the Golden Bear meant the end of rock ‘n’ roll for

Huntington Beach,” said Babiracki’s former booking agent Bella

Lagmay-Funk, who hosted the ceremony that included a memorial song

and small surfer paddle-out. Babiracki died Feb. 5 of respiratory

failure. He was 56.

Many of those in attendance said they were unaware of a plan to

rebuild a replica of the Golden Bear at the Pacific City site,

sandwiched between the pavilion that the nightclub once called home

and the city’s two resort hotels.

Pacific City developers are hoping to build a re-creation of the

nightclub to serve as the entertainment center-piece of the mixed

residential and commercial development

The new 15,000-square-foot venue would be fashioned similar to the

House of Blues concept, with dining on the top floor and the stage on

the lower level. The club would include exhibits of the old nightclub

and would be decorated in a similar way, said Michael Gagnet of Makar

properties, the developer working on the site.

“I think that’s going to attract a much younger generation,” said

Kattel of the proposed new nightclub. “I don’t think you’ll see a lot

of the old Golden Bear crowd there, just because of the fact that

music tastes are different. It would be a disconnect for many of us,

not necessarily a revival.”

Kattel said the Golden Bear’s damp, intimate interior gave it a

character that would be hard to manufacture. He remembers throwing

baloney sandwiches at bands he didn’t approve of, or catching a

chance performance of John Lee Hooker.

First opened in 1929, the Golden Bear operated for years as a

Greek restaurant and then a popular folk and rock venue in the 1960s

hosting acts like Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie.

With the help of his brother Charles, Rick and his now ex-wife

Carole Babiracki bought the club from its second owner George Nikis,

who first introduced ‘60’s rock bands like the Doors and Jimi Hendrix

and dozens others on their way up to success.

Minnesota natives, the Babirackis came out west after college

seeking beaches and bikinis. The pair aimed to open a restaurant when

they found the Golden Bear. The Babiracki brothers had never operated

a nightclub and had to learn the ropes of the entertainment business.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Golden Bear was a crossroads for

veteran and revival acts heading into the golden age of their

careers, or young new-age bands like Men at Work and the Ramones that

would be coming into their own spotlight.

The club ran successfully until 1984 when the Babiracki brothers

ran into a host of financial problems. Competition from a similar

club that opened three years earlier in Long Beach pushed the pair

into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Golden Bear’s emphasis on older acts

made it difficult to compete with newer venues coming on the scene

like the punk-enclave Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa and the eclectic

Safari Sam just a mile away.

The Golden Bear was eventually torn down in 1986 after city

officials ruled the building did not meet seismic requirements. The

Golden Bear would eventually be replaced by the Pierside Plaza, a

development that would help kick off an ambitious redevelopment

campaign that would change Huntington Beach from a blue-collar surf

town to a high-end overnight destination.

“I think a lot of us kept thinking it would come back, but after a

while you begin to lose hope,” said former Golden Bear manager Bob

Gustino.

The Golden Bear did come back for a short resurgence in 1990 on

its former site, but was shut down less than a year later after

complaints from a nearby movie theater’s management about decibel

levels. Babiracki would eventually move into real estate and manage a

club in San Diego, and the Golden Bear would become one more chapter

in the city’s history.

“I think the second birth of the Golden Bear failed because they

were trying to recreate the impossible,” Gustino said. “How can you

replace one of the most famous landmarks in Huntington Beach’s

history?”