Another downtown Victoria live music and events venue is going to shut down at the end of March.
Hermann’s Upstairs is set to shut its doors Sunday March 31, 2024.
In a brief update posted to their website on March 7th, the Arts on View Society announced that they have exercised an option to terminate the lease with the Estate of Hermann Nieweler for Hermann’s Upstairs effective March 31. The space occupies the second and third floor of the building.
In the post, the society says “This change allows us to focus specifically on the operations of Hermann’s Jazz Club and View Street Social while we explore new ways of programming the upstairs space in a financially viable manner.”
In the Spring of 2019, the non-profit society with the help of public support signed an offer to lease and operate Hermann’s Jazz Club and the other venues in the building for five years with an option to renew the lease for an additional five years. The deal effectively saved the legendary jazz club from closure.
Later in 2019, a small number of jazz and blues concerts started being booked at the second floor venue with the venue quietly being called Hermann’s Upstairs. Then the pandemic shut everything down in 2020.
On November 9, 2021 Hermann’s Upstairs was the venue that the City of Victoria held a launch event for the city’s first ever Victoria Music Strategy. It promoted a goal of making Victoria a dynamic music hub and global music destination. The city highlighted that their Music Strategy launch was the first official music event at the revitalized space.
The closure announcement deals a significant blow in year two of the five-year Music Strategy initiative.
The venue has a long history use over the decades. It was previously a short-lived Yuk-Yuks comedy club. It was had numerous names as a nightclub including Indeed, Touch, DejaVous, Red Jacket, Fever, Jet Lounge, 11 Stones and The Drawing Room and has survived at least two significant fires.
It is not known if someone else will take over running the space as a music venue. The Arts on View Society closed their statement saying “The Arts on View Society’s vision remains – to create and sustain a performing arts center in downtown Victoria.”
