Photo by Shea Newkirk/Long Beach Independent
Since its original opening in 2004, 350 Pine Avenue, or better known as The Vault 350, has certainly seen it’s share of ups and downs and 2014 will be no different. During The Vault’s heyday I lived just two blocks up the street at Pine Ave. and Sixth Street and I would frequent The Vault 350 just about any night they had good entertainment. I saw tons of great shows there from The Addicts to Ghostface Killah and everything in between.
At this time, we were still called Long Beach Party Project or “LBPP” for short and we were throwing punk rock shows around town at various venues including the Brokeass Cantina just up the street from The Vault in the old Meeker-Baker building. As I got more and more into the local music scene I started to make connections at The Vault helping with local band bookings and that is when I met Mitchell Stewart.
Mitchell was the owner of The Vault 350 and a big supporter of local music here in Long Beach. He was a large man with even larger inspiration and passion and for just over 4 years he helped to bring in some amazing talent including the B-52s, Flogging Molly, and Kanye West to name a few. Unfortunately in 2008 Mitchell died of a sudden heart attack and The Vault 350 was closed down almost as quick.
The last time I saw Mitchell was at The Vault 350 Christmas party of 2007, giant prime rib in front of him, which he hosted at his other venue the Malibu Inn. I did not know him very well, but I did know his passion and drive quite well and that is what I miss the most. I miss what it did for our city, for The Vault 350, and for me personally as an entrepreneur.
For almost 2 years the venue sat silent, collecting dust, waiting… Then towards the end of 2009 enter Luis Armen Kaloyan & Rudy Medina who created a partnership to invest in the renovation and re-opening of The Vault 350 in 2010. This partnership lasted all of a few months before a dispute broke out between the two partners that killed the deal and any hope of The Vault 350 opening again.
Almost 4 years later, I randomly noticed that there was new activity at the old Vault 350. A construction truck here and there, trash containers out front, and new activity on their Facebook page. Could it be that someone has taken up the banner again and will restore it to is former place as a staple for live music in Long Beach?
Well, we got our answer last week as the new owners of The Vault Long Beach held an intimate engagement inside the venue, stripped walls, piles of construction material, and all…