Mojo's, 856 10th Street, Arcata, CA

Capacity 800


Mojos was a pretty cool club — THE club in Humboldt at that time.

Mojo's was located in the building that previously had housed the Arcata Bowl when it was on 10th street between H and I Streets.

The dance floor was still composed of the original hardwood floors from the bowling alley and even included the little inlayed arrows that are found on bowling lanes.
Capacity was in the neighborhood of 800 people and was the last sizeable dance floor/music venue in Arcata.
It was adjoining a Mexican Restaurant called The Red Pepper, both of which went out of business around 1985.
Mojos had been a musical institution in Arcata prior to its closing, but the Jerry Garcia Band shows have always locally been the infamous shows from the venue.
The Mojos building had a few brief stints as other venues (Toppers 856 Club in 1986 and ??...) - nothing had really changed other then the name but they never pulled off the music scene that Mojos had.

The buildings were sold around 1987 to an ex-Oakland Raider (Mario Celotto) who started the Humboldt Brewery in the building that previously had housed the Red Pepper.  They remodeled Mojos and reopened it as The International Beer Garden, under which it was operated until the early 1990's.  The venue was poorly managed by the brewery and hence not seen as a "money maker", so they sadly gutted the building, including the bowling lane floors, and turned it into a production facility for their low quality micro brew.  Sadly this was the death of the last sizeable dance hall in Arcata and the local music scene has suffered ever since.

Arcata's music scene has never been the same since Mojos closed and once the Humboldt Brewery gutted the building, they removed the last hope of a venue of this size and type ever occurring in Arcata again...many old-time Arcatans refuse to patronize this brewery for this reason (not to mention their beer has consistently been poor since they opened).  A sadly lost music scene and an almost forgotten venue that housed the last Jerry Garcia Band shows in Arcata.

Humboldt Brews in Arcata used to have a pole in the middle of their stage. If you have been in for a brew lately than you have noticed that not only is the pole gone, but the stage has completely relocated to the back of the bar in a much needed remodel.

Jerry performed here on
3/18/82 Jerry Garcia Band
3/19/82 Jerry Garcia Band