5 Star Bar, DTLA's haven for underground music, reopens under new ownership

Los Angeles Times

04-04-2025

Like the rest of the country, downtown Los Angeles saw many of its beloved establishments close their doors for good during the pandemic. Among them was 5 Star Bar, an authentic dive bar that served cheap beer, grilled simple, tasty burgers and hosted live music. Sadly, it often isn't until after unassuming dive bars and music venues shut down that their true significance is recognized. Fortunately, a longtime fixture in the Los Angeles DIY music scene known mononymously as Dice has stepped in to reopen the 5 Star Bar in an effort to provide artists with a stage and music lovers with a sanctuary while uplifting the surrounding community.
The structure that houses 5 Star Bar was constructed at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, its high ceilings and patterned tiled floors remain as relics of a younger Los Angeles. Prior to its closing in 2021, Marco Cordova's family had run 5 Star Bar since 1971. His father, Roberto, acquired it shortly after purchasing a pool hall called First Street Billiards in Boyle Heights. Roberto died in 1992 and Marco took over operations for both businesses, bringing along his love for live music.
By the late '90s, Cordova had brought in a stage, borrowed sound equipment from original Fishbone bassist John Norwood Fisher and started working with local music promoters to host shows. In a 2019 mini-documentary, Cordova claimed that the 5 Star had been targeted by the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad for hosting punk rock bands and bringing in the accompanying crowd. He said a lieutenant who helped him acquire a proper entertainment permit explicitly warned him against booking hip-hop, metal and punk rock artists. 'To me, that's being stereotypical,' Cordova said. 'That's not how I run my business.'
Los Angeles hometown hip-hop hero 2Mex, hardcore punk originators the Adolescents and psychedelic cumbia revivalists Thee Commons (now known as Tropa Magica) are just a few of the countless artists who took the stage at the 5 Star over the next two decades. Cordova also opened the bar to film crews who shot scenes for television shows, movies and music videos there. The music video for Kendrick Lamar's song 'i,' which prominently features the interior of the 5 Star Bar, was shot long before the rapper became a household name.
In the summer of 2021, a sign was posted in the bar's window stating that its 50th anniversary would 'be in the form of a forced closure.' Unfortunately, this wasn't a complete surprise. The 5 Star had outlasted a demolition notice from a new landlord in 2016 and now music communities across the nation were emerging from the COVID-19 shutdown to find that many of their favorite venues would not be reopening. The next couple of years would be a rebuilding period, as DIY shows persisted and new venues eventually popped up.
The next chapter in the history of the 5 Star Bar will be led by Dice, a veteran of the local DIY punk and metal scenes. As a teenager, he hosted shows in the driveway of his childhood home in San Fernando. Around 2017, he got involved with a DIY venue in downtown Los Angeles known as the Rec Center and organized a wide range of punk rock, metal and experimental shows. The space became a mandatory stop for local artists such as punk rock group Dead City and garage rockers Warm Drag.
Not long after the Rec Center permanently closed, Dice joined up with another DIY venue downtown, Towne Square. The new space gave him the opportunity to book larger shows and even allowed him to broaden his scope beyond just music. 'It was an old art gallery,' he recalls. 'So I was doing a lot of that. I was bringing tattoo artists and letting them do whatever they wanted to do. I would let them paint on the walls.'
Towne Square is still an active venue, although Dice is no longer involved with it. Instead, he's focused on a venue with which he has a long personal history: the 5 Star Bar. 'Actually, this is one of the bars I started sneaking into,' he laughs. Dice attended concerts at the 5 Star throughout the 2010s and ended up working with Born for Burning, a heavy metal production company that had been organizing events at the bar. Led by Kim Galdamez, who DJs and hosts a show at the online radio station NTS Radio, Born for Burning has since brought international bands to Los Angeles, booked tours and organized events across the country.
When his business partners approached him with a proposition to reopen the 5 Star Bar, Dice saw an opportunity to progress his own endeavors as well as the history of a venue that he had experienced firsthand. 'I've always wanted to do things in a more legit way,' he says. 'I feel like I was able to level up each time. Rec Center was its own thing. Towne Square was a lot different. I feel like a lot of the right people have been choosing to work with me and in turn, I'm learning a lot. And it led me up to something big like this.'
Although the 5 Star Bar will be under entirely new ownership, Dice plans to continue using the name. 'I would like to keep the name for the legacy,' he explains. 'I'm not doing it for anything else really. I want to keep this thing going. I have a lot of history here, so to be able to continue it and do things the way I've always kind of felt things should be done is a wild feeling for sure.'
While he's not opposed to giving up-and-coming bands and promoters a chance, he's also built an effective network over his years in the DIY scene. After years of successful events with this cohort, he is looking to provide them with a space to continue their ventures, particularly as they approach middle adulthood. 'This is something to do on the side and they do it out of passion,' he says. 'So I'm trying to make sure they don't have to keep going to backyards, because they're bringing bigger and bigger acts. They're investing in what they're doing, so I want to give them a proper space to do that.'
In addition to the main room of the 5 Star Bar, Dice's lease includes the room next door. Formerly a CrossFit gym, the space appears to be twice the size of the main bar. With the increase of punk rock festivals in Los Angeles over the past few years, such as Lie Detector Fest and C.Y. Fest, it's not unlikely that Dice will host some larger events on that side of the venue. There are also some smaller rooms in the back that he plans to use as artist green rooms and a screenprinting studio, so the venue can print merchandise for artists on the fly.
These may seem ambitious goals, but Dice has experience and a strong support system. While cleaning and fixing the place up, he's had help from his parents' construction company, friends and community members. So far, he hasn't met any serious roadblocks and is on the fast track to opening for business. Dice opened the first few months of the venue's calendar up to his peers and has had no problem booking dates while completing handywork.
Dice also is optimistic about the ways in which the 5 Star can benefit the surrounding community. Situated near the northeast corner of 3rd and Main streets, the bar and its neighbors have not experienced the same level of gentrification as other parts of downtown. However, with the Smell nearby and the Regent just a few blocks away, the 5 Star is not the only music venue in the area. Reopening its doors likely will bring even more foot traffic to the bar's area of DTLA, and therefore benefit the neighboring venues, businesses and food trucks.
The previous two DIY spots Dice was involved in, Towne Square and the Rec Center, also fostered relationships with unhoused members of their communities, coordinating collection drives and offering pay for odd jobs. 'From that point on, I've had the community's full support,' he says. 'From cleaning up after shows and removing recycling to walking around the block to make sure cars weren't being messed with. That led to me finding Roger, who I put on full-time as a handyman at Towne, and will be part of the 5 Star staff.'
Since opening at the beginning of March, the bar has hosted shows for a wide range of genres and carries the torch for Los Angeles underground music. Dice is excited to provide a safe space for artists and promoters to host events without the inherent exclusivity of a DIY space, where venue addresses often are left off of flyers as a protective measure. 'This ain't that,' he says. 'It's not just something to keep to myself and my homies. This is for everyone. You ain't gotta ask a punk!'