The former Baja Brewing Co. building, near the San Diego Convention Center, has operated on and off as a nightclub over the years and is ready to rise again. Local entrepreneur Sal D’Elia, who also owns the Tsunami Beach Club in town, wanted to open an upscale nightclub, and the vacant building proved the perfect location.
Although it was fairly dilapidated, it has been converted into the new Tantra Sutra club, with the assistance of interior designer Michael Hogue of Hogue & Associates and Brad Donaldson of California Sound & Lighting (CSL). The two-room venue provides a combined 1,000-plus capacity while the patio will offer further space for upscale dining.
Donaldson installed a cutting-edge sound and lighting system on a contract rental basis in just two days. He enjoys a close relationship with the Stanton Group, so there is an assortment of Coemar moving heads on suspended lighting truss, fabricated by ITTC, which works its way around a main supporting beam.
A dozen Coemar iSpot 150s scatter beams and gobo patterns around the floor and walls. "These fixtures represent really good value, and the gobo patterns are great," says Donaldson. He installed other effects, including an Omni laser, all run off a Martin Light Jockey.