Kyta Priphasouk knows many of the people who came through Brick by Brick Wednesday. She’s a familiar figure at the club. A tattoo of Hello Kitty decorates the side of her neck. It greets everyone as she turns to the side to look inside a bag, or examine an ID.
But with those she knew, she added an extra line to each exchange.
“Are you coming tomorrow night?”
“I know, the boys are so sad as well.”
“I haven’t seen you in so long.”
It’s the second-to-last time she’ll be standing out front of this community in the Morena district. Thursday night will be the last. She found out the same way most people coming to the show did: in an Instagram post.
Closing, for real
Brick by Brick titled its Aug. 5 post, “Bye Bye Buenos.”. The ambiguous messaging left room for a glimmer of hope. “Our chapter on Buenos Ave is coming to an end.”
One employee said they learned about the closure a couple of weeks ago. There had been talk of moving but nothing was certain. He was surprised by the post’s message. Another employee offered a more blunt interpretation: it’s closing down, for real.
“I don’t know if they’re moving — which I hope so — but I don’t know,” Priphasouk said.
Frequent fliers at the venue aren’t sure what to make of the announcement. There are some who have read into it, allowing themselves to wonder for a few moments where it will move. But many are taking the announcement at its word — Brick by Brick as they know it will be gone.
“That’s why it’s sad, nobody is going to step up and create what this already is. It’s possible if the owner happens to sell it, maybe the new buyer can keep it going, but that’s all I can hope for,” Justin Nordquest said as he waited in line to head in for a final time. He has been going to Brick by Brick since the early 2000s. Without batting an eye, he says he’s seen hundreds of shows there.
“Venues have been dropping like flies. The smaller, more independent venues are disappearing and the only ones left are like the big conglomerates.”
Neither Jordan Mancino nor Shannon Joy Wiles, the owners of Brick by Brick, responded to Times of San Diego’s repeated request for comment via email and social media. When dialed, Brick by Brick’s listed phone number prompts the caller for a remote access code, and the general information email inbox is disconnected.
The pair have run the venue for 12 years. Before that, Max Paul took ownership in 1995 and transformed the former Spirit of ‘76 club into Brick by Brick
People wait in line for Brick by Brick’s second-to-last show (Photo by Tessa Balc/ Times of San Diego)Under Paul’s ownership, the venue started to become known as a metal club. In the late ‘90s there were certainly metal bands coming through, but Brick by Brick also offered a rock-adjacent selection, ranging from post-metal like Neurosis to Elliot Smith’s indie rock and even Sunanne Vega’s folk sound.
Bookings gradually shifted throughout the early 2000s to a fairly consistent slate of metal acts.
Clayton Payne has been at Brick many times and he can’t place the first show he saw, but he can recall the first show he played. It was a “disastrous” set with a singer-songwriter who was mistakenly booked there, but after that he played drums in a local metal band called Scar’d Sanity.
He looks the part. He wears a long black skirt with green Doc Martens. A denim vest littered with pins and patches fits like armour over his black-and-white band tee. The black flat cap he wears makes the outfit seem like something picked out of a hardcore Scotsman’s closet.
“Even in the early ‘90s, late 80s, that stereotype of what a Southern Californian was, both punk and metal, were one of those few communities where you didn’t need to dress the part, you could come here and be welcome,” Payne said.
There were two fairly distinct camps of fans at Wednesday’s show. Those in black, decked out in adornments, and metal fans in band tees. Another half of the crowd wore neon colors with shirts displaying Transformers. The headliner, The Cybertronic Spree, dresses up as characters based on the iconic toys and comics while performing songs with more of an ‘80’s New Wave style.
They’re a departure from the style Brick by Brick is most known for, but the club will host a more familiar slate Thursday. The venue’s final show is a roundup of local metal acts, like Blackcast and Helsott, known well by those in the San Diego metal scene.
“There are other venues where heavy acts will play but that sense of community that you get in metal only really happens here,” Payne said.
Priphasouk agrees. She also works security for Live Nation. Some days she’ll be at The Observatory or Music Box. But she says she does not have the same experience with concertgoers at other venues. She meets a lot of people at Brick, and has made a handful of friends. People know her.
“Here it’s more family, from the door person to the bartender to the sound guy to even some of the bands.”
It’s a common theme. Selah Saldivar is quick to mention her connections to the place. Her husband’s dad stopped at Brick while his band S.N.A.F.U. was on tour with Pantera. She is standing alone in line, but is meeting up with a friend inside who she met at the venue.
She admits she knows nothing about who’s playing. Thursday’s show was sold out, and she had to be here one last time.
“I hope there’s not going to be some stupid like luxury apartment here in like a year.”
There’s a big question mark around the future for the space on Buenos Avenue, but also around how the loss of Brick by Brick will affect the tight-knit metal scene.
The consensus is that their favorite bands will likely end up playing Tower Bar in Chollas Creek — but that’s a spot for punks, and it’s a bar, not a dedicated space for music. Saldivar lives in North Park. The Observatory is closer to her, but she prefers Brick for its “grit.” She also factors in the shows being relatively affordable at Brick
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. [Metal music] is just going to have to go to bigger venues and it’s going to be less accessible to the people who help build the scene.”
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