Like the remainder of the nation, downtown Los Angeles noticed a lot of its beloved institutions shut their doorways for good in the course of the pandemic. Amongst them was 5 Star Bar, an genuine dive bar that served low-cost beer, grilled easy, tasty burgers and hosted stay music. Sadly, it usually isn’t till after unassuming dive bars and music venues shut down that their true significance is acknowledged. Fortuitously, a longtime fixture within the Los Angeles DIY music scene recognized mononymously as Cube has stepped in to reopen the 5 Star Bar in an effort to supply artists with a stage and music lovers with a sanctuary whereas uplifting the encompassing group.
The construction that homes 5 Star Bar was constructed initially of the twentieth century. At this time, its excessive ceilings and patterned tiled flooring stay as relics of a youthful Los Angeles. Previous to its closing in 2021, Marco Cordova’s household had run 5 Star Bar since 1971. His father, Roberto, acquired it shortly after buying a pool corridor referred to as First Road Billiards in Boyle Heights. Roberto died in 1992 and Marco took over operations for each companies, bringing alongside his love for stay music.
The 5 Star Bar on March 26, 2025.
(Eric Thayer / For The Occasions)
By the late ’90s, Cordova had introduced in a stage, borrowed sound gear from unique Fishbone bassist John Norwood Fisher and began working with native music promoters to host reveals. In a 2019 mini-documentary, Cordova claimed that the 5 Star had been focused by the Los Angeles Police Division’s vice squad for internet hosting punk rock bands and bringing within the accompanying crowd. He mentioned a lieutenant who helped him purchase a correct leisure allow explicitly warned him in opposition to reserving hip-hop, metallic and punk rock artists. “To me, that’s being stereotypical,” Cordova mentioned. “That’s not how I run my business.”
Los Angeles hometown hip-hop hero 2Mex, hardcore punk originators the Adolescents and psychedelic cumbia revivalists Thee Commons (now generally known as Tropa Magica) are just some of the numerous artists who took the stage on the 5 Star over the subsequent 20 years. Cordova additionally opened the bar to movie crews who shot scenes for tv reveals, films and music movies there. The music video for Kendrick Lamar’s track “i,” which prominently options the inside of the 5 Star Bar, was shot lengthy earlier than the rapper turned a family title.
In the summertime of 2021, an indication was posted within the bar’s window stating that its fiftieth anniversary would “be in the form of a forced closure.” Sadly, this wasn’t a whole shock. The 5 Star had outlasted a demolition discover from a brand new landlord in 2016 and now music communities throughout the nation have been rising from the COVID-19 shutdown to seek out that a lot of their favourite venues wouldn’t be reopening. The subsequent couple of years could be a rebuilding interval, as DIY reveals persevered and new venues ultimately popped up.
Cube, proprietor and supervisor of the 5 Star Bar.
(Eric Thayer / For The Occasions)
The subsequent chapter within the historical past of the 5 Star Bar might be led by Cube, a veteran of the native DIY punk and metallic scenes. As an adolescent, he hosted reveals within the driveway of his childhood house in San Fernando. Round 2017, he acquired concerned with a DIY venue in downtown Los Angeles generally known as the Rec Middle and arranged a variety of punk rock, metallic and experimental reveals. The house turned a compulsory cease for native artists equivalent to punk rock group Lifeless Metropolis and storage rockers Heat Drag.
Not lengthy after the Rec Middle completely closed, Cube joined up with one other DIY venue downtown, Towne Sq.. The brand new house gave him the chance to guide bigger reveals and even allowed him to broaden his scope past simply music. “It was an old art gallery,” he remembers. “So I was doing a lot of that. I was bringing tattoo artists and letting them do whatever they wanted to do. I would let them paint on the walls.”
Towne Sq. continues to be an lively venue, though Cube is now not concerned with it. As an alternative, he’s centered on a venue with which he has a protracted private historical past: the 5 Star Bar. “Actually, this is one of the bars I started sneaking into,” he laughs. Cube attended live shows on the 5 Star all through the 2010s and ended up working with Born for Burning, a heavy metallic manufacturing firm that had been organizing occasions on the bar. Led by Kim Galdamez, who DJs and hosts a present on the on-line radio station NTS Radio, Born for Burning has since introduced worldwide bands to Los Angeles, booked excursions and arranged occasions throughout the nation.
When his enterprise companions approached him with a proposition to reopen the 5 Star Bar, Cube noticed a chance to progress his personal endeavors in addition to the historical past of a venue that he had skilled firsthand. “I’ve always wanted to do things in a more legit way,” he says. “I feel like I was able to level up each time. Rec Center was its own thing. Towne Square was a lot different. I feel like a lot of the right people have been choosing to work with me and in turn, I’m learning a lot. And it led me up to something big like this.”
Attendees at a present on the 5 Star bar on March 26, 2025.
(Eric Thayer /For The Occasions)
Though the 5 Star Bar might be beneath solely new possession, Cube plans to proceed utilizing the title. “I would like to keep the name for the legacy,” he explains. “I’m not doing it for anything else really. I want to keep this thing going. I have a lot of history here, so to be able to continue it and do things the way I’ve always kind of felt things should be done is a wild feeling for sure.”
Whereas he’s not against giving up-and-coming bands and promoters an opportunity, he’s additionally constructed an efficient community over his years within the DIY scene. After years of profitable occasions with this cohort, he’s seeking to present them with an area to proceed their ventures, significantly as they method center maturity. “This is something to do on the side and they do it out of passion,” he says. “So I’m trying to make sure they don’t have to keep going to backyards, because they’re bringing bigger and bigger acts. They’re investing in what they’re doing, so I want to give them a proper space to do that.”
(Eric Thayer / For The Occasions)
Along with the principle room of the 5 Star Bar, Cube’s lease consists of the room subsequent door. Previously a CrossFit fitness center, the house seems to be twice the scale of the principle bar. With the rise of punk rock festivals in Los Angeles over the previous few years, equivalent to Lie Detector Fest and C.Y. Fest, it’s not unlikely that Cube will host some bigger occasions on that aspect of the venue. There are additionally some smaller rooms within the again that he plans to make use of as artist inexperienced rooms and a screenprinting studio, so the venue can print merchandise for artists on the fly.
These could seem bold targets, however Cube has expertise and a robust assist system. Whereas cleansing and fixing the place up, he’s had assist from his mother and father’ building firm, buddies and group members. To this point, he hasn’t met any critical roadblocks and is on the quick observe to opening for enterprise. Cube opened the primary few months of the venue’s calendar as much as his friends and has had no downside reserving dates whereas finishing handywork.
Individuals exterior earlier than a present on the 5 Star Bar on March 26, 2025.
(Eric Thayer / For The Occasions)
Cube is also optimistic in regards to the methods wherein the 5 Star can profit the encompassing group. Located close to the northeast nook of third and Important streets, the bar and its neighbors haven’t skilled the identical degree of gentrification as different elements of downtown. Nonetheless, with the Odor close by and the Regent just some blocks away, the 5 Star will not be the one music venue within the space. Reopening its doorways probably will carry much more foot visitors to the bar’s space of DTLA, and due to this fact profit the neighboring venues, companies and meals vehicles.
The earlier two DIY spots Cube was concerned in, Towne Sq. and the Rec Middle, additionally fostered relationships with unhoused members of their communities, coordinating assortment drives and providing pay for odd jobs. “From that point on, I’ve had the community’s full support,” he says. “From cleaning up after shows and removing recycling to walking around the block to make sure cars weren’t being messed with. That led to me finding Roger, who I put on full-time as a handyman at Towne, and will be part of the 5 Star staff.”
Since opening initially of March, the bar has hosted reveals for a variety of genres and carries the torch for Los Angeles underground music. Cube is worked up to supply a protected house for artists and promoters to host occasions with out the inherent exclusivity of a DIY house, the place venue addresses usually are left off of flyers as a protecting measure. “This ain’t that,” he says. “It’s not just something to keep to myself and my homies. This is for everyone. You ain’t gotta ask a punk!”
