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“You have got to see this first,” said Gary Folgner, owner of the Coach House Concert Hall in San Juan Capistrano, as he walked into the kitchen at the storied music venue.
Inside the small but clean industrial kitchen baked potatoes are wrapped in foil ready to go into the oven and the pilot light glows, a steady flame ready to ignite the burners at a moments notice.
“This place puts out 300 dinners,” Folgner said.
This year the Coach House celebrates 45 years of operation with Folgner at the helm, bringing some of the biggest names in music and comedy to the intimate, 480-seat venue. It’s located just off Camino Capistrano, where a red double-decker bus used to sit as a landmark to direct patrons to the slightly hidden club. The red bus subsequently became the venue’s logo and at 84 years old, Folgner is still involved in the day-to-day operations, providing dinner and a show.
“The menu is very simple and works really well,” Folgner said.
Folgner bought the Coach House in 1980 for $52,000, operating it as a steakhouse restaurant with live country music on the weekends. Then in 1986 the nearby Golden Bear in Huntington Beach closed. The iconic music venue had been hosting rock ‘n’ roll legends like Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan and the Doors since 1966. The Golden Bear was gone, but not forgotten; plans are underway to revive it in Anaheim at OCVibe. With no where else in Orange County for live rock music to play, Folgner began booking the bands on his stage at the Coach House, thus ushering in a new era of live music for the little steakhouse.
“I got their whole concert schedule and we never stopped from there,” Folgner said.
“Please welcome to the stage …”
It isn’t easy to find a clear space on any of the walls inside the Coach House. Nearly every inch is lined with framed and autographed photos of famous musicians and comedians who have performed there. Big names like Miles Davis, BB King, Bonnie Raitt, Ray Charles, Pat Benatar, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Sinead O’Connor, Dana Carvey and Jerry Seinfeld have all been on the Coach House stage.
On the wall just outside the kitchen door, Folgner points out Norah Jones, Blake Sheldon, David Allen Coe and Debbie Reynolds.
“She played here two days before her daughter died, and that was the end of her performing,” said Folgner, referring to the death of Carrie Fisher in 2016. Reynolds died the day after Fisher.
At the main entrance Roseanne Barr, Debbie Harry and Chris Isaak are scattered among the sea of framed photos.
“The first time Chris Isaak played here, it was for $1,500,” Folgner recalls.
The tiny stage once held both Leon Russell, who Folgner was closer friends with, and Willie Nelson for a show. The Everly Brothers, Randy Newman, The Bacon Brothers, Chet Atkins, David Crosby, Etta James, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, Michael McDonald, Natalie Cole and Peter Frampton are also Coach House alumni.
Folgner credits the venue’s reputation for good hospitality that keeps big names coming back.
“When national acts are on the road, this is their home for the day,” Folgner said. “If you don’t treat them well, they are going to have bad day.”
Folgner also knows how to hire. When Calvin Hardy, a bass player who toured with Ike and Tina Turner and Etta James, came looking for a job as a dishwasher, Folgner made him director of hospitality. He excelled in his role at the Coach House for 15 years.
“Every band that came in here loved him. We would have agents say, ‘Is Cal still there? Ok, then we’ll continue booking,’” said Blake Folgner, Gary’s nephew and chief operating officer at the venue.
Talent orders dinner right off the menu and gets comfortable at one of the venue’s many dressing rooms, which are themed and located within the labyrinth of the building. Signage directing talent to the stage is everywhere since people are easily lost.
Sometimes there are surprises and acts that aren’t on the bill. In 2020, Ian Hunter & the Rant Band played, then actor and musician Johnny Depp strapped on a guitar to join them.
Blake remembers friends in high school excitedly inviting him to check out a cool new band called The Violent Femmes at a small local venue, not knowing his Uncle owned the place.
Doug Starks, director at the Coach House, remembers when guitar legend Buddy Guy played, getting even closer to the audience by walking around the dining tables.
“This has been a place of where you can count on seeing some of your favorite bands,” Starks said. “Chances are you will leave with a show, a good meal and having made a friend.”
Starks kicked off the anniversary celebration in April as the first performance in the “Coach House Concert Hall Celebratory Concert Series” with his act celebrating the music of Stevie Wonder called “Higher Ground.” A comedian and singer who has toured with the likes of Julio Iglesias, Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole and Ray Charles, Starks has made it on to Folgner’s wall of fame. His photo up on a beam near the back bar, a true testament to how Coach House musicians often become family.
“The best seat in the house”
Long banquet tables go right up to the stage and the coveted seats up front are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis. The place seats 480, with 300 of those seats reserved for dining patrons. The earlier reservation are made, the better chance of being right up front, although Blake maintains there isn’t a bad seat in the house.
There are even private rooms upstairs that give you an elevated view of the stage. The rooms are also themed; a hippie room with black light posters and beaded curtains and a taco room, an homage to the Villa Mexican Restaurant in Dana Point, another business Folgner owned at one time.
“When you rent a private room upstairs, you have a waitress that just serves up here,” Blake said. “We have eight different rooms and each one holds a different quantity of people.”
The intimacy is part of what makes the venue so unique.
“I went to an 11,000-seat venue and had front-row tickets, but the artist is still 100 feet away,” Folgner said.
The furthest seat from the stage at the Coach House is 40 feet.
“The band plays on”
The Coach House is still a steakhouse in some sense, with a simple menu of filet mignon and New York strip steak offered. There is also a “Catch of the Day” and nostalgic appetizers like mozzarella sticks and potato skins.
Folgner is adamant that dinners come out fast, before the show begins so people can fully enjoy the performance.
“We don’t want any serving happening during the show,” said Folgner.
Starks insists diners don’t skip dessert, especially the mud pie made in house with a real Oreo cookie crust, coffee ice cream and enough whipped cream and chocolate syrup to make a bright red maraschino cherry obligatory.
Patrons can celebrate the 45-year anniversary by coming in for their own slice of mud pie during the “Coach House Concert Hall Celebratory Concert Series,” which is ongoing through the rest of the year. On May 29 the dynamic duo The War and Treaty will take the stage followed by American singer-songwriter Don McLean, best known for his 1971 hit, “American Pie” on June 14. On Oct. 3, Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton, will make an appearance. The line up leads up to yet-to-be-announced main event, with the proceeds of the box office revenue donated to San Juan Capistrano-based therapeutic riding facility, The Shea Center.
There is even talk of bringing the double-decker bus back for the occasion, but other than the restored bus, Folgner said he doesn’t plan to alter the Coach House.
“We are not going to change a whole lot. We are going to try to keep the big name entertainment here,” said Folgner. “That’s what we do.”
For a full concert schedule and tickets visit thecoachhouse.com
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