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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Fishbowl promoters Patrick Larkin, left, and Eric Fanali are at the core of the club's success.
Fun in a Fishbowl
Teens find respite from the same old scene at downtown club
By Sam Scott
Sharon Bullene, 16, is sitting with friends in the parking lot of the Fishbowl, a Saturday-night club for high school students. The music in the club is too loud for conversation, so the teenagers have migrated outside for a moment. Bullene says if she wasn't at the club, she'd be doing something more conventional.
"I'd probably be at someone's home watching a movie," she says. "Or hanging out in Los Gatos."
Or perhaps pulling her hair out. There aren't many options for teens tired of the movies--miniature golf--hanging out circuit. Many music shows by contemporary bands also bar minors.
"A lot of shows you try to go to are 21-plus," Tom Bowmer, 18, says. "I like that this is all kids 18 and under."
The Fishbowl, which recently won a state award for innovation, is Sunnyvale's attempt to remedy the lack of options teens face on weekends. The club has a surreal setup. Teens crowd around a band, while on the other side of a glass wall, bakers go about their business of making bread.
In San Francisco or New York, a club might be designed like this for novelty affect. The Fishbowl does it because a cafe/bakery was the only space available. Kay Whitney, senior coordinator of youth services for the city, says Le Boulanger answered the city's search for space, offering its 305 N. Mathilda Avenue location as venue. It's a cafe by day, punk music club by (Saturday) night.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Teens listen intently while punk band, Agent 51 plays at the Fishbowl.
The unlikely combination seems to be winning loyal support from a sector of local teenagers and applause from adults. Attendance is steady in the hundreds. The California Park and Recreation Service recently named the program one of the top three innovative teen programs in the state.
With a minimum of adult supervision, teens run much of what goes on. A Fishbowl Advisory Board, made up of youth who attend the club, charts much of the club's activities.
"We listen to what they tell us," Whitney says. "It's part of the reason for success."
Robyn Nixon, 19, has been with the program since its inception just more than a year ago. "I'm really pleased with the way it turned out," she says. "It gives lots of teens things to do on a Saturday."
The biggest innovation of the program may be how far they stretch their limited money. Whitney says a $50,000 annual budget pays for staff and rent. The bands don't get a piece of that pie, though they do get bread.
"It's free bread and coffee, know what I mean?" says Eric Fanali, 20, who books the club. Fanali says even some of the bigger bands are willing to play for free in exchange for a chance to connect with their most supportive audience.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
