Darin Dixon plans to bring his lifelong passion for music and live performances full circle by opening up an entertainment venue in the former Gaslighter Theater in downtown Gilroy.
The venue that Dixon plans to name The District will open later this summer, he said.
It is located at 7430 Monterey Road behind a dark wooden door tucked between two smaller shops.
The front door opens into a narrow hallway that leads into the vast expanse of a theater, with a common no-frills small-venue design that includes the stage at the rear of the room and the bar at the front, near the end of the entry hallway.
Dixon has owned The Music Tree in downtown Morgan Hill—a 38-year-old mainstay—for about eight years. Working with some of his Music Tree associates to open The District for a variety of acts, summer music camps, student recitals and private events is an effort to enlarge The Music Tree’s footprint.
“Having this and The Music Tree is a way of expanding our influence on the entertainment community in the South Bay,” Dixon said.
Dixon, 42, has played music his whole life. He first performed on stage at the age of 4. His first job was as a music DJ in junior high school, and ever since then he has been an independent sound technician for countless bands and producers.
Dixon is also a guitar player who played with fourwayfree, which toured across the nation for several years. Recently he has played as a “gun for hire” for various acts including JJ Hawg, Blue Dog and Austin Corini.
Working with Dixon to open The District is James Avena, a Music Tree employee and member of JJ Hawg; and Sam Curtis, a music producer who owns and operates Studio 13 in the Morgan Hill Downtown Mall behind Dixon’s store.
Avena will be in charge of booking bands for The District.
“This is a club run by musicians,” Avena said. “We want to give the bands a venue where they’re comfortable.”
Curtis will be the venue’s sound engineer and take care of some “behind the scenes” tasks, he said.
The Music Tree has offered lessons through a number of instructors, for students of all ages for several years. So a key idea behind opening up The District was to give these music learners—including young children—a venue to perform the skills and songs they have learned locally.
Also, with a capacity of 350 people, The District can serve as a venue for regional and even big-name national acts on the weekends. Dixon anticipates “a lot of country music” will be performed at The District.
They also plan to rent the venue out for fashion shows, corporate events and birthday parties. They might even have theme nights some evenings, but with the energy and enthusiasm of Dixon and his crew make it sound like the possibilities are endless.
“We’re coming in here with fresh eyes,” Curtis added. “We’re not going to an outside source. We are the source. This is just kind of where we need to end up. We really need a place, a home base to really improve on.”
Dixon and his crew are in the process of gaining all the permits he needs to open and remodeling the interior of the theater, which was formerly occupied by 9Lives. He hopes to have a “soft opening” by the beginning of July.
“This is my first time starting a business from scratch,” Dixon said. “I see the relationship between entertainment and hospitality, and I wanted to take my experience into this. This is going to allow us to expand on our contribution to this community.”
