The Ché Café
Small But Mighty, The Ché Café, Is a Hidden Gem
If you’ve been to UCSD’s large and spread out campus, you might’ve missed this small venue! The Ché Café is a DIY venue, vegan cafe, and live music venue located on the University of California, San Diego campus in La Jolla, California. Lead vocalist of Rage Against the Machine, Zack de la Rocha, described the venue as “A place that is not only a great venue, but a source of inspiration and community building for any artist, student, or worker that has entered its doors.”
The Venue
This 170 person capacity venue was founded in 1980 by University of California, San Diego (UCSD) students and continues to be run by the current student classes as well as other student-run staff and management. Although the venue hosts local and touring names weekly, the venue’s history is not such a happy one with the University that it’s a part of. Since 2000, the University has attempted numerous times to evict and lock out the tenants of the venue, in hopes to eradicate the venue and it’s patrons all together. This conflict carried on for over 18 years until recent renovations to the venue seemed to subdue the tension currently.
All the legal tension doesn’t hide the fact that the Ché Café is an awesome venue for small bands in the region!
Tips and Tricks
The Ché Café is a worker’s collective and they are volunteer run. They have collective meetings on Mondays at 7pm and make decisions using consensus. If you’re feeling like working with a group of people that care about the live local music scene, we recommend hitting them up!
All shows typically range in prices from $5 – $15 and are cash only. Sorry Venmo peeps. Also, since their shows are ALL AGES, there is a curfew The Ché Café likes to abide by. Shows will run from 7PM to 11PM.