Night life

A change of scene

By Sam Pfeifle

Arguably Portland’s most popular live music venue, the Stone Coast Brewing Company’s “upstairs smoking room” will soon be no longer.

Owner Grant Wilson reports that he will be converting the space into a “steakhouse and blues club,” and move their standard musical fare over to the State Theater, which he also owns. And Wilson’s not wasting any time. “We’ll open the theater right away after New Year’s,” he says.

“We’re going to put a house [sound] system in at the theater,” says Wilson. “That’s going to let us open the theater two to three times a week.” And though the State is capable of holding large crowds for moe. or Keb’ Mo’, Wilson says that he’s willing to hold shows for roughly 400 people on a regular basis, with the same mix of local and touring bands — for instance, the early-November Tom Tom Club show — to which Stone Coast regulars are accostomed. Wilson says he’ll even “do some shows with tables and chairs, more intimate shows.”

As for the new steakhouse, the upstairs will close in early January, when the State gets up and running. Plans are to put in a second kitchen, leave in the current music system for local and touring blues acts, and reopen by mid-February.

Wilson said the impetus for the change was largely the new smoking laws that force a business allowing smoking to make a certain percentage of their money from liquor sales. “We weren’t able to do the 18+ shows anymore,” says Wilson. “That cuts down on the viability of doing music.”

He is also reluctant to have the State Theater and the Stone Coast in competition. “The theater is a better room for music and we want to maximize that,” says Wilson. Crowds at the Stone Coast drop off considerably on the night of a large State Theater show.

The only folks who stand to lose in the switch appear to be Eggbot, the regular Monday night show, and the MCs and turntablists who participate in DJ Dollar Night on Tuesdays. The steakhouse will be closed on those nights, and though Wilson says he “might do some different stuff when the restaurant’s not open,” he also says that a dollar-night event would put too much wear on the restaurant.