The music club founded by brothers Jack and Jeff Groetsch first opened its doors in 1988 in a small L-shaped room in Fat City. It later moved to South Peters Street and was sold to Howie Kaplan. In 2005, Kaplan moved the club to a larger room a block away.

In a November 2003 OffBeat interview, Kaplan talked about purchasing the club: “A little piece came out in Keith Spera’s [OffBeat