Luigi's Fungarden was a small, all-ages music venue attached to a pizza business ("Luigi's Slice") in Midtown Sacramento, housed in the MARRS building at 20th and K streets.[1][2] Across roughly 2009–2014 it functioned as one of the city's primary all-ages rooms, hosting Sacramento-area punk, indie, and post-hardcore bands alongside touring acts.[3][4]
At a glance
- Located in the MARRS building at 20th and K in Midtown Sacramento, with a wooden outdoor deck wrapping the building's exterior.[1] Its full street address was 1050 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811, as a first-floor tenant of the MARRS building.[5]
- Operated alongside a pizza counter; the room was also referred to as "Luigi's Slice" and "Luigi's Slices & Fun Garden."[6][7]
- A cramped, all-ages room with a "cobalt colored stage," repeatedly described as small, snug, and tight-walled.[1][8][7] Promoter Eli Perry later cited it as a model small venue of roughly 150 capacity.[9]
- Tagged by Submerge under several name variants: "Luigi's Fungarden," "Luigi's Fun Garden," and simply "Luigi's."[2][10][11]
- Shows ran cheap, commonly $5–$7 cover, and were typically billed as all-ages.[3][12][4]
- Appears to have been winding down by spring 2014; one show was billed as among "the few remaining shows at Luigi's."[13] Its final live music event was held May 17, 2014.[14]
History and role in the scene
The venue sat inside the MARRS building at the corner of 20th and K in Midtown Sacramento; patrons gathered on a wooden deck hugging the building's exterior before shows.[1] Its full street address was 1050 20th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811, where the room operated as a ground-floor tenant alongside neighbors such as LowBrau, Asha Yoga, Sacramento Comedy Spot, and Lululemon.[5] The MARRS name stood for "Midtown Art Retail Restaurant Scene"; the property had originally been a warehouse and was repositioned in 2005 into a vertically integrated mixed asset combining office, restaurant, and retail uses, according to developer Fulcrum Property.[15]
It operated alongside a pizza business, and writers used the names "Luigi's Slice" and "Luigi's Slices & Fun Garden" interchangeably with the venue name — one reviewer recounted attending "Luigi's Slice" three nights in a row and getting confused about whether the pizza slices were free or paid.[6][7] The Midtown room was an extension of the broader Luigi's pizza business: per Inside Sacramento, the parent pizza parlor opened in 1953 and changed ownership once in the 1960s, with the Brida family having owned Luigi's since 1965.[16] Inside Sacramento described the 20th Street outpost as a "short-lived" Midtown extension called Luigi's Slice and Fun Garden.[16] Beyond live music, the room marketed itself as a multi-service space; according to its Sacramento365 listing it served "Luigi fans for children's parties, corporate events, and live music," inviting patrons to "grab a slice and a beer and see some bands."[17]
Through 2009–2014 Luigi's was a steady all-ages outlet in a Sacramento scene that, by one Submerge account, never settled into a single dominant genre — ranging across crust punk, a mid-2000s wave of Christian hardcore, and acts as disparate as Death Grips and !!!.[18] The room was small enough that for a Dan Deacon set the artist set up directly on the floor amid the crowd rather than on a raised stage; writers variously called it "snug," a "cramped all-ages music venue," and noted its "tight walls."[1][8][7] Its compact scale became part of its legacy: years after the closure, promoter Eli Perry described "a Luigi's Fun Garden kind of thing where it's 150 people" as his ideal small Midtown indie-rock venue.[9]
By spring 2014 the venue appears to have been closing or winding down: a May 2014 preview of a Kurt Travis show described it as one of "the few remaining shows at Luigi's."[13] The Sacramento Music Archive records the venue's final live music event as a May 17, 2014 performance by The Dollyrots, which included a closing statement from promoter Jerry Perry.[14] The Midtown indie-rock room's 2014 closure is also noted in retrospective coverage.[9][16]
All-ages significance
Luigi's was consistently billed as all-ages, a distinction that mattered in a scene where many rooms were 21-and-over.[12][4][19] For under-21 local acts it became a default home: the teenage sister duo Dog Party (ages 13 and 15 at the time of one feature) called Luigi's a favorite all-ages venue, noting they had aged out of 21-and-up rooms like Old Ironsides.[11] The all-ages framing also shaped its crowds — at the Dan Deacon show a state worker was described dancing beside a teenager decades younger.[1] Danny Secretion's annual benefit explicitly split its bills between all-ages nights at Luigi's and a 21-and-over finale at Press Club.[12][20]
Recurring nights and events
- Danny Secretion's "Cancer Sucks" B-Day Bash. Danny Secretion of the local punk band The Secretions ran an annual multi-night benefit for the American Cancer Society, motivated by losing his father to cancer.[20] The 2011 edition spanned six shows over four nights, with Luigi's hosting several (alongside The Blue Lamp and Digitalis Studios), each $5 with proceeds to the ACS.[12] The 2012 edition ran Nov. 16–17 at Luigi's (all-ages, 8 p.m. starts) with a final 21-and-over show at Press Club; that year every band performed tribute/cover sets.[20]
- Bat Guano Fest. A two-day, 17-band punk festival at Luigi's on Sept. 14–15, 2012, organized by Ken Doose to celebrate his birthday and release his "Batshit Crazy" compilation, and to mark the unofficial 22nd anniversary of his label, Bat Guano Productions. Friday was $5 (8 p.m., five bands); Saturday was $7 (3 p.m., 12 bands); both all-ages.[3]
- Davis Music Festival. Luigi's served as one of several Davis venues for the 2012 Davis Music Festival (June 23, 2012), a multi-venue, 40-plus-artist event; Fine Steps and Calling Morocco were among the acts slated at Luigi's.[21]
- Punch & Pie Fest. The 2012 Punch & Pie Fest, a week of punk shows organized by promoter Sean Hills (Aug. 15–20, 2012), used Luigi's and Press Club as its two venues.[22]
Notable shows and acts documented
- Dan Deacon played the Fungarden on Oct. 19, 2009, setting up on the floor among the crowd and running dance-offs and a "human tunnel" in the snug room.[1]
- Sister Crayon (fronted by Terra Lopez) performed its first show as a full band at Luigi's Fun Garden on Feb. 7, 2009, and later held the release party for its debut LP Bellow there on Feb. 19, 2011.[8][23]
- A Lot Like Birds previewed their Doghouse Records debut Conversation Piece to roughly 80 fans on a quiet Tuesday night at Luigi's in 2011.[24]
- Ganglians sat for a Submerge interview at the Fungarden ahead of their Still Living LP and an Aug. 10, 2011 show there.[19]
- Dog Party celebrated the release of P.A.R.T.Y!!! at Luigi's on Dec. 30, 2011 (with Kepi Ghoulie and Nacho Business); the duo had earlier opened a wall-to-wall April 24, 2009 bill with Vivian Girls, Abe Vigoda, and Agent Ribbons.[11][7]
- Kurt Travis (A Lot Like Birds / ex-Dance Gavin Dance) launched the tour for his solo album Everything Is Beautiful at Luigi's on May 14, 2014, with Hotel Books and So Much Light.[13]
- The Speed of Sound in Seawater opened their "Unsinkable Tour" at Luigi's on Jan. 2, 2014, with Feed Me Jack and Paper Pistols.[18]
- The Seeking played a two-night stand at Luigi's with Jonny Craig on Oct. 26–27, 2012.[25]
- Touring and regional acts routed through Luigi's, including Lydia (May 30, 2009, the band's fourth Sacramento appearance), Y La Bamba (Nov. 18, 2011), Cleveland's Mr. Gnome (March 28, 2012), Oakland string-metal band Judgement Day (April 25, 2010), Los Angeles duo The Golden Ghosts (April 25, 2011), Portland's Aan (March 1, 2014), and a Best Fwends / WHATEVAWHATEVAWHATEVA / Loch Lomond run (Nov. 11–13, 2009, one night of which was cancelled for low turnout).[26][2][4][27][28][29][6]
- Local releases and farewells also landed there: Cove's EP-release and tour kickoff (Nov. 7, 2013), Reggie Ginn's Passion in Perspective release (Nov. 12, 2011), Sherman Baker's Panic on Seventeenth EP release (Dec. 2, 2011), San Kazakgascar's Drought Times EP show (Nov. 3, 2012), Prieta's two-song release (April 2011), Jack and White (Sept. 17, 2011), and The Common Men's farewell-to-Sacramento show (March 3, 2012).[30][31][32][33][34][35][36]
- A local triple bill of Lite Brite, Mondo Deco, and The Babs Johnson Gang played the cramped all-ages room on Feb. 11, 2011.[37]
- The venue also figures in the scene's harder memories: David Mohr of the dance duo 20,000 recalled a dreaded Luigi's Fungarden show played soon after his band-and-relationship breakup, during the act's 2009 dissolution.[38]
Late-period shows logged by the Sacramento Music Archive
Beyond Submerge's coverage, the Sacramento Music Archive documents a run of late-period Luigi's Fungarden shows in 2013–2014, including Brianna Lea Pruett (May 14, 2013), Linear Downfall (June 4, 2013), Mike Coykendall and The Low Hums (Sept. 17, 2013), Adrian Bellue (Dec. 20, 2013), Sama Dams and Dynamic Fuzz Bomb (Feb. 20, 2014), Pets (March 24, 2014), and Honyock (May 3, 2014), shortly before the venue's final show.[14]