INDIGOING
PLACES
THE
NEW KID ON THE BLOCK IS GROWING UP
Story
by Adrienne van der Valk • Photo by Todd Cooper
Justin Gibbs is the man who finally unset the patiently
waiting tables that sat for years anticipating a revival of the Fields
restaurant space. He is the man who brought pan-Asian chic to the
downtown bar scene in the form of massive stone Buddhas standing serenely
in the corners of his dimly lit brain child, the Indigo District.
And almost four years after opening a business that has gone through
many incarnations in its struggle to find its true identity, Gibbs
is the man who will regularly bring independent music to all-ages
audiences of up to 600 people starting in April.
 |
| Lo-Fi-Fnk
performing at the Indigo |
"We're almost like this anti-club," Gibbs tells me
when I ask him about the evolution of the almost 8000 sq. ft. space.
"We're a club, but you typically associate a nightclub with drama.
We're a club for regular people. We have a huge mix. Campus kids,
Eugene locals, we cater to a diverse crowd. A rock 'n' roll kid isn't
going to relate any better than a hip hop kid."
Gibbs acknowledges that the legacy of the Indigo District
involves a rather schizophrenic past. When the bar first opened its
heavy, wooden doors, the menu advertised a business lunch, gourmet
coffee and bar food served long into the night, well after the liquor
stopped flowing.
"The new direction has refined the scope of what we're
trying to do," he explains. "When we first started, it was like 'It's
a restaurant, it's a bar, it's a music venue, it's an Internet café.'
We were going all day every day with just me managing. And as much
as I loved being a restaurateur, it happened at the expense of doing
music. That's my primary passion."
In the last year, the Indigo District has been keeping
primarily evening hours, hosting music regularly, throwing raging
dance parties and "doing a few things well," as Gibbs would say. After
trying out so many types of business plans and suffering some low
points, he and his staff are excited to settle into being "a music
venue that serves food and drinks and does club nights."
"We had some growing pains in the last year. 2006
was an awkward point between being a new bar and an established bar.
We had to adjust our vision."
This new vision will capitalize on what Gibbs refers
to as the "cross-pollination between hip hop, rock and electronic"
emerging in the independent music scene. He hopes that by bringing
bands who blend the best of the best musically, the Indigo District
will, by extension, provide the optimal nightlife experience for those
committed to keeping the funk alive in Eugene.
"Eugene geographically is a great location," Gibbs
says of his choice to exercise his entrepreneurial spirit in a city
of such modest size. "It's off I-5, it's a college town, and basically
being smaller, it is easier to do something like this. Every time
I go abroad or go to cities like New York and go to the clubs there,
I always come back feeling really secure about this space."
Watch the Weekly for more on the Indigo District's
new, all-ages music venue, coming soon!
