Please Don't Stop the Music

*Note...all these pictures belong to Anthony Valadez and were borrowed so you could feel the love we felt at Little Temple on Saturday nights.

Way back in 2010. At Little Temple, everyone
was there to smile.

There has been a lot of heartbreak in my life recently but I feel like I've been handling it pretty ok.  There is just one situation that I am really torn up about and I feel like I need to just come on out and say it.  The relationship started in 2007. I was coming to LA to visit my then boyfriend.  (We were in a long-distance relationship.) One thing we loved to do was shake our booties to really good music.  A quick search on Yelp revealed a little hole-in-the-wall place called Little Temple.  The reviews were mixed but the bad ones read something like, "Not enough Top 40 or House.  Lots of hip hop."  To us, that was just the kind of bad review we liked to read.  We drove to this strange corner of LA where there seemed to only be the club, a 7-11, and a taco stand.  Perfection.  We hopped in and danced all night long. That is when I first started my love affair with Little Temple.

Fast forward to 2009.  I moved to LA "permanently" to be closer to that BF and it turns out Little Temple was in the same neighborhood of my new apartment.  What used to be a random street corner now became a local spot.  Silver Lake, an up-and-coming-tryingtobegentrified neighborhood of LA boasted a weekly Farmer's Market, lots of coffee shops, great shopping and restaurants, and my favorite dance spot. It seemed like we were at Little Temple every weekend.  They had a DJ (Anthony Valadez) who played an amazing mix of old school hip hop, some top 40, Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, even Jitterbug found a place in the mix...y'know, stuff you could really move to.  They had a second dance floor, the B room, where DJ Destroyer spun a lot of reggae and funky tunes.  Little Temple also boasted an amazing MC.  KG Superstar came on the stage on Saturday nights with Anthony and got the crowd moving, dancing, and laughing.   I brought all my friends there and started to recognize the faces of folks who came out every Saturday just like us...to get down. (Anthony and KG also do Friday nights at Zanzibar, which is fun, but Little Temple was a cozy little spot that felt like a big ol' hug while you danced.)

Jen and I...madly in love with Little Temple

What I loved most about Little Temple was that I could roll in and not be judged based on what I wore, what I looked like, or who I was with.  In a city that pays a lot of attention to those things it was nice to feel like I had a place where I belonged.  Just like they said in Cheers, sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.  The family at Little Temple became a family to me.  Black, White, tall, short, big folk, tiny folk, gay, straight.  It didn't matter.  We were all welcome and we were all there for the same reason...to dance.  An added bonus was that the next day we could hop on to Anthony's blog and see our smiling faces dancing in his pictures from the night before. (ALL pictures here were posted on Anthony's fb and blog.)

Little Temple really became a home for me when I broke up with my BF.  I went there to dance the blues away, to feel like myself, and to heal.  I became friends with KG and he helped me focus on my own dreams.  It was KG who encouraged me to pursue my dreams of opening a bookstore and as he put it, "Become the best version of (me) I could be."  Where else can you go and create that kind of friendship with an MC??!!

Yes, my mom and sister getting down with all the
happy people.

I moved back to Boston shortly after the break-up and every Saturday night I missed the scene at Little Temple.  Sunday mornings I looked through the pictures and wished I could have been there shaking my ass.  There just wasn't a place like it anywhere else.  I won't lie, it is a small part of why I wanted to come back to LA.  This year, I moved back to LA and even closer to Little Temple, resuming my place on their dance floor on Saturday nights. Any friends from out of town came with me.  Two friends with Phds in Math broke it down, my best friends from college came and couldn't believe there was a spot like this. Even my mom came and got down with her bad self on the dance floor of Little Temple!

Alas, tragedy struck.  Little Temple had a shooting outside of the club last year and I guess it was only a matter of time before they decided to switch things up.  In the Spring of this year, Little Temple underwent a makeover and became, "The Virgil."  They put up pretty wall-paper, created classy cocktails, they got rid of the "B" room and DJ Destroyer and brought in a juke-box.  ("The best juke box ever, don't worry" assured the new bartender.)  The Virgil cleaned house of the staff.  The manager, the bartenders, DJ Destroyer, some bouncers...all let go.  However, they did keep Anthony and KG around on Saturday nights.  My first time in the drinks took 15 minutes to order but the music was great so I chalked it up to a new bar trying to get it's feet wet.

The cast of the musical Fela rolled through to Little Temple

The second time I went, and sadly the last time, the new door guy asked me if I had ever been to the club before.  Ha!  I assured him I had been there before and the problem was that HE had not been there before.  He seemed friendly and went on to explain they wanted a new image.  "You know, less guys with tattoos on their faces."  My friend Jen looked him straight in the eye and said, "We liked those guys."

We walked in to the juke box room and sat down to have a drink.  The smiley-fresh new bartender welcomed us, again asked if we had ever been there before and then also explained how they were trying to change the scene.  The manager sat down and chatted us up.  Everyone seemed happy and friendly and we downed our cocktails and strutted our stuff to the dance floor.  I saw familiar faces, the music was amazing, and we had a great time.  It seemed like this might be ok.  Little Temple with nicer wallpaper but basically the same scene was something I could handle.

I guess I should have seen it coming.  I didn't.  Two weeks ago I found out that Anthony and KG had been let go.  On a Wednesday.  Over the phone.  They had no idea that the previous Saturday (oddly enough, KG's birthday) was their last time to grace the stage of Little Temple.  "We want to attract a (different) crowd."  No goodbye, no word to the Little Temple family, just pack your bags and have a nice life.  These men have been doing the Little Temple Saturday gig for 7 years and they were let go without the respect they deserved.

Last night Jen and I went in just to see what had become of our home away from home.  Empty.  Lonely DJ on the stage.  Hipsters gathered around the juke box.  The music wasn't the same.  The place seemed sad.  The only non-white folk worked at the bar. Everyone looked the same.  Their tattoos were appropriately placed on their arms.  We couldn't stand it.  We said goodbye to the one remaining employee from the Little Temple days, told him we appreciated all the fun we had, and left. We went to one of those places in Hollywood where young, drunk folk like to hit on you and getting your dance on is an after-thought.


I am heart-broken.  I am angry.  I am glad the hipsters have found a home in my beloved Silver Lake but I am sad. I understand it is business and they have a right to attract whomever they want.  However, there is a community in LA, and beyond, left without a place to feel welcome regardless of who you are or what you look like.  It was more than a bar where you could grab a drink.  At Little Temple, adversity was overcome through music and dancing.  Diversity was given a place to flourish.

KG and Anthony...thanks for all the LOVE!

To the family and friends I grew to know and love and appreciate at Little Temple, thank you for being there when I needed you.  I wish I could do the same.  Anthony and KG...we will wait for your new Saturday spot and we will follow you there.  Cheers gents, and thanks.