To me it’s just another one of the dozen plus proposals for Inglewood that we’ve seen in the past 5-10 years. Don’t see much else getting built along 9th at the moment. So I’ll just put this with the others and enjoy the music while we can
 
They can just build that same music venue somewhere else. What’s the big deal? Either a new build or a warehouse conversion would do the trick. This is right next to an old warehouse district by the way.

It’s a gentrifying area, this is exactly what I would expect to happen.
 
I was surprised to learn The Blues Can has only been around since 2010. I thought it was one of those legacy businesses from before Inglewood became in vogue about 2010-2015. In a way, the Blues Can and Ironwood were the first wave of gentrification in the area.

A quick google led to this interesting article that goes back on the history of The Blues Can, Ironwood Bar and Grill, and Inglewood in general. Some trading places between a bunch of different performance venues. A few key dates:
  • 2003 - Ironwood opens where Blues Can is now.
  • 2009 - Ironwood moved to the The Garry Theatre (originally a 1930s era movie theatre). They replaced Loose Moose Theatre group and a bunch of artist programming as the site was a hub for the 1990s fringe festival arts scene.
  • 2010 - Blues Can Opens in space vacated by Ironwood.
https://theyyscene.com/2023/10/11/the-little-venue-that-could-and-does/

What this shows me is how young these venues are - and how a scene can really be created by cheap rent and dedicated ownership groups. It's a shame we don't have much old (cheap) retail of any density and quality that can double as a performance venue. Old strip malls have some flexibility but often aren't sized or located well to contribute to the local music scene the way that random garages and old theatres on centrally located main streets are.

With some effort you can create a hub in an unconventional building format - Ship and Anchor comes most obvious to mind creating a stellar cultural hub in an unremarkable 1970s era office building. But it takes a lot of luck, a critical mass of activity and population to keep the lights on during slow nights, and an ownership group that is interested/capable of staying relevant as the economy and tastes inevitably shift over time.
 
The Loose Moose was at, like, 16 Ave and 19 St NE in the late 90s. So it wasn't at the Garry Theatre for that long either.

In the late 90s, the Nash was where you would watch live music/blues in Inglewood. I didn't care for it at the time, but I did stop in there a couple times to buy offsales (the local liquor store closed early).

Other bars I remember around at the time were the Hose & Hound (still around), Swans (now the Dirty Duck), Henri's (now the Irvine building which has no bar in it), and I think that was it. Dare I say that I think I like Inglewood more now than back then.
 
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Red Star said:
The sad thing is Double L Car Motors is right on 9th Ave and less than 60m away from the Blues Can.
Click to expand...
9th is very fragmented. From nice urban street to industrial park and back again in under a block. Understanding it is a natural evolution it is weird an asset like the Blues Can went before Double L but completely understandable from a developers perspective because it was available to be developed.
 
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