Golden Bear’s back pages

Folk singer Bob Dylan once sang, “The times they are a-changin’.”

That tune by Dylan, who played at the old Golden Bear nightclub on

Pacific Coast Highway, along with such entertainment greats as Jimi

Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Steve Martin and Jerry Garcia, could have been

set as the backdrop in 1986 when the venue met the wrecking ball.

At that time, Huntington Beach Downtown was undergoing a

metamorphosis. The old relics and facades of the past were being

razed in exchange for newer, more upscale attractions.

The Golden Bear, built in 1929, was not to be an exception.

Despite attempts by residents and local activists to keep the

Golden Bear alive, it ultimately passed into history, and its former

site gave way to the condos, dining and retail shops that line

Pacific Coast Highway just east of Main Street.

For awhile, the Golden Bear lived on as Pepper’s Golden Bear

nightclub, but that didn’t last and the times, well, they just kept

on “a-changin’.”

Now, that famous stage is but a fading memory, but if HBTV

cameraman Robert Carvounas can help it, it will live on at least on

paper.

Carvounas is compiling memories of the Golden Bear for a book he

is writing that will include photographs, concert posters and

hopefully myriad essays from Surf City locals, who can share their

fond memories of watching Jethro Tull or listening to Charles

Bukowski poetry readings.

Or maybe we just recall an another old poet, who once sang these

lines:

“Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen

And keep your eyes wide

The chance won’t come again

And don’t speak too soon

For the wheel’s still in spin

And there’s no tellin’ who

That it’s namin’.

For the loser now

Will be later to win

For the times they are a-changin’.”