The Press Club is a low-profile dive bar and live-music/DJ venue at 2030 P Street in Sacramento's Midtown, on the sleepy P-and-21st-streets block.[1][2] Known as an unpretentious alternative to dress codes and bottle service, it has hosted indie rock, punk, hip-hop and experimental acts as well as long-running weekly dance nights.[1][3] According to LocalWiki Sacramento, the venue has been called "a jewel of the midtown scene," with its space split between a bar area and a separate room housing a dance floor and DJ booth, drawing "a crowd ranging from Sacramento State students to seasoned mid- and downtowners."[4]
At a glance
- Original address: 2030 P Street, Sacramento (Midtown, near 21st Street).[1][2]
- Current address: 1119 21st Street, Midtown Sacramento (relocated after COVID-19).[5]
- Venue type: dive bar with a live-music stage and DJ/dance nights; generally a 21-and-over room.[1][6]
- Founded July 1, 1992, by brothers Kirk and Roger Johnston, per City of Sacramento business license records.[7][5]
- Notable owners/managers cited: Kirk Johnston (owner, deceased "a few years" before 2017), his brother Roger Johnston (later owner), manager Susan Durst, and earlier manager Dan Montoya.[3]
- Long associated with DJ Larry Rodriguez's Sunday "Dance Party," nicknamed "Church."[3]
- Hosted an early "secret show" by Sacramento's Death Grips in 2011.[8]
- Recurring home for the Punch and Pie punk festival.[9][10]
History and role in the scene
The Press Club sits on the P-and-21st-streets block of Midtown, a quiet pocket of parking lots, office buildings and a tattoo parlor that comes alive mainly on dance nights at the Press Club or the nearby Townhouse.[2] Submerge writers repeatedly framed both clubs as "infamous alternatives to the posh world of dress codes and bottle service," prized for cheap beer and an unglamorous atmosphere.[2]
The venue was founded on July 1, 1992, per City of Sacramento business license records (account #85221), registered to owner Roger Johnston at 2030 P Street.[7] Brothers Kirk and Roger Johnston co-founded the club with the goal of creating "a place where people could relax, meet friends, listen to music and dance," and the venue operated from that original P Street location for over thirty years.[5]
The venue's ownership and management changed hands over the years. Dan Montoya managed the club around the late 1990s and persuaded DJ Larry Rodriguez to relocate his dance night there.[3] By the 2010s the bar was owned by Kirk Johnston; after Kirk's death (described in early 2017 as having occurred "a few years" earlier), his brother Roger Johnston continued to own it, with Susan Durst as manager.[3] The club's stage was remembered by performers as intimate and engaging — one Submerge reviewer wrote that "The Press Club's stage sucks you in and makes you part of the performance," describing the setting as snug rather than claustrophobic.[11]
As a small room with relatively low booking barriers, the Press Club functioned as a stepping-stone for developing local acts and a regular stop for touring bands. Oakland electro-pop artist Ricky Reed (of Wallpaper) recalled an early Press Club gig as one of the small milestones that kept him going.[12] The club also appeared as a stop on Sacramento's annual St. Patrick's Day pub crawl organized by the 5hundy Social Club.[13]
The venue was part of a broader Sacramento live-music ecosystem that, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, gave hip-hop acts a home when dedicated rap venues were scarce. Local group the CUF cited the Press Club — alongside Old Ironsides, The Distillery and the original Capitol Garage — as a venue that hosted them during that era, though the writer noted such rooms later rarely booked hip-hop.[14]
Relocation and the new Press Club
Following COVID-19, Roger Johnston relocated The Press Club from its original 2030 P Street home to a larger space at 1119 21st Street in Midtown Sacramento. The new venue — branded the "NEW PRESS CLUB" — features a full kitchen with casual dining, a professional stage with upgraded lighting and sound, a dance floor, and facilities for private party hosting.[5][15]
City of Sacramento records show the original Press Club business license (account #85221) expired June 30, 2022.[7] The former 2030 P Street space was subsequently purchased in 2022 by husband-and-wife team Bret and Karen Bair, who planned to convert it into a new concept called 8-Track Club — described as "a watering hole and gathering space with live music and other entertainment" — with a remodel reducing seating to 90 seats.[16] City records confirm that 8-Track Club LLC (classified as a bars/taverns business) filed a business license for the 2030 P Street address with a start date of June 1, 2023.[7][16]
Recurring nights: Larry Rodriguez's "Dance Party" / "Church"
The Press Club's most enduring fixture is the Sunday "Dance Party" run by DJ Larry Rodriguez (also known as DJ Larry or The Flower Vato), affectionately called "Church" by regulars.[3] Rodriguez built the night on a deep collection of funk, soul, jazz, Latin, reggae and international records.[3]
The Dance Party began on the first Sunday of 1997 at Old Ironsides, after booker Marla Kanelos invited Rodriguez to start a weekly night following an impromptu New Year's Eve set.[3] Its first run at the Press Club ran from 1998 to 2003, brought over by then-manager Dan Montoya; the night won awards and eventually expanded to a second weekly Friday.[3] After clashing with new management, Rodriguez left and kept the party going at other venues (The Distillery, Blue Lamp, Old Ironsides, and a still-running Wednesday at Davis's G Street Wunderbar begun in 2005).[3] A second run at the Press Club began in 2010 when Kirk Johnston invited Rodriguez back.[3]
The Dance Party's 20th-anniversary show was held at the Press Club on Jan. 8, 2017, with a $10 cover and a 7 p.m. start.[3] The lineup featured reggae/rocksteady acts the Sacto Storytellers and The Scratch Outs, a reunion of hip-hop group the CUF, The City of Trees Brass Band (several of whose members were "Church" regulars), neo-soul singer Roman Austin (who wrote a song titled "Church (Rollin')" about the night), and Swank (Ike Burnett, brother of Death Grips' MC Ride).[3]
"Church" continued at the new 1119 21st Street location into 2024. A January 28, 2024 listing confirms the night running with a $5 cover from 9 pm to midnight, featuring soul, funk, disco, reggae, and Afro-Latin grooves.[17]
Earlier in the venue's history, DJ Whores (Daniel Osterhoff) ran a Wednesday dance night at the Press Club. Originally launched as "Warpaint Wednesdays" with Terra Lopez, the night passed to Whores — who renamed it HUMP — after Lopez began her band Sister Crayon.[18] A March 2010 Submerge review captured a HUMP night at the Press Club featuring DJs Apache Cleo, Jonathan Francis and DJ Whores spinning tech-house and electro.[19] The Press Club also hosted touring electronic bookings for HUMP, including San Francisco artist EPROM and Frite Nite's Salva.[18] Submerge later reported Osterhoff's death on April 8, 2017.[18]
The Press Club additionally housed "Club Pow!," a recurring live-rock night inside the venue documented by Submerge in 2008 and 2009.[6][11] DJs Shaun Slaughter and Chad Nardine also cut their teeth at the Press Club early in their careers, running a dance night there before frustrations with the manager (and patrons requesting Madonna) led them to launch Lipstick at Old Ironsides.[20]
Notable shows and acts
- Death Grips played an early "secret show" at the Press Club on a Sunday in 2011, a set that quickly spread to YouTube, days before the group's more publicized Townhouse appearance.[8]
- Dusty Brown, the Sacramento electronica project, counted the Press Club among its occasional live stops; a January 2009 Club Pow! performance there featured Jess Gowrie (of Red Host) sitting in on drums.[11][21]
- Club Pow! at the Press Club hosted a Feb. 11, 2008 bill of Bright Light Fever, Red Host (then featuring Chelsea Wolfe, Ian Bone and Jess Gowrie) and San Francisco's Love Like Fire.[6]
- Punch and Pie Fest, the local punk festival organized by promoter Sean Hills, repeatedly used the Press Club as a venue — including the 2012 edition (Aug. 15–20, with the Press Club and Luigi's as host rooms) and the 2014 edition, whose Aug. 14 kickoff at the Press Club featured Heartsounds, The Civil War Rust, The Shell Corporation and Puerto Rico's D-Cent Jerks.[9][10]
- Danny Secretion (of The Secretions) closed his annual American Cancer Society benefit weekend with a tribute-set show at the Press Club on Nov. 18, 2012.[22]
- Anniversary and milestone shows: indie-pop band Buildings Breeding marked its 10-year anniversary at the Press Club on Sept. 3, 2015 (their first Sacramento show since 2009), with Arts & Leisure and Vasas.[23] In early 2015 the venue hosted the Sacto Storytellers' 15-year anniversary (Jan. 25) and death-metal band Awaiting the Apocalypse's 10-year anniversary (Feb. 3).[24]
- Other bookings: Nevada City prog/math-rock band Pinnacles (March 23, 2016);[25] electronic act Petaluma (May 13, 2017, with Death Party at the Beach and Sunhaze);[26] Rocklin indie-pop band Wife and Son's debut-album release show (June 28, 2012, with The Tambo Rays and Sicfus);[27] and garage-rock trio Grave Lake's cassette-release show (April 19, 2018, with Los Angeles' Black Mare and Glaare).[28]