The Cactus Club was a nightclub in the South of First Area (SoFA) of Downtown San Jose, California. The concept of The Cactus Club was created by Sean Galvin and Mike Trippett. It was Producer/Promoter Ric Hines who made the opening of the Cactus Club possible with his business experience and professional network. Hines recruited partner Bob Cullen who's nickname "Cactus Bob" was used to name the club. Mike's brother Calvin Trippett was brought in later as the booking agent for the club. The Cactus Club opened in 1988 and remained open until 2002.
Emphasising music, the club featured many local and national touring acts as well as themed dance nights.
Among the Bay Area bands that got some of their start from playing the Cactus Club are Smash Mouth, The Donnas, Papa Roach, Insolence, Upstart Crow, Ded Neyber, Torn, Diatribe, Monkey, Cafe of Regret, Green Day, Alien Ant Farm, and The Odd Numbers. The Cactus is often noted as being one of the first clubs in the Bay Area to attempt an end of pay-to-play practices that Bay Area clubs had been doing for a long time.
Major touring acts such as Nirvana, Korn, Queens of the Stone Age, Deftones, MC Hammer, Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, Alanis Morissette, Mother Love Bone, Incubus, System of a Down, A Perfect Circle, Rage Against the Machine and Weezer have all played the Cactus Club. An infamous story went around when Nirvana played to around 10 people at the club, and merely weeks later were on top of the charts.
After closing in 2002, Cactus Club co-owner Craig Yamato opened a new nightclub in downtown San Jose called The Blank Club.
Famous quotes containing the words cactus and/or club:
“This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“The creation of “strong-minded” women, so-called, is due to the individualism of men, to the modern selfish and speculative spirit which absorbs everything within itself and leaves women nothing but self-assertion for their protection and support.”
—“Jennie June” Croly 1829–1901, U.S. founder of the woman’s club movement, journalist, author, editor. Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly and Mirror of Fashions, p. 44 (February 1870)