Capitol Theatre Bar Honors Garcia and Dead Culture

 Strangefolk fans danced in circles around each other, their bare feet hopping across the Capitol Theatre’s lobby carpet at the official opening of Garcia’s bar last week.  Well-dressed locals chatted with Dead fans in tie-dye, perused the Garcia history hung on the walls during set break and ordered local brews on tap.

Garcia’s is named for Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia, who was a big fan of the theatre in the 70s, when The Cap regularly featured music legends like the Dead, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd and many others. The bar officially opened with Reid Genauer and Friends shows over the weekend. The team responsible for conceiving and creating a bar honoring one of the theater’s most historical acts milled around the scene, proud of the atmosphere they helped to create. The space will continue to be a work in progress as they figure out the line up, said Guest Services manager Brett Fairbrother.

“We want to do like a mini Wetlands here, as much as we can in 2013,” Fairbrother said. “The beauty of it is we are all a little older now…Now it is a little more beautiful, more tasteful, done in a different way but in that spirit of that culture” he said of the theme for the bar. Fairbrother managed Strangefolk when they regularly played Cap owner Peter Shapiro’s former New York City Wetland’s venue in the 90s.

Now officially opened as Garcia’s, the spacious bar features impressive and rare Dead and Garcia items: one of Garcia’s banjos, a bronze sculpture of his hand (donated by philanthropist and Dead fan Scott Brittingham), rare photographs, including vintage never-before-seen shots from famed music/fashion photographer Roberto Robanne, who met Garcia in 1966 and had unlimited access to Garcia and the Dead. The items are displayed throughout the perimeter of the room and glow in spot lighting, subtle and simple, but with a reverence.

"More than any one artist, Jerry Garcia evokes the spirit of The Cap," said Shapiro before the premiere. And the jam band music legend loved the theatre too. The Dead performed there 18 times in 1970-71 alone. Jerry Garcia once said: "There's only two theaters that are set up pretty groovy all around for music - The Fillmore and the Capitol Theatre." 

The Cap team of managers has been waiting to open the bar since the theatre opened last fall, but zoning issues held up the process. “We definitely wanted to have something of Garcia’s here,” said Bar Operations Manager Diego Pardo, who became a Dead fan since he started at the Cap. “I relaxed and became a fan of Jerry. I like the whole vibe, the culture of the people, the length of the songs.”

 Over the last four months, Cap owner Shapiro worked with Garcia’s family for their blessing and participation in creating the bar in honor of the famous singer and guitarist, Pardo said. Trixie Garcia, the music legend’s daughter, announced the partnership during the last night of a nine-show Furthur run on April 25.

"We chose to launch this idea at the Capitol because of its long and illustrious history with the Grateful Dead and the jam scene," Trixie said. "We hope that it becomes a hub for the community to share stories and continue to build lifelong memories and friendships,” Trixie said.

In honor of the Grateful Dead vibe and its fans, Cap managers said they wanted to keep the bar low-key, as a supplement to the theatre. Music lovers can expect a mix of some local and possibly national acts.

Garcia’s will be open Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Friday and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.