Capturing Los Angeles' COVID-Closed Venues
Photo by Farah Sosa
There has been shockingly little pit hospitality for the entertainment industry during the coronavirus pandemic. As live music venues around the country — D.I.Y., independent, corporate and mid-sized holdings – settle into the fifth month of closures, many are waiting with baited breath for the passage of federal funding packages that could be the difference between life or death for American music.
Over the past several weeks, Congress has introduced bills that would alleviate some financial burden for small businesses such as music venues, recording studios and self-employed creators. The bipartistan RESTART Act would establish a loan program for, and offer loan forgiveness to, music creators through the rest of 2020. On July 22, the Senate introduced the $10 billion Save Our Stages Act — a Small Business Administration grant program that would provide six months of support for independent live music venues, which could use funds to pay for capital expenses associated with social distancing, COVID-incurred costs, as well as regular operation.
The proposed legislation is the result of months-long lobbying efforts from industry advocates like The Recording Academy and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), as well as musicians themselves, but must be voted into law before Congress goes into August recess. According to a press release from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who co-introduced the Save Our Stages act, independent venues expect to lose $9 billion before 2021. In a letter to Congressional leadership, NIVA noted that the majority of its 800-plus members are in dire straits: "With zero revenue and the overwhelming overhead of rent, mortgage, utilities, taxes and insurance, 90% of independent venues report that if the shutdown lasts six months and there’s no federal assistance, they will never reopen again."
In Southern California – the epicenter of pop music and an important incubator for up-and-coming artists as well as those in sprawling underground scenes — venues have been shut down since March and will be among the last businesses to reopen. Los Angeles is now a tableau of shuttered venues and hopeful marquees encouraging people to hang in – though no one knows for how long. Industry analysts are looking toward spring 2021 for the return of live music, though Lollapalooza co-founder Marc Geiger recently said he didn’t expect concerts or festivals to return until 2022. In the meantime, Los Angeles nightlife photographer Farah Sosa – who also co-founded popular global bass crew Subsuelo – has been documenting this hopefully temporary absence of industry.
"I am predominantly a music photographer and when the pandemic started, of course all the venues shut down. And as much as I wanted to try to document COVID moments, it just seemed unsafe," Sosa said. “Instead of shooting people with masks, I thought that I would start documenting things that mattered to me the most — the places where all the magic happened. I started looking for venues where I had documented music before. We do not know if these venues are going to survive, so I wanted to make sure that the history remained somewhere." Since May, Sosa has documented approximately 40 venues around Los Angeles, working on dark, empty and often eerie streets.
Carl Lofgren owns three venues in L.A. – bar/nightclub La Cita, recording studio-hotel-bar Gold-Diggers and the nightclub El Dorado – all of which closed and furloughed employees. "We've shut everything down; we've minimized all of our expenses as best as we can. It's just a matter of us trying to make what little money we have stretch through until we can reopen," Lofgren said, adding that he is fortunate to own the buildings housing two of his businesses. "We felt that our needs and our businesses were pretty much being ignored [by the government]. When the protocols came out about how to reopen, they kind of just lumped us in with restaurants. So it's really difficult for us to get enthusiastic about reopening; we really need [legislators] to step it up, do what they do for other businesses and really come to our aid. I mean, look how much money they're willing to pump into the airline industry or the oil and gas industry."
Even with federal funding from RESTART and Save Our Stages legislation, it’s possible that the reality Sosa’s photos depict will stick around for the time being. Brett Powell, who co-owns 1720 LA, a 3-year-old all-ages venue in Los Angeles’ warehouse district, wishes independent venues had received money earlier. "Now we're crossing our fingers and hoping that in the next few weeks we hear good news. But if we are just a percentage of venues that are still clinging on to hope, there are many that have lost hope."
Independent venues – even those that own their buildings or have sympathetic landlords – have exceedingly high overhead and thin profit margins. Sources for this article said they had received no relief for the cost of city permits, insurance or high taxes. Yet the venue itself is just the tip of the iceberg; the network of businesses contracted through venues – from security companies to backline, food vendors and liquor distributors – as well as surrounding businesses that depend on pre- and post-show crowds have all suffered. "For every person you see on a stage, there's like 100 people behind them supporting," said Matthew Himes, director of programming and production for Levitt Los Angeles, a nonprofit that hosts 50 free and sonically diverse concerts in MacArthur Park throughout the summer.
Levitt relies on sponsorship and federal, state and local grants to fund its programming, though much of that has dried up as budgets shrink or are redirected to COVID safety. "The PPP loan was just a Band-Aid. We understand that this is gonna be at least another year for venues. A whole year is a long time to be able to fund every single person to at least pay their bills. People are getting other jobs, but L.A. has a 20 percent unemployment rate — I can't even get a job at Home Depot right now,” said Himes, who would normally be working six or seven days a week on Levitt programming.
Owners and promoters such as Live Nation, Goldenvoice and AEG are also suffering without revenue from festivals like Coachella and midsized spaces like The Wiltern and The Palladium – though those corporations are more likely to have the financial means to survive COVID closures. Goldenvoice and AEG declined to comment, though several people interviewed for this article expressed concern that corporations' smaller venues will suffer the most in the wake of COVID.
"I don’t have anything against Live Nation or AEG, but I just don't think that them having a monopoly on music or the arts is going to be conducive. We need diversity; there needs to be some sort of competition amongst the arts," Himes said, adding that independent venues are where the majority of artists cut their teeth. "The whole L.A. jazz scene, like Kamasi Washington and Thundercat, 10 years ago they were at some bar in College Park in front of like, 20 to 40 people. There’s a progression that needs to happen for musicians to be able to get their name out there, and that requires all the people behind the scenes that elevate and curate that experience."
"Bands like Chicano Batman, La Santa Cecilia, Las Cafeteras — 5 to 10 years ago when they started out, they couldn't even find a place to play. We were very proud to put them on our stage and now they're headlining festivals, and they're GRAMMY award winners," said Lofgren, who moved from Maryland to Los Angeles in the early 1990s for the city's iconic nightlife. "This is where we make the dreams; that's irreplaceable. Music is a cultural thing; are we gonna start giving up on our culture?"
Without federal support, venues have had to find new ways to monetize their spaces. Some have turned to live streaming and other promoters have held drive-in concerts. Historic spaces like Silverlake's The Satellite are converting to restaurants. "We use GoFundMe and I know a number of other venues have as well," Lofgren said. "What does that say about our country when the only route that we have to save ourselves is by begging people to support us? It's not that I don't appreciate those people, because I certainly do. But it just doesn't seem right to me that we should expect other people, fans and customers, to be the ones to save us." The owner suggested streaming services like iTunes and Spotify offer some sort of financial support, adding, "I think it really needs to be a combination of government and private industry helping venues. I just don't know if that falls in line with the capitalist aspect of our world."
Even after a COVID vaccine is developed, 1720 owner Brett Powell expects it will be difficult to convince people to go back out to concerts. "It’s tough to think about the next 3, 5, 10 years, especially not knowing how much longer this goes on. So of course, this could lead to venues not being able to operate anymore, be insolvent, but we like to stay positive," he said. Questioned Himes, "How is the audience going to come back? Do they have extra money for an extracurricular activity if everyone’s been out of work? If people don't feel safe and feel comfortable, that's going to affect us as well."
While the live music industry collectively holds its breath waiting for legislation to pass through Congress, there is hope in the bipartisan support for the RESTART and Save Our Stages bills. "Across all political beliefs, across all people, one thing is universal and that is music. It soothes the savage beast and it's something that we all agree brings joy to our lives," Lofgren said. "Supporting music and art culture should be universal. And I think if we don't do this, we're really turning down the wrong road for our country. The height of culture and civilization is when you're focused on creativity and artistic development."
"The United States' music scene is extremely strong and dominates globally, and has for a long time. Not to be so grandiose, but a huge part of what makes up Los Angeles is our music," Himes said. "It’s not speaking in hyperbole or being overdramatic to say if we don't do anything, a year from now, you're not gonna have the culture that you use to have, that you grew up talking about."
Although photographing now quiet places that were once responsible for so much joy is emotionally exhausting, Farah Sosa remains committed to Los Angeles’ nightlife. "I do have a lot of hope that the people that come after me, younger generations of photographers, will be able to understand what a thrill it is to be on stage, in the first row, taking photos and documenting history," she said.