Help buy Hell\'s Kitchen a sprinkler system this Christmas

Tacoma’s premier local music venue Hell’s Kitchen needs a sprinkler system.

If they do not get one, they face some major financial hurdles, or could potentially be forced to relocate or even shut down.

For all the Hell’s Kitchen fans out there, which is pretty much every local rock band, their friends, their family, and the hordes of local rock fans, that is a problem.

That is why co-owners Ken “Flash” Connel, Pat Dawson and Casey Kraft are seeking the community’s help to keep them afloat.

The Kitchen is trying to raise $60,000 to pay for the system, installation, and water-pressure restructuring needed to comply with a state law implemented last year.

“We’re a single-story cinderblock building with multiple exits,” the frustrated Flash said in response to the burdensome mandate. “There hasn’t been any kind of nightclub fire on the West Coast in 100 years.” He said this all goes back to the fatal Rhode Island nightclub fire in 2003 during a Great White concert where nearly 100 people died.

So far, Hell’s Kitchen has held four fundraising shows and has raked in $6,000.

More sprinkler system benefit shows are on the horizon, including one on Dec. 27 with local bands Violence Unfolds, Dead Soul Funeral, Death Pussy and Total Wreck. The sixth benefit will be on Jan. 31 with The Pleasure Elite – a show that owners are guessing will bring in at least a couple thousand dollars on its own – but they will still have a ways to go.

“We were trying to figure out how we were going to do this without having to beg our friends and family,” Flash said. And while financing and re-locating may be possible options for the Kitchen if community support does not come through, those are options that owners would like to avoid at best.

Financing, even with help from the building’s owner, could still likely double the Kitchen’s rent. And relocating could do the same, while simultaneously hurting business because of patrons having to adjust to a new location.

“We’re very established in that (6th Avenue and Proctor) location,” Flash said. “It’s the right area of Tacoma for what we do. There’s a lot more potential trouble in other parts of Tacoma.”

So, it sounds as though the only real option is for local fans and friends to step up and shell out a little dough for the struggling venue. And for all that the Kitchen does for the community, it is the least the community could do for the Kitchen, or for themselves for that matter.

Interested in supporting Hell’s Kitchen through this endeavor? Come to the fifth sprinkler benefit show Dec. 27. A $5 donation is requested at the door to see four great local bands that are donating their time for the cause. Also, keep checking in with the venue on future fundraising shows throughout the next couple of months.

Interested in donating your band’s time to benefit Hell’s Kitchen? Contact Flash at (253) 209-7798. Hell’s Kitchen is located at 3826 6th Ave.

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