Charleston Music Venue

This place is a small concert place in Bremerton Washington. Bremerton is a small town which is a ferry ride from Seattle. The town figured rather prominently into the song "Move to Bremerton" where they sang "Drop out of school and run away Quit your job, you got a place to stay Pack your bags and hitch a ride Bremerton's a good place to reside". While Bremerton is an interesting place, I wouldn't suggest you drop out of school or quit your job to move there.

The Charleston is an ok music venue. They have the standard sticker covered decor, the staff with lots of tattoo's and interesting fashion sense, the patrons who are equally delightfully whimsical. My favorite part of this bar is the beer selection. I admit, it's not the most geekiest, but for a bar of this type finding redhook, dead guy, ninkasi is very good.

However, I couldn't help but notice that when I got into the bar they had signs up for 2 dollar PBR, When I went up to the bar, they were "All out of PBR". Yet, a few hours later the signs were down and they were magically sticked with LOTS OF PBR!. I'm sorry I find this to be in poor taste, rude, and bad business openly pissing off your customers like that.. The other beer like dead guy was 4 bucks, so I guess there was some redeeming quality, but I still find the PBR thing rather offensive.

I guess I would go back if there was another concert worth going to. However, I wouldn't go out of my way to go there.

My band played at the Charleston recently. I've played at a lot of venues - some bigger, some smaller, some nicer, some way crappier. The Charleston is a weird, dirty, punk rock venue with a strange layout and a lot of personality. For bands, the Charleston has a bit of a reputation as unreliable when it comes to load-in and organization, and it lived up to that reputation when I was there. But most of the staff were nice, especially the bartenders.

When you walk in, if you go the right you end up in the 21+ area. If you go left, you find yourself in the All-Ages "moat" directly in front of the stage. I wish I had taken a photo to properly explain what I mean, but I'll try to describe it. There is the stage, which is about 4 feet high. Then there's an 8-foot deep expanse of standing room, then there's the 21+ bar area, which is about a foot taller than the stage. This effectively creates the all-ages moat in the middle of the room, which is weird and a little claustrophobic.

Everything at the Charleston is painted black and covered in a thin layer of grime, but in a that's-how-punk-rock-is kind of way, which is fine by me. I would compare this place to El Corazon in Seattle, which I love, but with less charm and - in my limited experience - less professionalism. I actually think that's a draw to some bands, which is great, but I prefer a little more help from the staff and structure for the show. But I think the best measure of my opinion is this: I would play here again.

What sets this apart from every other venue I've visited in Washington is the setup from the bar to the stage. Basically, bar, drinking area with seats, pit (No drinks allowed from here on) and stage. To the reasonable metal and punk enthusiast, this makes sense. That way, the people who want to drink can still watch the band, while allowing underage fans to enjoy the show. Yet, this is only the second venue I've seen with this setup (Actually, I take that back. Studio Seven's drinking area is above the stage). The Charleston is small enough that it doesn't need and pillars to hold it up, so there's nothing blocking drinkers from enjoying the show.

I really like the grimy feel you get from this place, as well as the DIY aesthetic. It's owned and operated by local punks, and they (along with the Pyrate Punx) do everything they can to help traveling bands.

Overall, I'm really glad a place like this exists in Bremerton and has the dedicated crowd that it does. I'll be back a lot.

Also, you can get food here, but I'm afraid to try.