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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 11, 2007

thirtyninehotel redux

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

thirtyninehotel — at 39 Hotel St., of course — the pioneering gallery/nightspot in Chinatown, has a new, more permanent look after a big spring-cleaning effort.

Photos by JOAQUIN SIOPACK | The Honolulu Advertiser

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By day, it's a gallery, with the current exhibit, "Sufferation."

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Richard Ralya, right, was busy installing the art before last week's First Friday event.

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Wood loungers sit on thirtyninehotel's outside deck.

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Maria Remos handled the vocals on a recent night at thirtynine hotel.

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Many sweet results of thirtyninehotel's reimagining were visible when I dropped in on a Saturday night.

Brand-new, full-service indoor and outdoor bars with mod-metallic stools claimed a handful of night flies. Fashionable revelers held court on a trio of sturdy hardwood loungers on the raised, outdoor ironwood deck. Sturdy wood tables and chairs sheltered by large umbrellas were scooped up by conversationalists. Strings of light hung on wood-accented and stuccoed concrete walls with cubed niches for votives and various knickknacks.

Back inside, futuristic white-vinyl modular furniture and a raised turntablist booth played nice with the space's still very-white walls and the sublime disco pulse of the Rolling Stones club perennial "Miss You."

Almost every bit of the work was constructed or conducted by executive director/owner Gelareh Khoie, staff and handy-person friends, as they shut down the art gallery/multimedia performance space for 40 days and 40 nights to give it an ambitious "spring cleaning."

The one bit of newness music junkie/sometime turntablist Khoie seemed most excited about, however, wasn't even installed yet. Excitedly, she relayed that the club had acquired four sets of Klipschorn speakers that used to belong to influential '70s DJ David Mancuso. They were used at The Loft, his notorious 1970s moveable parties in New York.

"We also have two Mark Levinson amps that are priceless," she revealed. The circa-1973 amps were wrapped and hidden under a desk, and the Klipschorns sat like towering wooden sentinels in the corners of thirtyninehotel's indoor space. Both awaited the hard-to-find cables and connectors that would unleash their warm and sweet vintage sonics.

"They're incredible speakers. And once we hook those up, if you don't start weeping at some point, you're not human," said Khoie.

"You hear things in songs that you've never heard before. Everything is fully nuanced. It's so beautiful!"

But back to the club's remake.

"I'm really interested in the idea of spring cleaning — a time when you take everything apart, you clean everything, you throw away things that accumulate," said Khoie. "A time when you put everything in order."

Thirtyninehotel had shut down to spruce things up before, but this year marked an advance for the club.

Khoie had envisioned renovations for the pioneering Hotel Street space as far back as its September 2004 opening, but, until recently, lacked funding for the five-figure price tag of the project.

"This time it was a full-frontal attack on the space," said Khoie. "It was really necessary because in order for us to sort of graduate to the next level, we needed to have a real bar (and) a lot of basic functional stuff that is required for a business that's almost three years old."

Heavy concrete cinder blocks, big buckets of stucco and multiyard pieces of lumber were hauled up thirtyninehotel's only entryway — its infamously steep and narrow Hotel Street stairway.

"We had to solicit a whole bunch of people off the street, like, 'Hey, here's 20 bucks. Would you help us unload this?' " said Khoie.

"We were here day and night. ... I was starting to have nightmares about Home Depot."

Designed in concept almost entirely by Khoie and business partner Richard Ralya, the result is a thirtyninehotel that finally looks like it has some real downtown roots laid down.

The venue's aim for its gallery exhibitions and evening events, however, hasn't changed.

"The mission in my heart is really the same," Khoie said. "Thirtyninehotel is a place for artists, musicians, writers (and) people who are in the arts.

"The space is here to function as a location where people can create art regardless of what their chosen medium is.

"... It's just a lot more solid. The staff and everybody that works here senses that feeling of solid ground under their feet. ... And I think our customers can feel that, too."

NIGHT & DAY AT 39

"I think one thing that has happened over time is that we've matured and our events have matured," thirtyninehotel executive director/owner Gelareh Khoie said about the gallery's exhibitions and eclectic evening event offerings.

"I don't want to say we're more sophisticated because I think even the raw stuff we did (in the beginning) was sophisticated. But it's more organized (and) presented in a more classy way.

"I think we have a bit more experience now."

Thirtyninehotel will launch a small food menu Tuesday, featuring four types of fresh-grilled kebabs from the Iranian-born Khoie's own recipe book. The beef, chicken, fish and veggie kebabs will be served with a soft lavosh, grilled tomato, a yogurt-cucumber-dill sauce and a handful of fresh herbs (mint, cilantro, sweet Thai basil, chives, green onion). Just wrap and eat.

"The kebabs are straight-up Persian — the way I ate them when I was in Tehran," Khoie said. "There's a bit of selfassembly required."

The grill will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Thirtyninehotel is open 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

The venue's other current pre- and post-sunset offerings include:

DAY

Current exhibit:

  • "Sufferation" — A mixed-media show of works by Hawai'i- and Mainland-based artists exploring suffering as it relates to a diversity of feelings and life events.

    NIGHT

    Current evening events:

  • Newjass Quartet — Live mod-bop and progressive jazz with drummer Justin James, saxophonist Ryan Kunimura and a changing roster of sidemen. 9 p.m. Tuesdays.

  • The Rising Melody — An open-mike night of live acoustic music hosted by multi-instrumentalist Biku. 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

  • Groove Improv Artists — Electronic and eclectic live jazz led by always musically chameleonic trumpeter DeShannon Higa. 9 p.m. Thursdays.

  • First Friday at thirtyninehotel — Opening reception for monthly exhibits, live performances and turntablism by DJs Mark Chittom and Harvey. 6 p.m. on the first Friday of the month.

  • Frequency — Live local indie bands, fashion shows and DJs Vagina, Ross Jackson, Eskae and Money spinning indie-pop, electronica, disco punk and classics. 9 p.m. on the third Friday of the month.

  • Soul Clap — A genre-be-damned DJ party — we've heard Tom Tom Club, The Jackson's, M.I.A., Yaz, INXS and the theme from "The Jefferson's" all in one night — headed by Eskae. 9 p.m. on the final Friday of the month.

  • Double Joy Disco — Formerly dubbed Lucky Tiger, Khoie's left-of-mainstream evening of sophisticated dance music. "It might not be as jammin' and packed as some places in town," Khoie said, "but you know that the crowd here on Saturdays specifically plans to come here." 9 p.m. Saturdays.

    Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.