Golden Bear out of hibernation?

Another nostalgic fan of the Golden Bear is spearheading a new effort to bring back the fabled music venue.

Retired teacher Doug Turner, who visited the club as a young man, is petitioning City Council to bring back the Golden Bear. He comes prepared with 500 signatures he collected himself.

“I know it can be done. It’s done every day. If people want to do it, they’ll do it,” Turner said, who plans to speak before the City Council on April 17.

What Turner’s petition lacks is specifics ? as in a business plan or financing. Councilwoman Debbie Cook has asked him to talk to developers before bringing his petition back to the council.

The Golden Bear club hosted hundreds of performances by such acts as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, the Doors, Van Halen, B.B. King and Jan & Dean. The club, which opened in 1929, was torn down in 1986 to make way for the redevelopment of downtown.

“Various owners and developers have been trying to find a place for it,” Stanley Smalewitz, economic development director for the city, said of the Golden Bear. He explained that the city can only facilitate the process of bringing back a Golden Bear.

But Turner says that given several false starts on the project ? including the most recent, in which Pacific City shelved plans to revive the Golden Bear ? the city should now take a more active role. Doug Traub, president and chief executive of the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, agrees.

“Some kind of a music venue is needed [in Huntington Beach], there’s no question about that,” he said.

Robert Carvounas, who’s working on a book about the Golden Bear, believes the club’s value goes beyond music.

“The original Golden Bear is inextricably linked to the history and development of Huntington Beach itself,” he wrote in an e-mail.

A new Golden Bear should pay homage to the original with a room devoted to memorabilia and artifacts tracing its history.

Traub hopes that modern construction techniques might allow a facility to be successful without bothering the neighbors.

Huntington Beach needs live music, he explained, to attract visitors. “Otherwise we would ultimately remain constrained in the off-seasons as a leisure travel destination,” Traub said.

Over the years, there have been several attempts to restart the Golden Bear. The club reopened in 1990 at the original location, now the Pierside Plaza, but it closed quickly due to noise complaints.

Carvounas blames short-sighted planning for its demise. “Nobody thought to properly plan for the problems that plagued its short existence,” he said. “It was a concert venue situated directly underneath a movie theater with a front door that opened to, and was 50 feet from, a sprawling condominium complex. It never stood a chance.”

Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean says it’s just a question of finding the right operators for the club. “There are companies that do that kind of thing, and I can help out in the search,” he said. To share information or photos regarding the Golden Bear, contact Carvounas at [email protected] or (714) 205-2665. hbi.13-goldenbear-CPhotoInfoHF1PSDE320060413ibzmpdkfCourtesy of CAROLE BABIRACKI(LA)The legendary Golden Bear pictured in the early 1980s.