What happened to the Indigo?
And what happens next?
(Dec. 27, 2007) Geoff Brandon had big plans for what, up until 2005, had been Club West. The computer consultant/stock-car racer bought the Eureka business in July of that year and in November reopened it as Indigo Nightclub and Lounge. Since then it’s been a treacherous trail of hardship and pitfalls. Now, two years and one month later, the club that was once West is changing hands again.
What happened?
“Basically, I misread the market,” said Brandon in the simple upstairs office of the nightclub. The evidence of moving on was lying about in boxes and packing paper.
Brandon explained that before opening the Indigo he had worked as a bartender at Club West and had experience in the nightclub industry. He talked to people in the community and decided to buy the venue and turn it into an upscale, classy nightclub. “The whole time I was here I just tried to accommodate what the general public wanted from a night club,” he said. So he redid the whole venue: Italian tile in the entryway, a balcony, lounge area, VIP seating, indoor smoking room, couches, improved acoustics and sound equipment. With a snazzy new name, he tried to shed the previous stigma that Club West carried.
Steve Watts owns Passion Presents, a local promotion company that worked with Club West and later with the Indigo. Watts saw the Club West stigma of gang activity and fights surrounding the dance club, and it being a “Eureka teen hangout,” affecting the patronage of The Indigo.
As Watts noted, Brandon made some big changes. “The club was kept cleaner and nicer, upgrades that shouldn’t be ignored — but [The Indigo] didn’t regain a population,” he said.
“People would think, ‘Isn’t that the same old Club West?’” Brandon said. “People didn’t feel like the remodel we did was sufficient to change it to a different club. Some people still don’t come here because they think it’s Club West.
“We spent a large amount of money to be a new club — not be Club West. A couple of those things backfired on us.”
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ONE Comments
Comment / By patty / Feb. 23, 11:43 p.m.
you should have catered to the Dancing crowd of all ages…….people turn out here and fill the Arcata Community Center and the Moose Hall when there are actual danceable live bands. Have a free dance lesson a couple nights a week before band. Lesson at 7PM and then start music at 8PM. NOT AT 11PM! CW lesson for country band, for ex. Salsa lesson before Ponche. East Coast or West Coast swing lesson before Delt Nationals. and so on. We have several Instructors here, too. Serve food. Plenty of bands here wanting gigs at the casinos.