A venue for big acts for 5 decades, Marin County’s Sweetwater is out to rebuild Bay Area music scene

Airplane Family concert

Jan. 28, 8 p.m.

Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley

Reuniting original and legacy members of Jefferson Airplane spinoffs Starship and Hot Tuna as well as the Grateful Dead, David Crosby Band, New Riders and more to perform on its 50th anniversary of the Jefferson Starship’s acclaimed “Blows Against the Empire,” a first-time, onstage compilation of the rock band, which spun off of Jefferson Airplane in 1974.

Jefferson Airplane, Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison among those who’ve played there

Fifty years after bursting onto the music scene, the spirit of the Sweetwater Music Hall is alive and well with a member of the Grateful Dead band keeping the legacy of the Mill Valley venue thriving.

At a time when nightclubs across the North Bay have started to return to pre-pandemic attendance levels, the Marin County music venue is keeping the party going, including a new fine-dining restaurant and more acts to roll out.

Come Jan. 28, an “Airplane Family” concert features the 50-year anniversary of Jefferson Starship’s renowned “Blows Against the Empire” album to be performed in its entirety by members of the iconic Bay Area band with others from Hot Tuna, New Riders of the Purple Sage and David Crosby’s ensemble. Jefferson Starship (which created “We Built this City” as a love song to San Francisco) and Hot Tuna were spinoff bands from Jefferson Airplane.

With former Grateful Dead guitarist and nightclub part-owner Bob Weir at the helm among two dozen other investors, Sweetwater music history runs deep.

The go-to Marin County hot spot has become a hotbed of genres ranging from rock and blues to R&B and country, hosting the likes of Jerry Garcia, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, John Lee Hooker, Huey Lewis, Etta James, Greg Allman, Robert Cray, John Hiatt, Van Morrison, Sammy Hagar, Leon Russell and Ry Cooder.

To those performers like Marin County singer-songwriter Maria Muldaur, the oasis of music luminaries captures the soul of the artist who can jam with the best of the biz.

“I moved to Mill Valley in 1976 and soon came to appreciate having such a cozy down-home venue right here in the neighborhood with such a loose, casual, friendly, community vibe. It was a favorite hangout for many musicians,” she told the Business Journal. “When I was in the audience, I was often asked to jump on stage and harmonize with someone or to (do) a tune or two myself.”

One night, guitarist-singer JJ Cale was playing a packed house and called her up on stage, and in comes the Dire Straits band led by Mark Knopfler after its own earlier gig, she recalled. She grabbed a tambourine and sang with them.

“That’s just one of the many magical moments that often happened at the Sweetwater,” she said.

Many of those good times were documented in vintage photos and other artifacts kept at the Mill Valley Public Library. The more than 500 photos from 70 scrap books were handed down by the heirs of Sweetwater longtime owner Jeanie Patterson, who died about four years ago at her Palm Springs-area home.

She ran Sweetwater in its heyday from 1979 to 1998, taking it over from founder Fred Martin of Reno after his 7-year stint.

“We’re constantly amazed by what we have,” library Archivist Cathy Salomon said, of the items including a cocktail swizzle stick used by actor Sean Penn and the end of a pot joint held by legendary ‘60s guitarist Richie Havens.

Patterson’s great niece Grace Tatter donated the items, saying her father Stephen Tatter, the executor of the estate and a history buff, had combed through the historic items with zeal.

“Sweetwater was such a big part of (Patterson’s) life. She just always loved music,” Tatter told the Business Journal. “She’d be happy to know the place she created is being celebrated.”

Through the years, Sweetwater Music Hall has become embedded in the community.

The original Sweetwater Music Hall opened in a rustic, downtown Mill Valley storefront on Throckmorton Avenue that was once an old watering hole called the Office. Opening night brought out a crowd that wrapped around the block, according to music hall management.

“The depth and the breadth that the past and present incarnations of the Sweetwater serve up is resounding,” Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jim Welte said.

He’s not alone in his bias.

“Mill Valley in the ’70s (through) the ’90s was very cool. A lot of musicians lived there. It was not unusual to see Carlos Santana, Dan Hicks or Marty Balin strolling in town. Even Sean Penn was a local and could be seen at Sweetwater shows. Sweetwater became a musician’s haven because no one bothered you there,” Mill Valley library worker and former Sweetwater bartender Ramona Rey said. “My time bartending at Sweetwater may have been short, but it was sweet.”

The Sweetwater Music Hall, which two months ago celebrated its 50th anniversary, plans to showcase the next half century at the decade-old Corte Madera Avenue location with the vigor of new acts, while embracing its legendary past.

For example, younger generations of self-proclaimed “deadheads” have taken an interest in the music of the ’60s and ’70s, opening up a whole new market to the music hall.

“You know, there’s a market for older bands as every generation discovers their music,” Sweetwater Music Hall General Manager Maria Hoppe said, while strolling the main floor featuring century-old wallpaper and original artwork from the early days. “There’s something about the mojo in this room.”

Hoppe started running the hot spot in June 2021 — 15 months after it shut down from the COVID-19 crisis. It reopened last September, with a remodel and an upgrade that includes a new, fine-dining café.

“We did what we could to pivot,” Hoppe said, while peeking into a manned control room where technicians livestream the shows, a practice spawned out of the pandemic. “The owners wanted to resurrect the place.”

As it returned to business, Sweetwater experienced a 60% “no-show” rate for tickets. But that number has dropped for the 300-seat capacity nightclub to 15%. To continue to boost sales, the aim is to form a nonprofit arts foundation to host fundraisers. The privately held music venue declined to provide revenue figures.

“We’re probably going to see (attendance) very comparable to 2019,” she said. “Our whole mission has been to keep this place alive for future generations. We like to think of ourselves as caretakers of something bigger than us.”

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, tech, energy, transportation, agriculture as well as banking and finance. For 27 years, Susan has worked for a variety of publications including the North County Times, Tahoe Daily Tribune and Lake Tahoe News. Reach Wood at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com

Airplane Family concert

Jan. 28, 8 p.m.

Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley

Reuniting original and legacy members of Jefferson Airplane spinoffs Starship and Hot Tuna as well as the Grateful Dead, David Crosby Band, New Riders and more to perform on its 50th anniversary of the Jefferson Starship’s acclaimed “Blows Against the Empire,” a first-time, onstage compilation of the rock band, which spun off of Jefferson Airplane in 1974.

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