The Casbah
San Diego's legendary 200-cap rock room — where every band you love played on the way up
Upcoming Live Music (9)
About The Casbah
In 1989, punk promoter Tim Mays and partners took over a tiny bar on Kettner Boulevard, named it The Casbah, and started booking the bands nobody else in San Diego would touch. Within the first year, a then-unknown trio called Nirvana played the 75-person room — with about 100 people inside — and the Smashing Pumpkins came through the same month. The scene never looked back.
In 1994 the club moved two blocks up Kettner into its current home under the flight path, doubling to a still-gloriously-tiny 200 capacity. Three decades on, it remains the room where national acts sweat it out at eye level and where San Diego's own bands earn their stripes. If a group from America's Finest City ever made it big, odds are they made it loud here first.
It's dark, it's loud, the sound is dialed, and the patio conversation between sets is half the show. This is the beating heart of San Diego rock and roll — accept no substitute.
The Scene
Only Here
- Nirvana played the original 75-cap room on their first tour — reportedly to a crowd of about 100
- Founder Tim Mays came up promoting punk shows; the Casbah was San Diego's first bar owned by young people, for young people
- The club sits directly under the San Diego airport flight path — bands learn to time the quiet songs between landings
- Casbah Presents also books shows at Soda Bar and rooms all over the city — the calendar is a scene unto itself